A Defender of the Helpless
How Does an At-Risk Boy Become a Defender of the Helpless?
Meet Ravi.
He’s a husband and father. He earned a Masters in Journalism, is respected as a man of character, and has a clear passion for ministering to oppressed street children and street workers around Bangalore, India. Sometimes his phone rings at night because families call him during domestic fights. He recently traveled over 370 km to minister to temple prostitutes through Character Solutions as a Master Trainer. He was invited to return the following month to minister to the children in this same community. Ravi’s courageous and diligent effort helps more than 16,000 street children in Bangalore today.
You may be surprised to discover that Ravi’s preparation and heart for the poor was not inspired by family status, traveling opportunities, or even campus ministries. The foundation for his development was at a home for children near Bangalore: a family of orphans and abandoned kids supported through Mission to Children by everyday people like you and me.
Ravi first came to the orphanage at age six from an impoverished and seemingly hopeless background. His father was a Hindu priest; his mother would soon pass away. Ravi received much-needed love and care at the children’s home—and it is there he met Jesus Christ. Day by day, year after year, he demonstrated a hunger for the Word of God and developed a gift for teaching the other children at the Home.
At a young age, Ravi was noticeably compassionate toward poor people in the village and wanted to fight for social justice with Christian ethics and conviction.
Ravi soon graduated and completed his degree, writing for leading newspapers in the Kannada language. His articles exposed corruption in the government and the atrocities in Hindu temples by the priests. Ravi’s heart continued to ache for the helpless in his community, so he began to collaborate with local police, legal advisers, and local church groups to defend children and women. Is God still the Defender of orphans? I believe the street children in Bangalore would say “Yes!”
I wonder what would have happened to the blanket of protection and the dignity restored to street children and women in Bangalore had Ravi not upheld those Christian values?
I wonder, maybe as you do, without Ravi, who would get the 3 A.M. phone call from a despairing family in a domestic dispute?
“But You, O God, do see trouble and grief; You consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless” (Psalm 10:14)
What strengthens the fiber and integrity of a person to reach out and love others beyond their own comfort?
