SLUM HOME IMPROVEMENTS OPEN DOOR FOR SHARING GOSPEL

A PROJECT TO improve the living conditions of low-income families has given missionaries an opportunity to share the gospel with thousands of slum dwellers.

Youth With A Mission workers in Madras have helped hundreds of families escape flooding and sickness over the past few years by laying concrete floors in their cramped, one-room homes.

Around 12,000 people live in the area of the city where YWAM staff have been coordinating the home improvements since 1994. With brick walls, tile roofs and electricity the government-built small units are almost luxurious compared to many of the city's illegal shanty homes, but the mud floors became soaked during monsoon season.

Supported by donations, the YWAM workers arranged for the floors to be raised and bricked, and the walls plastered to further reduce damp. Residents were asked to make a small contribution to the $20-per-home cost, with the work being carried out by a local mason who had become a Christian through YWAM's ministry in the area.

"The places are far more livable now. Because the area is next to a lake it would often flood or moisture would seep in. Now that the floors and walls are cemented things are much cleaner, drier and nicer to live in," said Trevor Edgeworth, who oversaw the program.

"We had the opportunity to share the gospel with many people through this project," he added. "Because they knew we were Christian social workers who were trying to help improve their lives, people would often ask questions about their situation and we were able to share with them, pray for them and demonstrate how we could bring about some change."

The work on 400 homes began after YWAM workers started visiting the area to share the gospel with people in the community - many from non-Christian backgrounds. Alcoholism and drugs are problems in the area, where families struggle to make ends meet from low paid jobs.

"When people are facing daily suffering, evangelism in a slum setting can't just be about saving souls," said Edgeworth. "Just walking through the area and seeing the problems - sewage, disease, flies and mud - motivates you to want to help bring some change.

"Jesus does change people's lives and yet sometimes their conditions are so bad that we also have to get involved in their worlds to bring about some change on a practical, everyday level. It's in the everyday interaction of solving some of these problems that the gospel is shared, and they are open to hearing. They often ask for prayer, too."

Since they began work in the area, YWAM staff have started a church and established a Sunday School program that caters for over 1,000 children each Sunday. They are also involved in literacy training, medical care and a day care program.

More recently they have started a savings service that currently involves over 200 women from the area. "We opened it because there are local money lenders who charge high interest which the people cannot pay back. Then they are in financial bondage for years, and sometimes even end up having to give their possessions to the money lender to get out of debt."

In the savings program participants pay 40 cents each week into small groups, whose members decide where the money should be loaned. Recipients have used the money so far to start local businesses to help support their families.

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