By Stan Friedman<\/p>\n
PUNE, INDIA (February 7, 2007) \u2013 Jim Sundholm has witnessed suffering among tens of thousands of people of all ages living in the poorest regions of the world. But the director of Covenant World Relief (CWR) says he has hardly been more emotionally moved than he was by a child in India.
\n
\nAn eleven-year-old girl both broke Sundholm\u2019s heart and inspired him, all in the same moment. \u201cI will never forget her face,\u201d he says. \u201cShe had a glow on her that I\u2019ve rarely seen in a child.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Slum](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/EN\/Td\/ENTdN32RGAUDh1XemuTr4A\/Slum-street.jpg\")
That she could be so radiant once seemed impossible. Both of her parents had died. She was burdened with making sure her three younger siblings learned how to survive on the slum streets of Pune, the seventh largest city in the country with a population of 4.5 million, known as the \u201cOxford of the East\u201d due to its prestigious university.<\/p>\n
Each day, the four children would scavenge through garbage for rags they would clean and sell to people such as truckers, who would use them to check their oil. \u201cShe was a little entrepreneur,\u201d Sundholm says with admiration and awe.<\/p>\n
But the children lived under pieces of cardboard and faced a future that might be worse than the present. Odds were that, like millions of girls across the world, she would be forced into the thriving sex-slave trade.<\/p>\n
Sundholm met the girl when he toured a school operated by the Hindustani Covenant Church (HCC), which responded to her situation. The visit was part of a trip last November and December by he and Elliott Johnson, director of finance and controller for the Evangelical Covenant Church. They were traveling across Southeast Asia on an \u201caccountability trip\u201d to see how well the 2004 tsunami relief funding was being used.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was so excited to greet us,\u201d Sundholm says. \u201cShe was so happy.\u201d He asked the child what the new life meant to her. Her reply: \u201cWe\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Slum](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/j2\/py\/j2py3uIocpFo_WIo_IysCA\/Slum-pigs.jpg\")
The church is seeking to educate and care for children who still must work in factories and other businesses for only several dollars a month. Numerous children work directly or indirectly for overseas firms that are investing heavily in Pune.<\/p>\n
Each day, the children are able to eat a good meal, get clean, and receive several hours of instruction. That instruction includes learning a second language, which is needed if the children want access to better-paying jobs, which generally are supplied by overseas companies, Sundholm says.<\/p>\n
The church can\u2019t afford to take all the children off the streets, but the ministry is \u201cempowering the kids to take control of their hard lives,\u201d Sundholm says. \u201cThe church is trying to embrace the kids in their reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sundholm says he always is struck by the intense desire of impoverished children around the world to acquire an education. \u201cThese kids will come to a muddy building that is totally inadequate, but they are so excited because they can study.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds, \u201cI come back and I\u2019m really moved by how much we take education for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n
CWR donated funds for the ministry after Sundholm visited the school and has encouraged the HCC to submit a grant request for future assistance.<\/p>\n