Hope is Alive
In 2009 a door was opened for us in Goa for a prevention program. While visiting there we saw that a large percentage of children were not in school. We heard of children missing and met many teenage girls that had tried to commit suicide. We began a tutoring program for children that helped them enter school and then began the afterschool program. We later added a
teenage girls’ life skills program.
In the beginning, when a teenage girl would join our life skills class, she would be very shy. When you would ask about her hopes and dreams, she would say, “I have none, they have all been taken away.” Her world view is the slum where she lives, and she knows very little about herself or her body. We were surprised at how little the girls knew. We were told “girls just need to do chores”. The mindset was definitely not positive toward girls.
Life skills is defined as “the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.” Basically, life skills help us learn how to solve problems, communicate effectively, make informed decisions, think critically and effectively, empathize with others, build healthy relationships, and learn to manage ourselves in a healthy and productive way.
Wow! We have seen this happen. There has been so much transformation and success in this community. Hundreds have been impacted. A typical class size is 25 to 30 girls each week. They have developed a support system for each other. Girls have become leaders at school and in school clubs. I had one girl tell me she was a leader in her club at school and she wants to teach other girls to be leaders. Girls have gone on to college and become teachers. We currently
have one girl enrolled in a police academy.
So many hopes and dreams are there now that were non-existent in the beginning. As we intertwine basic life skills with the life changing power of
the gospel, true and complete transformation takes place.
Thank you for supporting Rahab’s Rope and all the ways we share the love of Christ with women and children.
