Where We Work: South Asia
Like East Asia, South Asia has been experiencing rapid growth in recent years, but many of the 1.4 billion residents are in danger of being left behind by their own country’s rapid growth. Many communities have none of the necessary skills to let them take advantage of new business opportunities. And despite growth in some economies, millions are left still facing the same problems their parents and grandparents faced.
HIV/AIDS is widespread in some areas, due in part to the prevalence of the sex trade. Women and young girls are also trafficked across borders to be sold into service as sex workers. The need for clean water and sanitation exists in many places, and natural disasters like the 2004 tsunami have devastated enormous areas.
ADRA is giving men, women, and children the ability to better themselves and advocating for the social changes it will take for even more people to be able to live full and happy lives. For more information on what ADRA is doing in South Asia, read the stories and project descriptions by clicking on the tabs above.
Fighting TB
With an unemployed husband, dominating in-laws and poverty pangs, Gauri Devi’s life had become miserable. In most parts of Bihar, India, women are expected to lead a subservient life and suffer in silence. The stigma of having Vitiligo added to her woes.
While Gauri Devi was contemplating on how to move ahead with life she was fortunate to meet some members of the womens group in one village who were having their regular monthly meeting. They invited Gauri to be part of the group and gradually she became a member of the Ganga Swaym Sahayata Same (SHG) This group encourages women to save a portion of their small income and also discusses issues concerning them and their families. The Axshya project uses groups like these as platforms to address tuberculosis or TB related issues and empowers its members to become TB advocates.
The smile on Shaira's face!
Shaira is one of the project participants living in her temporary house in a slum in Mymensingh town in Bangladesh. Shaira is a widow with a daughter and a son. Her teenage son tries to support the family with occasional income. Shaira’s daughter is 22 years old and married when she was 15. Her husband left her with a daughter and two sons, it’s been a year now that these children are helpless. They are all now living with Shaira. The Children are often sick and are suffering from malnutrition. The little place they live in is very dirty.
Provide a Brighter Future in Asia
Four billion people call it home.
The deadliest disasters happen here.
It has the worst polluting cities . . .
And most of the world's undernourished.
For more than 50 years, ADRA has been ministering to the needs of millions of people in Asia. Without ADRA's continuing ministry of compassion and mercy, millions of children, women, and men would be left hopeless in the depths of poverty.
Literacy = Knowledge; Knowledge = A Better Life
Educating and training for women and girls changes their lives and the future of their families and communities.
In 2009, ADRA has set a goal to raise $1.5 million to bring access to education to women and girls around the world.
Your gift today will open the doors to an education and a better life.
ADRA Delivers Increased Aid in Southern Myanmar
On May 14, ADRA finalized a cooperative...
Water for Life
In East Timor, ADRA is the only humanitarian agency focusing its efforts on the hard-to-reach region of Viqueque. Instead of assisting the needs of people near the capital city, the few ADRA staff are bringing clean water to remote villages.
Spring 2011 Works Update
We've all heard the proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. As much as possible, ADRA projects are designed to follow this concept, and our initial investment in a community continues to make a difference for a very long time - even if ADRA stops working in an area.
The sewing machines for the Philippines project appeared in the 2006 edition of ADRA's Really Useful Gift Catalog. Private donors enabled an initial distribution of 18 sewing machines. Each woman was required to pay ADRA 550 pesos [$13] a month to repay the loan of the sewing machine. By requesting this, ADRA was able to turn this onetime gift catalog project into a sustainable sewing bank. To date, 120 sewing machines have been distributed over the past five years.
Cambodia - A Place of Hope
Since 1988, ADRA has been working throughout Cambodia. Water and sanitation, mother-child health, food security, stop smoking campaigns, adventure therapy, training village health workers and birth attendants are just a few of the current projects.
How A Two-ounce Baby Chick is Changing the Lives of Filipino Farmers
Alfonso Vinson, a 52-year-old Filipino farmer, is a living example of ADRA's motto: Changing the World, One Life at a Time. ADRA has helped Vinson twice now, one time, literally saving his life.
