A transformational encounter. Listen to the stories. Experience the hope.
Vibrant and lively, India offers visitors a riot of colours, flavours, sights and sounds not for the faint of heart!
With 1.2 billion people and the world’s fourth-largest economy, India’s recent growth and development has been one of the most significant achievements of our times. However, more than 400 million of India’s people - or one third of the world’s poor - still live in poverty. And a shocking 40 percent (217 million) of the world’s malnourished children are in India.
There is still much to be done in India, and TEAR’s partners, pushed on by their faith and heart to see their marginalised brothers and sisters experience new hope and new life, are humbly serving in some of the most challenging parts of the country.
Travel with TEAR to visit the inspiring work of TEAR’s longest standing partner, EFICOR, in Bihar, India. Bihar is the poorest region of South Asia, and yet you will be struck by the resilience of the people you meet and their big hearts to bring transformation not just for themselves but for their whole community.
Get ready to meet some powerful change-agents emerging in very unlikely places!
TEAR Australia’s involvement in India dates from 1971, when we first supported the work of the Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR).
Since 1967, EFICOR has been running bottom-up, grass-roots projects designed to empower the most marginalised Indians with tools, knowledge, confidence and resilience to bring about their own lasting development, across a range of sectors including maternal and child health, HIV & AIDS, disability, agriculture and climate change and urban poverty. The EFICOR staff have an inspiring commitment and sense of Christian calling to work in the most marginalised and socially excluded communities, especially Tribal and Dalit communities.
You will also have time to be impacted by the personal testimonies of EFICOR’s dedicated local Indian Christian staff. Through their passionate, faithful and humble work, we can see clear signs of God’s Kingdom breaking through.
“In a small flood-prone village in Bihar I had the chance to meet Priyanka and hear her story. Through the help of EFICOR who has been working in these severely flood affected areas, Priyanka is now the captain of her village's Task Force for disaster risk reduction and flood emergency response. Thanks to her training in this role she has been empowered with a new identity as someone the community can look to for help. She showed me around her village, the veggie gardens and her home. She showed me her henna, then asked to apply some to my hands, and we laughed at our terrible communication but still connected in a very special way. I admired the newfound confidence she has within herself and the selfless way she is serving her community.” (Kelsey Reist, travelled with TEAR to India in January 2017)
