In the Naga regions of northeast India the natural beauty is breath-taking. There are mountains that rise into the blue sky and slope downward into vibrant green valleys that showcase rice paddies, meandering streams and warm, rural people who readily welcome others into their homes and treat them like family. In these rural villages people work with their hands, ribbons of smoke drift lazily upward from chimneys and life goes on just as it has for generations but hidden beneath the surface of this old-world community lurks a very modern-day problem; Drugs. The problem of drugs is certainly not unique to the Nagas, but their towns, which lie on the border of Myanmar are inundated with illegal substances which flow out of that country like a river. Poverty in the region leads to needle-sharing which results in my friends’ city, Ukhrul, having the highest rate of HIV in the Indian state of Manipur. This is particularly note-worthy when you consider that Manipur has the highest rate of HIV in all of India. The most tragic problem associated with this regional drug use is that many children are either abandoned by drug-addicted parents or are left as orphans when their parents die from overdoses or HIV.
In the year 2020 even this remote part of the world, heavily influenced by Christian missionaries, is not immune from this contemporary problem. Having been deeply touched by the plight of these precious children, the leadership of Faith Fortress has made the decision to begin to provide support to them in a tangible way. We have begun identifying children who are being fostered by extended family and are laying the groundwork for providing food, shelter, school and transportation fees, school supplies, school uniforms, medications, and Christian support to these helpless young people. Above all, we seek to provide a loving reminder that they have not been forgotten. that they are loved by God and even by people from far away who they have never met.
It is a tremendous honor to be allowed by our heavenly father to be his hands and feet as we serve these innocent children. In the 25th Book of Matthew Jesus tells us that when we serve “the least of these” it is the same as serving him. What a blessing and an opportunity.