Above is a close up shot of some adorable little "untouchable" Dalit kids enjoying a rare treat in a village in Nandigama, India.
They are called "Slumdogs" in the famous movie "Slumdog Millionaire", but these kids are not millionaires. The Dalit were actually called "the poorest of the poor" by Mother Teresa.

Jesus taught his disciples that the most important thing is love. He said we must love everyone even those who mistreat us and even our enemies. So love is the foundation for everything we do and teach these little Dalit kids who are mistreated and shunned by Indian society as "Slumdogs". Although they are poor in the world, they feel truly blessed because of Jesus.

So that's why we call them "Slumdog Disciples".



Our Non-Profit Organization is called RAGS CAGS (acronym for Reaching Abandoned Generation miSsion Caring for Abandoned Generation with CompaSsion), and God is using us to do great things for the poor in India.

Join us in the "Slumdog Disciples Movement" that is changing the lives for 4000+ Dalit children by praying, sharing on social media, supporting and/or volunteering with RAGS CAGS! Many amazing things are happening everyday and now this crowdfunding campaign is specifically focused on:

The One Day Camp for Dalit Children



Below is an email Jeevan, the founder of RAGS CAGS, sent to me and some supporters on June 5 about the big event:


Dear friends,

It was January 30, 2010. We were doing ministry in 24 villages. God gave us a vision to take a bold step to gather all our kids into one place. We called the camp "Here I Am - Kids Camp" (Speak God, I am ready to listen - 1 Samuel 3). 

Even though it was way beyond our ability and resources, IF God is for us, nothing can stand against us. Our God stood on our side, despite of persecution and limited resources there were 1243 kids registered.

We had an awesome time. We served food to 1300 heads. Children came to know that their family is a big family! That camp helped us to TRUST in God's ability more, and expand the Kingdom of God.




Glory to GOD, who can give life to lives.


Now, God gave us the same kind of vision to do another big camp. As I am going back to India for 2 months, we are praying to do this camp in the first week of July. (UPDATE: we have delayed it to July 12)





Theme: "Re-Main" (John 15:4)
We want to challenge children to follow Christ until they die.
We are expecting 1500 - 1800 kids.
We have to hire an Engineering college ground and hall (as we did in 2010).
We want to provide free & safe transportation of kids from villages to camp & camp to villages.
We want to serve lunch and snacks (evening) to 1500 kids and volunteers.





So we need your prayers for the camp and expenses. Our budget is $2800 (UPDATE: as of June 27 we have already reached half this amount so now we are crowdfunding for the remaining $1530, thanks to all those who have already donated to us and Praise The Lord!). Pray for it. We are so excited to work for HIS Kingdom. 74 volunteers are getting ready for special classes for the Camp. Can't wait to spend time with them. (UPDATE: a lot of amazing things have happened since being back). I'll be updating you.






Who am I to stop you from PRAYING & BEING A PART of this camp?


If you can REPLY with your greetings to this email for our kids, I WILL READ THESE GREETINGS to them in the camp. They will be so happy to know that they have somebody praying for them on the other side of the globe. (UPDATE: Attention Crowdfunders, you can write a message right here on this website!)

It would be awesome if you can attach your picture or family picture so that we can put that on the screen while we read.

Please find the following attached pictures from our event 4 years ago. (NOTE: the pics above are all from the camp in 2010)

Thank you.

In Him,

Jeevan

P.S. Some short clips of cute Slumdog Disciples ;)

It will cost about $2800, but God has supplied half already, but we feel blessed to share this publicly on the internet to allow more people to be a part of this amazing movement! We need $1530 for the following:

We are expecting 1500 - 1800 kids.
We have to hire an Engineering college ground and hall (as we did in 2010).
We want to provide free & safe transportation of kids from villages to camp & camp to villages.
We want to serve lunch and snacks (evening) to 1500 kids and volunteers.

***All funds that go over our goal of $1530 will not be wasted, because the need is great, so it will go towards:
- some extra and unexpected expenses for the One Day Camp
- setting up a Social Enterprise project to support kids' education and their parents financially, it's tentatively called Mercy Tea (we still gotta let the kids vote on the name)! We will need to purchase some tea, sticker notebooks, pens, envelopes. We will offer them in the store later. Don't worry we'll keep you updated!
- some funds will go towards helping with Edward's last minute plane ticket of $2000. Edward is flying over to help out with the Camp and the new Social Enterprise project in hopes of helping Dalit families to become sustainable. Edward is paying out of his own pocket, so any support would be great! Thanks to Janny for your unexpected but much appreciated donation last night, and Mommy too!

(NOTE FROM EDWARD ON JUNE 28): I don't have the exact breakdowns of the budget right now because I am in Canada still and Jeevan is in India already and he is bit limited with his internet access and he's quite busy there. I will update this when I get the info asap.)

Jeevan is a Dalit. All the children that God has called Jeevan to serve are Dalit.

Dalits are lower than the lowest caste in Indian society...
They are considered "Untouchables" by other Indians, because they believe that if they touch them they will become polluted. This makes it almost impossible for Dalits to improve their lot in life not only for themselves but also for their children and children's children, and so on. That's because they are born into the caste of their fathers for life with no chance to move up in society. They are the 250 million people in India which a recent blockbuster film called "Slumdogs".

Mother Teresa devoted her life to helping the "Untouchables" in Calcutta...
She called them the "poorest of the poor" because not only are they extremely physically poor but they are unloved by their fellow Indians for fear of becoming an outcast themselves for merely "touching" a Dalit.



I was surprised to find out that Dalits don't respect Ghandi like the rest of the world. It is because Ghandi prevented a radical change in the constitution which would reserve specific seats in the government for only Dalit officials. But, maybe Ghandi being very spiritual-minded knew that without a radical transformation in the hearts of the Indian people, politics will not help but make the problem even worse? I don't know, but I know their is a huge traditional cultural stronghold in India that goes back thousands of years! It is very sensitive and Ghandi is not the only great leader who preached non-violent revolution, Jesus did too!



Jesus taught his Disciples to teach the world to "love your neighbours as yourselves"...
And to care for the poor orphans and widows. Jesus and his disciples taught that that was what it really means to love God and to believe in God! He even said you must love your enemies, and bless them and pray for them! Wow, that's radical and seemingly impossible if not insane. But, Jesus also taught that all things are possible in God if we believed. This is the most important thing we can teach the children! This is the "Slumdog Disciples Movement"! It is a "Love Revolution"!



So please pray for God's love to breakdown all barriers whether social, religious, spiritual, or anything.
We really appreciate your financial support for this One Day Camp for the kids, which we trust God will bless them and empower them with faith in His unfailing love. God has used so many of you to bless and support us already! But, the greatest challenge by far is the human hearts controlled by man-made traditions, cultures, and ideologies. With all our prayers together we trust at the perfect time God will melt those all away with the revelation of His Great Love for the world! Indians believe that Jesus was a prophet, but they don't know much about him and probably have some misconceptions. Chances are if you are a non-Christian reading this you probably have some misconceptions about Jesus too. Well, let me clear that up for y'all: Jesus loves us, period. ;)

With brotherly love,

Edward