JUNE 2010
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Voices crying
From the concrete jungle of Dhaka to the chaotic slums of Mumbai, millions of voices are crying out in the megacities of South Asia , in
need of food, water, clothes and shelter. But more than that, they are crying out in need of hope, in need of a future, in need of a Savior.
DHAKA ā The Concrete Jungle of Bangladesh
Questioning, wondering, searching, never finding, coping,
struggling, surviving and dying. Every day in Dhaka we see
people who fit into many, if not all, of these categories. With
a population of more than 13 million people, the sheer mass
of humanity sometimes feels as if it could suffocate you. It is a
concrete jungle in one of the most overpopulated and impovĀ¬
erished countries in the world. Sewage flows openly as masses
of humanity walk the streets, hurrying from one destination
to another. Silence is unknown to the city's inhabitants, as
honking horns, rickshaw bells,
street hawkers' calls and millions
conversing at once fill the air with
a cacophony of sound. Even in the
still of the early morning, before the
break of dawn, the silence is broken
by hundreds of mosques blaring
out their call to prayer to all who
slumber. Some may ignore its call,
but it is hard to say how many are
truly willing to risk eternity for not following through with their
works-based religion. Praying five times a day is one of the five
pillars of Islam, and there is no room for grace. It is not even
a term they know. They believe God is far from them ā an
unseen force to be feared greatly and whose impending judgĀ¬
ment colors every aspect of their lives.
MUMBAI ā A City in Chaos
Mumbai is a city in perpetual motion and mercantile fervor,
a place of dreams for individual success and a place of tanĀ¬
gible physical, spiritual and financial distress. With more than
20 million inhabitants, Mumbai is the largest metro area in
India. It is the financial and film industry capital and home to
South Asian corporate giants. At the same time, the city fails
to adequately house more than 12 million slum and street
dwellers. With such an eclectic mix, social problems are more
than enormous. The city expresses appalling economic class
and caste disparity between rich and poor: those with palatial
penthouses and families stretching out on the streets at night;
those educated in private schools and those with little or no
education; those whose homes have multiple servants and
those who serve. It is a chaos like no other,
yet like all others, in need of Christ. SpirituĀ¬
ally it is a chaotic mix, with festivals and
celebrations that overlap and chafe one
anothers' traditions. The existing church in
Mumbai is well aware of its minority status
in an overwhelmingly Hindu and Muslim
culture. Statistically, the church is losing
ground with every breath and every birth,
but there is hope in Jesus!
Remember the words of Jesus as you pray over the megacities
represented in the South Asian peoples (Matthew 9:36-38).
For more information about South Asia, please e-mail
SouthAsianPeoples@wigtake.org or visit go2SouthAsia.org.
Stories and prayer requests written and distributed by South Asia
News are provided free of cost
for publication and circulation.
Please send questions, comments
or requests for photographs to
SouthAsiaNews@wigtake.org.
JUNE PRAYERPOINTS:
** South Asian megacities
Global prayer points
Medical Summit
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