Nine-year-old Lakshmi works in a factory as a cigarette roller.

She tells her sister's story


Gospel for Asia
For Immediate Release

Breaking the chains of illiteracy

SOUTH ASIA (ANS) -- "My sister is ten years old. Every morning at seven she goes to the bonded labor man, and every night at nine she comes home. He treats her badly; he hits her if he thinks she is working slowly or if she talks to the other children, he yells at her, he comes looking for her if she is sick and cannot go to work. I feel this is very difficult for her.

"I don't care about school or playing. I don't care about any of that. All I want is to bring my sister home from the bonded labor man. For 600 rupees I can bring her home-that is our only chance to get her back.
We don't have 600 rupees.we will never have 600 rupees [the equivalent of U.S.$14]."

According to the Human Rights Watch, bonded labor is life for over 10 million children in India.

Calcutta alone is home to more than 100,000 street children who know neither mother nor father, love nor care. They are not just numbers or statistics-they are real children. Though nameless and faceless on the streets where they live, each one was created with love and is known by God.

It is doubtful they've ever held a toothbrush or a bar of soap; they've never eaten an ice-cream cone or cradled a doll. The child laborers of South Asia toil in fireworks, carpet and match factories; quarries and coal mines; rice fields, tea plantations and pastures, and even brothels. Because they are exposed to dust, toxic fumes, pesticides and disease, their health is compromised; their bodies are crippled from carrying heavy weights. Some are bonded laborers, enslaved to their tasks by family poverty.

To find out more about how you can help children like this, please go to: www.gfa.org/sponsorachild/ At: www.gfa.org, you can discover how Gospel for Asia IS breaking the bonds of illiteracy.