He narrated the story. Following dispute with her husband this woman, married for 12 years, was contemplating of hanging herself to death from a tree outside her home. However, her husband asked her to listen to FM program on his mobile. She agreed and when she switched the mobile on, a program on Bible was being aired. The host was saying 'please listen to us before deciding to take your life due to worries.'
"She was going to die. But she listened our program carefully which had focused on reasons for committing suicide. As Jesus saved her life, now she's in refuge of Jesus," Sharma claims. He added that even her family matters got solved due to the blessings. "She reached out to Christian pastors and now everything is fine at her home," he claims.
While the story told by Sharma could be felt as nothing but just coincidence, the lady is not just one to change her view towards life and Christianity following the religious programs on local FMs, he claims. His organization runs such programs through 55 different FM stations throughout the country. Some people in Dang admit that they were drawn to the religion due to the programs in radio as well as the visitors in village who convince them of benefits of following Christianity.
"We also send our organization members to villages to 'show the path of light' to the people. Being a Christian organization it's our duty to disseminate the knowledge of Bible," said Sharma. "If you also want to come, you are welcome. Our job is to show right way to commoners," he added.
Sharma added the FM programs also spread awareness on HIV / AIDS. "Our programs inspire people to lead healthy and meaningful life. We teach them the art of life. We tell them the stories of the God," he said. "Those who are most suppressed and marginalized are our goal. Similarly, we also talk about women empowerment and moral values," he added while stating that organization does not have the record of people who have converted into Christians because of their programs influence.
Another Christian organization, CATS Nepal is equally active in poor communities. This year, the organization spent Rs 4 million for the 'poor people's welfare'. It claims that it helps the poor to lead a good and prosperous life. It has provided residential service for people with leprosy. "We keep them in the hostel and give them service. We are for helpless people," said Jiwan Gurung, Dang Chief of the organization.
Though it's termed as a hostel, medical service is provided to the residents and has dedicated care taking staffs at the facility. "We get the medicine for leprosy from Rapti sub regional hospital and our in-house staff members cater to their needs," said Gurung. "We are giving service to at least 20 to 25 people in a year," he added.
Another target of the organization is students. It has been providing stationeries and pocket money to the poor and helpless kids. Every year, it provides such support to new faces, ensuring that it is reaching to new demographics. "In a year, we support 35 such students. Every year, new student gets it," Gurung explained.
These are two of the representative Christian organizations that are spending millions of rupees to influence and draw people to Christianity. They implement several projects to reach to the target group that includes - poverty elimination, education, health and other awareness programs etc. Such programs make serious impact basically in poor and underprivileged communities.
Himalayan Bible Study Academy claims that Rs 18 million was spent in Dang district alone to train locals on Bible. Campus Crusade, another Christian organization in Dang, spent Rs 250,000 to spread awareness about Christianity in the district. According to its program coordinator Man Bahadur Roka, the conversion of people of other faiths into Christianity is not done forcefully but through convincing people.
"To lead a happy and healthy life it is important for the people to transform. We are just helping people in villages to do that," he said. He further added that the organization is planning to bring Church pastures for holding discourses on issues like life and god. "We have also dug two wells in Ghorahi, which have given easy access to water to people," Roka added.
Stating that prayers to God yields result, Roka evem claimed that prayers to God had helped in opening the recent border blockade in Birgunj. "After 40 days of fasting and prayers, the border opened," he said. His organization basically deals with young students. "So far, we have shown 'the right way' to almost 300 students through seminars and trainings," he said.
According to Dr Govind Acharya, Christian organization show different goal in papers and enter villages to spread their faith. "While some of these organizations openly spread Christianity, some do it through covert programs," he said adding that there's no exact record of how many such organizations are operating in the district as many come without registration.
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