(The name has been altered and the photos shown were taken by our brother Chris Croft from Seattle while he volunteered with HOPE in India. They are not photos of Shanta)
All over this wonderful country women are suffering in silence. In the Western world people do not see the need for a women's liberation movement any more. Right here in India it is the need of the hour!
Shanta was born in Western India near the city of Solapur, not too far from Mumbai. Her family were poor landless labourers. As is common with girls from her background she got married at the age of twelve to a man she had never met, who was also twice her age. Her husband, Maruthi, was also a labourer from a poor family.
Barely into her teens Shanta remembers vividly her first night at her new husband's home. Still very innocent and not having reached puberty yet she was ignorant of marriage matters. Needless to say the next few weeks left her traumatized.
Shanta gradually got used to this treatment. She eventually became pregnant the next year after she reached puberty. At the same time she had also started working alongside her husband as a construction labourer. For those of us who have seen photos of India we may have come across pictures of stick thin women carrying heavy piles of bricks on their head. That is what Shanta did day in and day out.
One year after she delivered her first child Shanta had another baby. Still so young, her body could not handle the stress of two pregnancies as well as the heavy physical work. Shanta could barely stand. As is common in such cases, her husband and his family deemed her "useless" and decided to get rid of her so Maruthi could marry a sturdier woman.
Shanta's husband and his parents took her to a distant place and threw her and her new baby into an abandoned well. Shanta did not die but lay there unconscious until the next day when some villagers found her and rescued her. She gave them information about her mother. The villagers sent for Shanta's mom who came to pick her up. She and her mother, along with the baby, had to walk for a whole day before reaching home, begging for food along the way.
Shanta then received a message that her first son was very ill. For two days she walked to reach her husband's place, carrying her newborn baby. When she got there it was too late. Her son had died and was already buried. She went into depression and shut herself off for three months, but then life had to go on. She started working as a construction labourer again and moved back in with her husband and in-laws.
By the time Shanta was twenty she had three sons and a daughter. Years passed and tragedy struck again when Shanta was a grandmother. One of her sons contracted AIDS and died. His wife also died. Now in her old age Shanta had to care for her three year old granddaughter. Due to her hard life, Shanta did not feel very strong and she despaired, wondering how she would cope. She seriously thought of ending her life. One afternoon she had made her way to the local canal, contemplating thoughts of suicide when she noticed two women sitting by the canal.
Geetha and her daughter Sangita, both disciples in the Mumbai church, were having a quiet time together. The Holy Spirit led them to speak to Shanta, not only saving her life, but also her soul. Shanta could not read and write so it took her a long time to study the Bible. She also found it hard to open up about her life. When she did so it took nine months of meetings, love, and perseverance on the sisters' part to help Shanta through her pain.
The study that convicted Shanta the most was the study about the cross. Shanta broke down during the study as she saw someone who had suffered even more than she did. Unfailingly this study has a big impact on the women of India as they hear for the first time that someone else suffered and was mistreated as they were. Jesus understands and they also relate to his pain.
Shanta's daughter also became a disciple and helped her mother by reading the Bible to her. Today Shanta feels liberated. Her life circumstances have not changed. She is still poor. She still lives in a slum. The difference is that she has found a healing relationship with God and a loving family in the church.
