Today, we received the following email from Compassion concerning their work in India.
“Earlier in the year, the Indian government placed restrictions on Compassion which meant we were unable to send funds to our local partners in India. The majority of our projects continue to operate to some degree in India, but most have very little money left and some have had to suspend certain activities. We’ve been working closely with the Indian government and have complied with all requests, including re-registration and government approval of all our local partners. However despite our best efforts, the situation has not improved.
I’d like to ask you to pray urgently for this situation.
We’re praying regularly as an organisation and will have a day of prayer and fasting on 6 December. I’d like to invite you to join us in prayer as we continue to try every avenue open to us.
Please pray:
• For our local partners delivering the Compassion programme in India. That, despite having very few funds left, they are able to continue to deliver support and care for the children in their communities for as long as possible.
• For those in senior positions in the Indian government. That they will deliver a favourable outcome for Compassion which allows our work in India to continue.
• For politicians in the USA. On 6 December, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives will hear testimony from Compassion International about the situation with the Indian government. Please pray for Compassion staff as they prepare for this, and that the US government will respond positively to these submissions and will advocate strongly on behalf of the children in our programme.
• Above all, pray for the children living in poverty in India. That their needs are prioritised by everyone involved in these negotiations, and that Compassion is allowed to serve them. We currently have approximately 130,000 children in our programmes in India.
We are now at a critical stage with our India programmes as this will determine the viability of continuing our work in India. Our hope and prayer is that we are able to continue to reach out to the poorest of the poor and enable children to gain access to food, education and all the tools they need to break free from the chains of poverty. But without the ongoing co-operation of the Indian government, this will not be possible.”