Village women receiving life  changing education.

Perhaps only 2% or less of  village women can read and write.  It is very common for girls to be  married off or sold into slavery as young as 10 years of age in the villages areas. Girls are less desired by parents among the poverty stricken villages; they are considered of less value than boys, and even a burden.  They are not even taught to read or write.  

The dowry is still practiced in India, as are arranged marriages.  A village family with a daughter most often cannot pay a dowry.   Consequently, without an education to prepare them for finding work, these girls are often sold as a slave to another village man. Their lives are a nightmare of an existence,  often being sold from one owner to the next, and almost always beaten, abused, and raped. 

Brother Rout has distributed the books and chalk boards to these women.

The women who are fortunate enough to be married off to a decent husband often are at risk for miscarriages and a very high infant mortality rate.  Unable to read or write, and with no other means of learning proper care and hygiene, they women are ensnared by superstition, and traditions passed on to them by their mothers.  

This is why the Routs are burdened to reach these women.  Not only to offer them an opportunity to improve the quality of their lives, but also so that they may be able to read a gospel tract, Christian book or the Bible, and come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

These women are learning how to read and write with books and chalkboards provided by Dr. Rout and her team.

The Routs are currently reaching out to 45 villages with an estimated total population of 35,000  with the goal of reaching 4 new villages by the end of this 2003. In five villages, where daughter-in-laws are very much looked-down upon and tortured by mother-in-laws,  female counseling groups are formed. This counseling is accompanied by the adult female education program  The mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws attend the classes together, listening and learning  whatever we teach them. This brought out a great change in many villages and now many pregnant daughter-in-laws are being brought by their mother in-laws for antenatal check-up in spite of their previous superstitious beliefs on the matter.

Leaders of one village with some of the women in the literacy program standing outside the building in which they meet.

Significantly, many of the villages in which the Routs are now able to carry on their work are among the most hardened fundamentalist Hindus.  Where evangelists and missionaries are not able to take the Gospel without great risk of being beaten or killed, the Routs have been given not only permission to carry on their work, but cooperation from the village leaders as well.  The men are given oil lanterns as a source of light for their wives to learn to read and write.  This is also illustrates succinctly what the Routs mission is among the lost, bringing light to those who dwell  in darkness.

A joyful village woman receives her certificate of completion for the literacy program.