Humanitarian Aid & Disaster Relief
256 times. That’s how many times God draws our attention to the plight of the poor in the Bible. Here we hear the heartbeat of God calling his people to a life of compassionate responsibility demonstrated through generosity and acts of kindness.
Mirroring God’s heart Crossroads sponsors several humanitarian aid projects in partnership with our national partners and other like-minded organizations. Humanitarian aid projects in India, Pakistan, and South Africa include – feeding programs, disaster relief, Micro-lending and Micro-development initiatives, Early Childhood Education Centers, and ending human trafficking.
The outcome we seek through our programs is to demonstrate God’s love authentically and tangibly for people everywhere, especially those suffering from generational poverty, injustice, or natural disaster.
Human Trafficking: Project Light
Children make up 70% of the bonded labor force in Pakistan which sits at a staggering 4 million people. Most of these children were sold into this modern-day form of slavery by desperate parents living at the edge of extreme poverty and crushed by debt. Driven by despair many parents are forced into making heart wrenching life and death decisions choosing to sell one or two children to save the others from starvation. Suffocating feelings of abandonment and stifling fears of an uncertain future take their toll on these children. Traded, abused, used, and disposed of as property many become victims of human trafficking. The heartbreak of this situation is outpaced only by the evil of it.
Through its Project Light initiative Crossroads fights to end the trafficking of these young children. Over the last number of years, 24 children have been rescued by Crossroads in conjunction with our national partners in Pakistan. Rescued children are adopted by Christian families in Pakistan who provide for their care and education.
Micro-Lending Initiatives and Micro-Development Projects:
How do you reasonably and responsibly meet the burgeoning problems extreme poverty thrust upon an individual, society, and the world? How do you meet a starving persons’ daily need for food without creating an abyss of never-ending welfare? How do you work to create sustainable enterprises, which fosters self-reliance and personal responsibility as well as community responsibility? And how do you do all of that among the societal and economic outcasts of a community, individuals without either skills or financial means?
One way is through Crossroads Micro-lending and Micro-development projects. Micro-development projects and Micro-lending initiatives are catalysts for positive change in the lives of those who struggle under the crushing weight of generational poverty.
By providing skills training programs, as well as the tools and resources for Micro-businesses, Crossroads is empowering people to change their lives, breaking the cycle of poverty to become responsible citizens and examples in their communities.
We believe empowering individuals for change begins with establishing a vibrant and loving relationship with God through salvation and forgiveness of sins and carries on through to equipping people with the skills and tools necessary to bring about meaningful change in their financial situation.
Micro-development projects have included Honey Production, Micro-Fish Farms, and Micro-Sewing business in India. Excess profits from these initiatives fund the Early Education Program for poor and underprivileged children from the slums of Dimapur, Nagaland, India. In South Africa Micro-development projects have been in the form of small farm to market kiosks located in open marketplaces and micro-business startups.
A Micro-business Success Story
In Pakistan Micro-lending initiatives have funded women’s empowerment through the creation of small business startups like snack shack kiosks at local high schools. Rehana, a widow, and mother of six was rescued from human trafficking and given a small business loan which led her to being a successful businesswoman.
Rehana’s Story: From Sex Slave To Small Business Owner
As a Christian you play a key role in ending the exploitation of human trafficking!
One way you can work against this modern-day slavery is by donating to the Crossroads Project Light Fund. Donated funds are used to provide impoverished families startup funding for sustainable micro-businesses. These micro-businesses provide a means for a family caught in the grip of generational poverty to earn an income, put food on their table, and care for the educational needs of their children. It is also how families struggling with chronic poverty stay out of situations that inevitably lead to exploitation and slavery.
Early Childhood Education Centers:
Crossroads establishes Early Childhood Education Programs for vulnerable and underprivileged children from the slums of India and squatter camps of South Africa. Our Early Childhood Education Programs provides a means of addressing generational poverty and the exploitation of children being trafficked. The education, textbooks, school supplies, and school lunches are free for children living at the raw edge of extreme poverty, removing one of the largest barriers to an education for families caught in the cyclical grip of generational poverty.
Food Distribution & Feeding Projects:
Over 385 million children in India, 8.9 million in children South Africa, and 34 million children in Pakistan live in extreme poverty. Begging, stealing, working as bonded child laborers, and child prostitution becomes the only means of survival. Through food distribution and feeding projects Crossroads is reaching out to the neglected, abandoned, and rejected children of Pakistan, India, and Africa who are left to fend for themselves in an increasingly harsh and unrelenting world.
