More than 2.3 million girls and women in India are believed to be working in the sex industry against their will. Trapped in a life of severe physical and psychological pain, many women die young - broken and without hope.

Many women working the trade also become mothers, and today there are at least five million children of sex workers in India. Children in red-light areas are vulnerable to abuse, trauma and second-generation prostitution. During the day, children are often left alone while their mothers are sleeping. At night, some are drugged and put under the bed while their mothers work the trade. Languishing in lives filled with hunger, neglect, illiteracy and hopelessness, these children long for the day when their childhood will finally be theirs.

With the help of our partners at Sahaara Charitable Society, we are rescuing children like Muskan (above right) from the horrors of the red-light districts and relocating them to loving safe homes, well outside the red-light districts.

Another holiday season comes to an end and Americans certainly enjoyed the celebration!

It’s no secret that America has something to lose. Whether it is pounds or a focus on material possessions, we could all do without something in 2012.

When my son came to me with the astronomical number of smart phone activations he quickly said, “What if each person who activated a phone gave up one dollar to India Partners?”

What if?

This year, as you consider your annual New Year’s resolutions, what if you consider your loss as a potential for someone else to gain?

I am happy to share an exciting opportunity with you. A generous donor has informed me that he will match every dollar given to our Holiday Matching Drive between November 1st and December 31st of this year, up to a total of $90,000!

I praise God for this wonderful opportunity to help the ministry of India Partners, and I invite you to give a gift to our Holiday Matching Drive by Dec. 31st. Your gift will help continue the important work of saving and transforming lives in India with the love of Christ.

Let me tell you the story of Nagamma. Nagamma is a 60-year-old widow with leprosy. Her husband died 15 years ago, and she has one son and three daughters. When Nagamma learned about her disease, she decided to leave her family so that young men would not be deterred from marrying her daughters. For the last 10 years, Nagamma has been living in a leper colony.

When our partner agency visited Nagamma's leper colony to distribute mosquito nets, Nagamma cried with gratitude...

A 3-year-old boy named Pathros was carried to an India Partners’ clinic in Orissa with a 105.4 degree temperature, semi-coma and vomiting. He was diagnosed with severe cerebral malaria, but with immediate treatment, Pathros was on the road to recovery by evening.

After not walking for over 5 years, another boy named Baktho was carried to the same clinic with paralysis on one side of his body. With treatment for hypertension (high blood pressure) and physical therapy, he was able to walk within one week.

Dr. Iris Paul, co-founder of our medical partner agency, Reaching Hand Society (RHS), sees an average of 250 patients like Pathros and Baktho each week. Where she practices in rural Orissa, the poor have no means of medical treatment or health insurance, and death is often the result of symptoms that could be easily treated with one trip to the drug store...

Vineet Wahi and his new bride, Lisa, recently donated a goat to India Partners in honor of their friends’ wedding. Why a goat you ask? Here is what Vineet told us.

“Our good friends were getting married and we wanted to get them a meaningful gift. We knew them to be generous and charitable people who didn't really need any towels or another crystal vase. The idea of giving a goat to a family in need halfway around the world seemed to be the perfect gift. They loved the present and reciprocated with a similar gift to India Partners for me and my wife who had just been married a month earlier.”

Today, the creative generosity of these two couples is making a huge impact in India, as each goat provides live-sustaining income to a family in need.

Last year, 54 poor farmers in six villages in the state of Orissa, India, harvested three times the rice paddy crops from previous years, supplying increased food and income to their families. Why the three-fold increase in crops? What changed to produce such an increase?

Well, farming changed, thanks to Bill and Marilyn Rishel, who are working with India Partners to supply two types of fertilizer to farmers in need.

In 2003, Bill Rishel visited Dr. Iris Paul, our partner staff in Orissa, and saw firsthand the impact being made.

“I had the great privilege of visiting Dr. Iris Paul with a veterinary team. I saw how they were changing many lives through the income generation projects.”

In April 2011, India Partners began supplying two types of fertilizer to six villages in need, with the Rishel’s help...

When was the last time you gave someone a glass of water as a gift? Most of us probably never have. In India, where people die daily due to dehydration and water borne illnesses, water may be the most precious gift you could give. In India, 21% of all communicable diseases are related to unsafe drinking water (World Bank). And, it is estimated that 665 million people in India defecate outside in open sewers or fields, leading to infected water sources. Most sobering, the Indian Association of Pediatricians records that Indian infants, below the age of five, make for 25% of the total global deaths due to diarrhea-related causes.

Statistics like these can be overwhelming, especially for those of us who have few concerns when filling a glass of clean, cold water from our taps. However, being informed of this truth can also lead to action, as it did for Jeff Evers, who worked with India Partners to bring clean water to thousands across India...

Anasuri, a wife and mother of two children, was haunted with anxiety daily as her family struggled to survive. Deserted by her husband for weeks at a time as he wasted their earnings on alcohol, Anasuri was without money to buy food for her children. She was losing hope and feared the future.

There are many women in India with stories like Anasuri’s, and poverty traps them in hopelessness. According to the most recent census, nearly 300 million people in India live below the poverty line. Even more staggering, the World Factbook recorded 618 million women in India over the age of 15 are illiterate and without education. Without formal training, women are obligated by the financial needs at home to work as day laborers, beggars or sometimes become entangled in prostitution.

However, Anasuri’s story has a happier ending than most...