Children of God. Crushed under foot. Untouchables. Outcasts. Dalits. These are few of the words that have been used to describe this people group. Have you heard of them? Few have. Not even a part of the caste system, the Dalits suffer human rights violations and other persecution on a daily basis – simply because of the caste system of India.

The world knows about Africa...about abject poverty...about human rights and the need to abolish slavery.  But I don't believe the world is fully aware of what is taking place in India.  Slavery still exists in India.  Discrimination, in its worst form, exists in India...  this isn't the type of discrimination that simply means you might get passed over for a good job.  This is the type of discrimination that means you are required to clean toilets, work for no pay, and scavenge for left-over grains of rice in the fields.  And if you so much as look at an upper caste member, or allow your shadow to fall on them, you will at minimum be tortured...perhaps raped or killed.

It was quite shocking to actually visit a village where people had recently been burned alive inside their houses...simply because of their caste...or more accurately because of their lack of caste.  See...this is the reality.   The upper and lower castes all have their place in society.  Dalits don't have a place... There is no niche for them.  Their land is taken away... their women and children are consistently used for sex and child labor. It's the last place on earth where slavery is legal, in its rawest form.

Yet in all this, change is possible...not just possible...it’s actually happening!  There is a great hope for these people. The system is showing first signs of cracking...  It just might be possible that compassionate men and women in this generation can make a major change in India for 250 million people.