Your Gift Opens Up a World of Possibilities for a Child with Dreams

When asked what he’d like to be when he grows up, the dark-eyed Sanjay folds his arms and answers confidently, “I want to be a doctor.”

The only problem is, in Mumbai, India, where Sanjay lives, 8 million people are homeless.

Furthermore, 40-year-old Ganga Patel, Sanjay’s mother, is a former prostitute. She’s trying to earn money without selling her body. Sanjay’s opportunities to go to school are near zero.

Tragically, he understands this. “But I don’t think I can get the money for education,” he says.

However, Hand of Hope, Joyce Meyer Ministries World Missions wants to give Sanjay the opportunity to become a doctor by giving him a chance at a better life.

Child Exploitation an Epidemic in India
In the late 1960’s, Ganga traveled from Nepal to India to find a promised job. Instead, she was tricked—as hundreds of young girls are every year—and sold as a sex slave.

She spent the first year living like a prisoner, locked in a 12’ x 12’ enclosure until she fully matured. Once she matured, she entertained men every night. It was a bleak life.

According to the director of Hand of Hope’s Transformation Center in India, of the women who fall prey to child exploitation in India:

• Some are purchased as young as 11 or 12 years old
• Many bear children who end up on the streets exposed to starvation, criminals and natural disasters
• Most prostitutes die from HIV/AIDS in less than 2 years
• All are traumatized by unspeakable circumstances

Mercifully, Ganga survived her time as a prostitute—so did her bright-eyed, sun-darkened boy, Sanjay. They are part of the first group to be rescued from the Bhandup red-light district slums to be part of Hand of Hope’s Transformation Center.

“We’re Building a Sanctuary”
Beside a small creek on a lush hillside, four whitewashed buildings rise from the landscape like the sandstone mountains towering behind them. This is the Transformation Center.

Outside, a small crowd of children sing while Bill and Eric, Joyce Meyer Ministries partners who visited this past January, listen intently.

“I'm just grateful that the money we gave will go on and on,” notes Eric, an Iowa banker.

“These buildings are well constructed. But we're not just making a house; we're changing a life...we're building a sanctuary,” adds Bill, a contractor from California.

The children scatter…some to play cricket, others to read, and still others to pray.

In the distance, dairy cows roam. The sun reflects off the red tile roofs. Just about everywhere you can hear children laughing. It’s a good place to be for children who once had no hope.

“It pleases me to see this,” the soft-spoken Bill says. “We will not stop giving. You can feel the goodness happening.”

Finally, a Reason for Hope
Many women and children are being rescued from unthinkable situations and are being given the chance to have a future that is full of promise and full of hope…something that at one time seemed like an impossible dream.

Partners like you have made this possible. Together, we are doing everything we can to declare, “These girls are children of God. They are not the Devil’s, and they are not for sale.”

And this is only the beginning of our incredible outreach through the Hand of Hope Transformation Center. When you give toward our missions’ efforts, we can continue to help Ganga, Sanjay and so many others just like them.

This is just one reason why Dave and Joyce are passionate about our May 2008 Missions Campaign—we get to share with you the compelling stories and life-changing work your support makes possible through Hand of Hope.

Hand of Hope is daily bringing lifesaving physical and spiritual help to thousands through our feeding programs, children’s homes, disaster relief efforts, free medical clinics, and many other humanitarian outreaches all over the earth.

How You Can Help
And the purpose of our May 2008 Missions Campaign is to encourage you to pray, support and donate now to Hand of Hope. Please consider doing everything you can.

Help us in this ongoing journey of saving lives and restoring people to the heart of God…through the message of the Gospel and practical but life-changing acts of love and service.

Thank you for caring and helping rebuild the shattered lives of abandoned children, helpless women and desperate families like Sanjay and Ganga.