What follows is a story provided by Christian artist, Andrew Osenga.  He has played with "The Normals," "Caedman's Call," and is also a single artist in the Contemporary Christian scene.  He is a fine artist with a great heart for humanity.  What follows is a story-line that is self-explanitory.

What are you thoughts about  'The Dalits?'

I'm very hungry now. It's 8:15 PM and I haven't eaten anything all day. I'm taking part in something called the 40 Day Fast. Fasting is a Christian "discipline" where you don't eat for a period of time to devote yourself more fully to prayer. Specifically, I'm one of 40 bloggers who are each fasting for one of these 40 days and writing about an area of the world in need, and pointing us towards people who are working to meet that need.

For those of you who know my history, you won't be surprised that I'm going to take this time to write about the Dalits. I've been singing about them and trying to be a part of their freedom for the past few years.



You may not know the name Dalit, but you've probably heard of "the Untouchables." And no, that has nothing to do with Kevin Costner or Al Capone. The Untouchables have been a part of Indian Hinduism for the past 3500 years. The religion teaches that, in relation to your actions in past lives, you are born into a certain level, or "caste", of social, economic and religious status.

Like all hierarchies, there are a few people up at the top and a bunch down below. In this case, there are 300 to 400 million people in the lowest castes (of which there are hundreds of sub-castes) and there are 250 to 300 million people who are below the castes entirely. These are the untouchables. 250 million is the population of America, by the way.

The people below that invisible line are treated terribly. They are considered less than animals. They do the jobs no one else will. They handle dead animals, dead humans, and their waste. They're usually denied basic healthcare and education. Most can not read or write, so their history is handed down through stories and songs.



I got to travel to India a few years ago with Caedmon's to write and record an album based on stories of the Dalit. We went with an amazing organization called Dalit Freedom Network (DFN). Nanci, Joseph, and all the rest of the people we've worked with have been amazing. A few of their staff even joined us on tour playing tablas and singing.

The upper caste has all the power in India. They have all the good jobs, they're the doctors, lawyers and politicians, and it's a good situation. Not that they're any worse people than anybody else, but they don't believe it's wrong and it's obviously a good thing to keep secret. And they're great at it. Colin Powell was flying into Delhi while we were there and we were shown the route he would be taken from the airport to his hotel. There were ten-foot white walls on either side of the road. It was beautiful. There were no beggars anywhere. It was the only time in a month in India that we saw no beggars.

The people in charge believe the Dalits deserve what they get. You wouldn't let Ella out of time out when I put her there, so why should we help the people God is punishing? That's the thinking, anyway. And because of that thinking there are beggars everywhere. Cardboard shacks with families of ten. Millions of people in a few square miles of slums. It's insane.

The first night of our trip was in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, and we stayed in a hotel called the Leela. It was nice, very nice, actually. And down the street was a really nice Hyatt. In between them was a big garbage heap, and over a hundred people living in it. Children were living in it. Children were living in the garbage right outside my window. And somehow I still went to sleep.

We were just surrounded by incredible oppression. It's not just poverty. Poverty is when no one has anything. Oppression is when one of the richest countries in the world has over half of its people living in poverty.

And that's where Dalit Freedom Network steps in. They're just one small arm of Operation Mobilization, the largest missions organization in the world, birthed in India by our friend Joseph. They are fanning the flames of Dalit independence. They're building schools, hospitals and churches. They're teaching people the truth and encouraging them to fight, non-violently, for their rights.



We got to visit a few of their projects. The most amazing was a Dalit school. These children have uniforms, get good meals, sit at real desks and learn English, which will allow them a chance for a good job in the international community.

Most importantly, they're teaching these kids about Jesus. That he loves them and knows them. That they're not nothing, they're made in God's own image. That He died to set them free. Free from their sin, from their poverty, from their caste and their history.



So pray for DFN. Pray for the Dalits. Pray for strength, endurance and courage. Pray for resources and political change.

And act. Write your Senators and Representatives, a little pressure from the outside world will go a long way in India. Visit DFN's website and learn more.

You can donate very specifically through their site. You can sponsor a child or a teacher or a school. You can build a well or a hospital. You can provide medical care to a family You can pay for resources to spread the word and break the silence of the caste system.

And again, you can pray. All the money in the world won't fix the problem. Hearts need to be freed to believe the truth before anything else can happen.

And you can pray for me and my friends who've been there and have seen the oppression, and have been loved by the oppressed. We forget and move on and don't do all we can.

But praise God it's in His hands and not ours. There will be freedom, for all of us. And the last shall be first. I'll be at the back of the line and the Dalits will be right up front. I can't wait to see it.

P.S. by the way, if it makes any difference, these photos were taken by Randall Goodgame or me (we shared a camera that trip) and aren't stock photos off the internet.