City Life Church Team
Teams from City Life church regularly go out to Delhi (usually in January and September) to visit ASHA and work alongside them in the Indira Camp, in the Jeevan Nagar district. The teams aim to show God’s love to those we meet through a mixture of children’s work: games, craft, teaching, songs, etc and some renovation work to bring the ASHA run slum centres up to a useable standard.
The aim is for the work and relationships to build with those we meet in Indira Camp as we return to visit each year.
Whilst in Delhi, the teams also look at ways in which we can be of use once we come back to the UK – whether that is through prayer, fundraising, awareness raising, bringing back craft items etc to sell.
ASHA
The mission of ASHA is the improvement of the lives of slum dwellers in Delhi through community and health development. It achieves this through the initiation of long-term sustainable projects that confront and solve the practical and social problems faced by those living within these communities.
ASHA believes it is not enough simply to provide medical care in the slum communities. It believes the only way to bring about real and lasting improvements to these communities is through a holistic approach to community health.
This has led to the development and support of empowerment and self-help schemes directed at the slum dwellers, particularly the women and children. Through the empowerment and mobilisation of the slum communities these people will find the motivation to develop their own environment when previously they felt hopeless without prospect of a better future.
Back to Top
Details on slum life in Delhi
India is a country of limited resources and finite opportunities. People have flooded into its cities from the countryside in search of work only to find themselves and their families unable to find jobs or a place to stay. The result is that nearly 4 million of Delhi’s 14 million residents are now living in makeshift accommodation in any space that is found between existing buildings.
These shanty or slum areas have no land rights and so people live in fear of the government bulldozing what has become their home. Work is scarce meaning food, education and healthcare are also hard to come by.
For those living in the slums the outlook is bleak. Records show:
- 1500 slum colonies in Delhi housing nearly 4 million people
- the average population density in a slum settlement is around 300,000 people per square kilometre
- an average dwelling houses 6-8 people, yet measures only 6ft by 8ft
- the under 5 mortality rate is 149 per 1000 live births.
- 1 water pump serves on average 1000 people
- many slums have no latrine facilities
- where latrines are provided, the average is 1 latrine per 27 households
- 40% of children are severely malnourished
- in Delhi, about 40,000 children are labourers, 30,000 assist in shops, another 30,000 work in tea shops, and 20,000 in auto repair shops. 100,000 children are part time or full time domestic helps.
- 75% of men and 90% of women living in slums are illiterate
Back to Top
Prayer points
- Please pray for the teams as they prepare before each trip to India, pray for the finance needed and for preparation of the programme.
- Pray for Dan and the rest of the team members, that they will have wisdom and sensitivity when getting to know those living in Indira Camp. Pray for lasting relationships to be formed and that God's love will be made known and spread throughout the area.
- Pray for continued progress to made in the area through the teams' visits and the ongoing work of ASHA. Pray for the advancement of the healthcare, education and IT programmes.
- Pray for the team as they seek opportunities to take things forward, equipping the community with relevant work skills, and with assistance for micro-enterprise projects.
- Pray for ASHA in Delhi for their ongoing work in the slums, pray particularly for Freddy and Kiran Martin as they lead the project forwards.
For more prayer points for ASHA visit: ASHA - How you can help: Prayer