How about a goat? Melissa Kruse, India Partners’ communications coordinator, suggested this to ministry staff several months ago. “She came up with this wonderful idea of how we could honor fathers for Father’s Day — giving a goat to a G.O.A.T.,” explains India Partners’ Donna Glass.

Gift a goat for Father’s Day through India Partners.

Why does a G.O.A.T. need a goat?

(Photo courtesy of India Partners)

Gifting a goat for Father’s Day seems quite odd until you know the details behind this idea.

First, G.O.A.T. stands for Greatest Of All Time. It’s meant to be a title of honor as well as a play on meaning. Second, there is a literal goat involved – but don’t start purchasing material and building a pen just yet.

The goat – or, goats – will not be showing up on your dad’s front porch.  They’re on their way to a needy family in India. “Goats play an important role in the food and nutritional security of the rural poor,” researchers describe in this 2010 article.

“Usually what our partners do is they will give a pair of goats, maybe two or three goats to a family,” explains Glass. “As they breed the goats, then they (family members) start getting milk from the females. This actually helps to increase their nutrition.

“Any extra milk can be sold in the market. Extra goats can be sold, or they can build up a small herd of goats.”

Goats bring help and hope

(Photo courtesy of India Partners)

Goats seem unlikely carriers of help and hope, but they serve precisely this purpose in rural India. Glass points to Suresh as an example.

Suresh and his wife eke out an existence and struggle to provide for their young daughter. “They’re struggling because they are internally-displaced people from another state,” Glass explains. “It’s harder to get work [in their present location] because they don’t have the papers [they need].”

When Suresh’s wife recently became ill, he sold all of his cows and goats – the family’s only source of income – to purchase the medical care she needed. Thankfully, Suresh’s wife recovered from her illness, but the couple didn’t have any money to replace their livestock.

Suresh became desperate, but then one of India Partners’ in-country cohorts gave him a pair of goats sponsored by gracious givers in the West. It will take a bit of time, but “he knows now that… they’ll multiply and… [provide] a living that can help to lift them out of this severe poverty.”

India Partners works alongside a broad group of indigenous grassroots agencies focused on alleviating poverty and injustice. Their vision is an India rich in hope, justice, and compassion. Take a closer look at their work here.

Header image depicts Suresh, his wife, and their daughter with the pair of goats given to them by India Partners’ in-country cohorts. Photo courtesy of India Partners.

India Partners’ Donna Glass suggests thinking “outside the box” this year as you plan a gift for mom. “Cards are nice. Flowers are nice. But is that needed? No,” she observes.

“Flowers will wilt and die. A card ends up in recycling, eventually.”

Why not change a life in mom’s honor instead? Through its in-country cohorts and financial support from people like you, India Partners offers a six-month training program to disadvantaged women. It’s part of their work towards “an India rich in hope, justice, and compassion.”

The tailoring program teaches women how to operate a foot-powered sewing machine and make clothing. These skills are simple yet life-changing for moms like “Pidi.”

Sewing hope…

Pidi’s life was difficult, but everything changed when she was accepted into India Partners’ tailoring program.
(Photo courtesy of India Partners)

Pidi and her husband struggle to provide for their two young children. Although Pidi’s husband works, his job only provides 2,000 to 2,500 rupees – or, $28 to $35 USD – per week. It’s not enough to support a family of four, so Pidi seeks work as a day laborer. It’s back-breaking labor, but this job is also the only option for people with limited education.

“She didn’t have any qualifications; she only studied through the sixth grade.”

Everything changed when Pidi got accepted into India Partners’ tailoring program, Glass says.

“She was just really excited about it because she knows that she can work from home, and she can take care of her house,” Glass says. “[Pidi] was really excited to go through the training, and to learn all the different models of clothes, the different dresses and skirts.”

There’s more to the tailoring program than job skills. It’s about empowering women like Pidi.

“Because [Pidi] can work on her own schedule…she can earn quite a bit more. She hopes… she’ll be able to earn [enough] money to supplement her husband’s income.”

…in mom’s honor

This year, consider making Mother’s Day a “team” event. Team up with your mom, or a mom you know, to help a mother in India.

“For $100, you can make a difference in a woman’s life and the life of her family.”

As explained here, your gift offers her a chance to attend a tailoring school for six months and learn valuable sewing skills. Once she graduates, she will receive a free sewing machine that will enable her to start a home tailoring business.

“There are 60 women who are going to graduate in June and each of them are going to receive a brand new sewing machine,” Glass says.

Click here to provide a sewing machine through India Partners.

Photo courtesy of India Partners

India Partners’ Donna Glass says the help extended to their organization goes even farther today through a matching grant.

“On Giving Tuesday, we have [an] over $5,000 match. So, that’s pretty exciting to think that for every gift you give, it can be doubled so it does twice as much,” she states.

What does India Partners do?

By collaborating with groups on-the-ground, India Partners works toward an India rich in hope, justice, and compassion. From education and vocational training to disaster relief, India Partners supports the work of indigenous organizations by training local leaders and raising funds.

Your support of this work can help change a life.

“These gifts matter because a lot of the folks that we work with are Dalits; they are the ‘Untouchables,’” notes Glass, referring to India’s social hierarchy known as the caste system.

Dalits are rejected because they weren’t born into the right social class. The physically disabled are another group of social “misfits” helped by India Partners. “One of our partners provides free computer training to the physically disabled,” Glass shares.

Learn more about that program here.

“The disabled have been ‘shunted’ away so much,…but computer skills are something you don’t have to have a lot of mobility to do.”

Some of the projects outlined in India Partners’ 2018 Gift Catalog aren’t necessarily “popular” among donors, but they’re just as important.

For example, teaching village kids how to read and write may not seem like a big deal.  However, in many instances, the benefits extend to parents because they “sit in” on classes and learn along with their children.  In turn, Glass explains, this new knowledge helps parents make wiser business transactions.

Through India Partners, just $22 provides “four children [with] the supplies they need to sit under the tree or sit in the house and…they can learn,” says Glass. “It’s not a full day of school, but it provides for a teacher to come in and help these children do basic math [and] learn to read and write in their native language.”

A full list of needs is outlined here.

How can I help?

Philanthropy, the focus of Giving Tuesday, is defined by Merriam-Webster as “goodwill to fellow members of the human race” or “an act or gift done or made for humanitarian purposes.”

Glass says Giving Tuesday is the only time your philanthropic gifts can go four times as far.

“How much do we spend on gifts for people that maybe they don’t really need? This gift would be doubled, and on Giving Tuesday, it’s doubled even again.”

Check out the opportunities here in India Partners’ Gift Catalog, and ask the Lord how He would have you steward your resources.

Header and story images courtesy India Partners via Facebook.

(Photo courtesy: India Partners)

Water even became an issue of foreign policy for India last week. Prime Minister Modi is considering changes to India’s water supply to neighboring Pakistan.

The battle for clean water is finally over for two remote villages, thanks to India Partners and their in-country cohort.

“Water was reached because a (local) politician was reached, who stepped forward to provide the water,” shares India Partners’ Donna Glass. “…and the people are crediting God for bringing the water, finally, to their village.”

Fixing India’s clean water crisis

Through indigenous partner ministries, India Partners works to provide clean, safe water for remote villages. According to the ministry, 128 million people in the country lack access to safe water.

India Partners aims to alleviate this need by digging wells in remote villages. Not only does this provide safe drinking water, the well’s central location in a village eliminates time-consuming walks.

In one village, “water is so scarce that they are walking up to two kilometers (1.2 miles) for fresh water,” Glass says. “[Villagers] are not able to go to work because they’re having to get water.”

(Photo credit: India Partners)

Earlier this year, the Associated Press reported that India holds the most people without access to clean water.

Approximately five percent of India’s 1.25 billion people lack clean water — that’s over a tenth of the world’s 650 million people without clean water access.

Sanitation is another key concern. According to World Bank, approximately 21 percent of all communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe drinking water.

India Partners addresses both needs in their Safe Water program. While the wells provide clean water, India Partners’ community health and hygiene trainings teach villagers about hand washing, basic hygienic practices, the importance of washing their food, etc.

Glass says it’s important “not just to have water, but to know that you’re keeping it clean and safe.”

More importantly, the trainings are an opportunity to present the Gospel. “All of the lessons taught [are] taught in reference to the Bible,” Glass explains.

While it opens doors for God’s Word, bringing clean water to a remote village isn’t always easy, or simple. But, sometimes God works in mysterious ways.

A well incites change

On a recent installation, teams tried and failed three times to dig a well for a remote village.

“It was so heartbreaking,” notes Glass. “But here was God working, even though it seemed like the enemy was present in this village, preventing this work from being done. God was still there, and placed a burden on this politician’s heart.”

The politician was a local authority who had promised to bring clean water to the village on several occasions. However, at each turn, he failed to deliver on his promises.

(Photo courtesy India Partners)

“The politician saw that these Christians were coming in and trying to do something that he should’ve been doing all along,” Glass explains. “To further his own career, he stepped up [and is providing clean water for the village].”

It’s yet another example of how God can use anyone to accomplish His will. What about you?

“$53 provides water for a family [and] financial help is always a great blessing for the people in India. Knowing that people across the world care enough to give of their own resources to change their lives for all time.”

Provide safe water for a family in India here.

63 out of every 1000 children will die by age 5. One way to lower this number is through village health clinics. (Image courtesy Gospel for Asia)

“If…God’s called you to these unreached people groups, this is a very rare opportunity to go and use your skills and expertise,” states Fiedler.

In November, India Partners is taking a group of medical and health professionals to help remote tribes in an area known for persecuting believers.

Foreigners traveling in and around the region will be safe, but revealing details ahead of the trip could put their indigenous ministry partners in danger. To protect them, India Partners isn’t disclosing names or a specific location.

“This trip is really special because it’s not often that we get permission to go in this remote area of India,” Fiedler explains.

The communities they’ll be serving have very little contact with modern society or the outside world. As a result, there’s no modern medicine and health needs are tremendous.

“This is truly the unreached,” she says. “We’re going to go in and help share the Gospel is by meeting specific medical and health needs.

India Partners’ health programs provide services that remote villagers would have if they had access to a hospital.

“Those programs take very basic medical concepts and train people on how to take care of themselves physically, and it also interweaves the Bible,” explains Fiedler.

“When you’re imparting information about healthy bodies, you’re also teaching them about how to have a healthy spirit through the Word of God.”

For November’s trip, doctors, nurses and dentists are needed to provide professional care. But, Fiedler says people who can teach health are needed too.

They’re looking for “somebody that has the experience to go and teach and train people about taking care of themselves, and introducing the concepts of health, sanitation [and] hygiene into their communities.”

Interested? Sign up here.

“If you can come with a heart of Jesus, and serve people with your medical training, that is going to reach and touch people’s lives in ways that others can’t do,” says Fiedler.

“The way that God’s gifted you, with your hands and with your mind to bring physical healing to people, is going to bring a touch of God. Your time will not be wasted.”

In fact, you may get more than you bargained for. Fiedler says many volunteers return from India ‘abundantly filled.’

“That person that went and volunteered, they’re the ones who get radically transformed,” she explains.

“They get to see God move in a new way in their lives, and they’re seeing the work of God in these remote places.”

Some volunteers have been told they’re an answer to prayer — literally. Fiedler says in the past, remote villagers have recognized the faces of team members, people they’ve never met before. How? They appeared in a dream of vision the villager had prior to the team’s arrival.

“You just never know when you may be the fulfillment of somebody’s dream,” Fiedler shares. “Or, the fulfillment of a vision…that will bring peace, that will bring Jesus, and may bring salvation to that person.”

Pray God would bring the right people together for this trip.

“God does command us to ‘go’, whether it’s here in our own backyards or whether it’s abroad,” says Fiedler. “But if you feel God calling you…respond! Don’t be afraid.

“Step out, get out on that ledge, and you’ll find that He’s right there, ready to carry you through.”

In late June, we told you about an early monsoon in Uttarkhand that killed around 6,000 people. Earlier this week, the government released official figures for the first time: over 580 have died, while 5,474 missing are feared dead.

Now, MNN is following a similar situation in Andhra Pradesh.

"Monsoon flooding is an annual event, but this is the worst they've ever had," says Donna Glass with India Partners.

An estimated 150,000 people in the state's northern region have reportedly been affected, losing both their homes and livelihoods. Nearly 30 rain-related deaths throughout Andhra Pradesh have been reported so far.

In the area in which India Partners cohorts are working, over 5,000 families are stranded by the floodwaters. Some families haven't eaten in over 20 days because they can't get out of their homes.

India Partners associates held a relief camp in recent days, giving out food, cooking oil, soap, and hygiene training.

See a video of it here.

These simple, yet vital, items are giving survivors a reason to hang on.

"They're given a lot of hope since someone is bringing food in," says Glass.

Since the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) training is based on biblical principles, people don't just get hope for today: they get hope for tomorrow, too. Help India Partners make hope contagious by clicking here.

"$14 will provide the supplies we talked about–the rice, the vegetables, the cooking oil, and soap–for a family," Glass explains.

Pray that WASH training will keep the spread of disease down. Pray for relief to come quickly to families in need.

Pray also that more organizations would become aware of the need in Andhra Pradesh and would focus their efforts there. Help spread the word by hitting the "Share" button at the top of this page.

Your prayers and support are needed for flood victims in Andhra Pradesh. (Image courtesy India Partners)

There are reportedly 100 relief camps operating across the state. In addition, over 4,000 people were reportedly moved to a safer location last week because of flooding.

India Partners’ Donna Glass says they’re sending aid to 26 villages in the northern region of Andhra Pradesh, providing basic supplies for more than 1,400 famililes.

“With the floodwaters, the villages are cut off, and so the only transportation, in or out, is by boat,” says Glass. “We have not gotten a report before that [indicates] so many villages being completely cut-off.”

Early flooding in India’s northern Uttarakhand state killed thousands and erased the livelihood of tens of thousands. According to India’s meteorological department, monsoon rains that led to this flooding were 440-percent over the annual average.

Some in India are saying the record ‘cloudburst’ isn’t completely to blame for severe flooding in Uttarakhand and now Andhra Pradesh.

In a report featured by The Guardian, writer Kavitha Rao says India’s environmentalists claim “the region has been slowly eroded by rampant development.” Devinder Sharma of the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security told CNN a massive road-building project is only making it harder to cope with the region’s annual monsoon rains.

While parties debate the cause, the government and some NGO’s are dropping relief packages to flood victims in Andhra Pradesh from a helicopter.

“The government has indicated that they are going to be bringing in rice and cooking oil, but the people need more than that,” Glass states. “They need the hope of Christ.”

India Partners’ cohort in northern Andhra Pradesh is bringing them that hope, along with daily staples like rice, cooking oil, dahl, vegetables and soap.

Earlier this month, an India Partners team visited Andhra Pradesh to hold Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) training. Villagers are putting what they learned to use in bringing help to flood victims.

“They wanted to bring in soap as part of their relief packages because they felt the importance of the hygiene portion of our training,” says Glass.

“One of the big issues when you have standing water is the spread of waterborne diseases.”

Glass says their partners are hoping the soap will lead to an opportunity to hold WASH training in affected areas, thereby reducing the spread of disease. Since WASH training is built on biblical principles, it also creates a platform to share Christ.

“It definitely has an opportunity to open up more for the Gospel to come in,” Glass states.

Less than $20 can help a family; click here to get connected.

Pray for long-term opportunities to share Christ with flood victims. Pray flood relief comes quickly.

There are reportedly 100 relief camps operating across the state. In addition, over 4,000 people were reportedly moved to a safer location last week because of flooding.

Donna Glass with India Partners says they're sending aid to 26 villages in the northern region of Andhra Pradesh, providing basic supplies for more than 1,400 families.

"With the flood waters, the villages are cut off, and so the only transportation–in or out–is by boat," says Glass. "We have not gotten a report before, of so many villages being completely cut-off."

Early flooding in India's northern Uttarakhand state killed thousands and erased the livelihood of tens of thousands. According to India's meteorological department, monsoon rains that led to this flooding were 440% over the annual average.

Some in India are saying the record "cloudburst" isn't completely to blame for severe flooding in Uttarakhand and now Andhra Pradesh.

In a report featured by The Guardian, writer Kavitha Rao says India's environmentalists claim "the region has been slowly eroded by rampant development." Devinder Sharma of the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security told CNN a massive road-building project is only making it harder to cope with the region's annual monsoon rains.

While parties debate the cause, the government and some NGOs are dropping relief packages to flood victims in Andhra Pradesh from a helicopter.

"The government has indicated that they are going to be bringing in rice and cooking oil, but the people need more than that," Glass states. "They need the hope of Christ."

India Partners' cohort in northern Andhra Pradesh is bringing them that hope, along with daily staples like rice, cooking oil, dahl, vegetables, and soap.

Earlier this month, an India Partners team visited Andhra Pradesh to hold Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) training. Villagers are putting into practice what they learned, bringing help to flood victims.

"They wanted to bring in soap as part of their relief packages because they felt the importance of the hygiene portion of our training," says Glass.

"One of the big issues, when you have standing water, is the spread of waterborne diseases."

Glass says their partners are hoping the soap will lead to an opportunity to hold WASH training in affected areas, thereby reducing the spread of disease. Since WASH training is built on biblical principles, it also creates a platform to share Christ.

"It definitely has an opportunity to open up more for the Gospel to come in," Glass states.

Less than $20 can help a family; click here to get connected.

Pray for long-term opportunities to share Christ with flood victims. Pray that flood relief will arrive quickly.

A team from India Partners began a three-day training course in Andhra Pradesh yesterday, educating village leaders on the importance of maintaining a safe water source and practicing good sanitation and hygiene.

This training teaches villagers practical solutions to keep their water safe. Leaders will learn about the transmission of diseases when fecal waste is not disposed of properly. They'll also be taught the importance of handwashing after using the bathroom and before preparing or eating food.

Over the past several years, through partnership with a local Indian non-profit, India Partners has provided access to safe water for over 73,000 people living in 92 villages. But safe water isn't enough to keep people healthy.

In rural India, an estimated 67% of villagers have no improved sanitation facilities and practice open defecation.

“Thousands of people hopelessly die every year from diseases such as diarrhea and cholera,” says Prahbhakar Jena, an India Partners field representative living in India.

Jena believes educating Indians on WASH has the power to transform the health of an entire community. When safe water is combined with good sanitation and hygiene, the number of deaths caused by water-related diseased can be reduced by up to 65%, according to the World Health Organization.

“I am really excited about the WASH training because it will create an awareness among the people about the impact of having unclean water and poor sanitation,” says Jena.

“Take care of your health, and your health will take care of you,” he adds.

India Partners works alongside indigenous Christian grassroots agencies focused on alleviating poverty and injustice. They work together to utilize the entire Body of Christ and seek answers to the problems facing India today.

To come alongside India Partners in WASH training and save lives in a simple way, click here.

According to the Indian Association of Pediatricians, babies in India account for 25% of the world's total deaths, simply because their moms don't have clean water to drink.

"India has major problems with unclean water and lack of sanitation," says Brent Hample of India Partners.

The World Bank says approximately 21% of all communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe drinking water. It's estimated that 665 million people in India defecate in open sewers or fields, infecting water sources with diseases like stomach worms, typhoid, and cholera.

Poor sanitation and hygiene practices hasten the spread of disease from village to village.

"We are working with Waiting for Water not only to provide a well, but also to educate the villagers in sanitation and hygiene practices," says Hample.

You can get involved, too. Just take the money from something you're giving up for Lent to help India Partners build clean water wells. For example, if your morning coffee costs $4.00 and you decided to give it up for Lent, that's $180 you could set aside for a water ministry like this.

Hample says, "It only costs $155 for one well to provide clean water for an entire village–around 1,000 people usually."

Wondering what Scripture says about issues like this?

At WaitingforWater.org, you'll find free resources such as "individual Bible studies, devotionals…sermon notes, group Bible study resources that tie in Scripture with water, sanitation, and hygiene," states Hample.

Lent begins this year on February 13–Ash Wednesday–and ends on March 30.

"Make that a time of devotion to learn more about this issue and what the Scriptures have to say about it," Hample says. Ask God what He would have you do during this time of remembering His sacrifice.

Click here to learn more about the opportunities with India Partners.

"Pray that people's hearts are open, that churches will want to go deeper and learn more about clean water and sanitation," requests Hample.

"Pray that God will mobilize the Church to unite and help provide Living Water, as well as physical water, around the world."