International Women’s Day Brings Laser Focus to Violence against Women

Gospel for Asia Employs Direct Woman-to-Woman Answer to Conditions of India’s Oppressed GFA President Yohannan Available for Comment/Interview CARROLLTON, Texas – As the global community highlights violence against women on International Women’s Day March 8, Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org) is addressing the needs of some of the world’s most oppressed women in India through a […]

Gospel for Asia Employs Direct Woman-to-Woman Answer to Conditions of India’s Oppressed

GFA President Yohannan Available for Comment/Interview

CARROLLTON, Texas – As the global community highlights violence against women on International Women’s Day March 8, Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org) is addressing the needs of some of the world’s most oppressed women in India through a unique woman-to-woman approach.


“Because of their subjection to violence at the hands of men and endurance of inhuman treatment with impunity, many women in these cultures are not willing to go public about it,” said K. P. Yohannan, founder and president of Gospel for Asia. “This makes it more urgent for us to reach out to these suffering people with hope and freedom.”

“Women Reaching Women” is Gospel for Asia’s answer to the dilemma, sending women missionaries to minister directly to women. These national women missionaries complete three years of intensive training to equip themselves to serve in India’s most unreached areas – villages, slums and leprosy colonies.

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “A promise is a promise: It’s time for action to end violence against women.” The brutal rape and ultimate death of an unnamed woman in New Delhi in late December 2012 opened the eyes of the world to violence against women in India and their deeply rooted social plight.

“Women Reaching Women” is especially effective in rural areas of India where abuse occurs regularly, without retribution, and in urban areas where women are often forced into prostitution. Gender-based abortions, the dowry system and illiteracy are among a long list of cultural issues Indian women face.

“In the heart of this culture, women missionaries are taking hope to desperate, abused and lonely women through literacy programs, childcare information and basic medical education,” said Yohannan. “In all of this, mercy and love are paramount motivations.”

Ministry to widows is increasing through “Women Reaching Women.” In a society where widows are often blamed for the death of their husbands, regardless of the actual cause of death, many of them are abandoned, turned out of their homes and even murdered.

Women missionaries are dealing with widows living on the footpaths of busy streets or under overpasses and equipping them with tailoring skills and sewing machines or simple vegetable carts to provide a living, all supported by GFA donors.

A new corps of “Women Reaching Women” ambassadors in the USA and Canada is raising awareness among women in the West who can directly make a difference by sponsoring a missionary.


“The best way to minister to women in India is through other women,” said Kristi Olson, Minneapolis-based success strategist for women in business and one of GFA’s newest “Women Reaching Women” ambassadors. “It’s such a privilege for us to speak for those who have no voice and to raise awareness of these dedicated women missionaries on this International Women’s Day.”

“In gaining the trust of abused women, these women missionaries are showing that God can be trusted, loves them and answers their prayers,” said Yohannan.

To learn more about “Women Reaching Women” or to sponsor a woman missionary, call 800-946-2742 or visit www.gfa.org/women/.

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Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org) is a mission organization based in Carrollton, Texas, involved in sharing the love of Jesus across South Asia.

To schedule an interview, contact Taun Cortado at 972-300-3379 or [email protected].

Photo: Gospel for Asia women missionaries in India are taking hope to desperate, abused and lonely women through literacy programs, childcare information and basic medical education.

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