Christian Ministry “Compassion International” after many years of activity in India will close its doors. A nonprofit organization based in the United States for 48 years and took care of the poorest children in India. “Compassion International” was used, all attempts to continue their work after the Indian government denied them the possibility of transferring funds to the country. This step will leave without the assistance of almost 150 thousand children, but the Bishop Becky from “Compassion International” told about how the Ministry will continue to help the most vulnerable children of India.
MHN: IN India you have more than one hundred full-time employees serving 147 thousand children living in poverty. And now the Indian government says that you have to quit. Why did this happen?
Bishop Becky, “Compassion International”:
Well, this is a complex issue. To make it clear, in 2011, the government of India has amended its Law on foreign contributions is the law governing the receipt of foreign funds in the country, especially such non-profit organizations (or NGOs) as “Compassion International”. Now these changes have led the Indian government to restrict the activities of NGOs whose purposes differ from their political ideology.
We believe that the authorities want to limit the spread of Christianity in India, and that they misunderstand the model of the program “Compassion International” whose sole purpose, in their view, is to draw children to Christianity, at the time, as our main goal is to rescue children from terrible poverty.
MAN: Voiced any Indian government that, in their opinion, your main goal – the conversion of children to Christianity?
No, we, like you, I read this in Indian media. Authorities have not given us any formal justification for limiting our funding.
MHN: Tell us what you have done for children all the time.
The children in our care receive medical care, education, books for school, clothing, food, training and more.
MAN: AND what about these kids?
It’s difficult to talk about it because we don’t know what will happen to these children. Probably, we will observe each child that was taken care of until he grows up and become a responsible, successful adult. We continue to work in the 25 countries where our care is nearly 2 million children, they will receive our support. And we continue to pray for the plight of children in India and of the government officials in this country to see the care that we provided them to the young generation, and that one day we came back and continued to take care of these guys.