Sherry Bailey, Surrey-based director of Dalit Freedom Network Canada, was recently in India. Following is her account of the highlights.

THE MOST exploited people in the world today are the Dalits of India. And the great tragedy is that most of the world has never heard about them.

With the help of Christian organizations in India and concerned Christians in many countries worldwide, 60 medium schools have been started for Dalit children. More than 8,000 children are being taught in English, from a Christian worldview.

I vvvld. I have been a Sunday schisited several of these schools, and was amazed at the transformation in these children's lives.

We arrived at one school just as the children were lining up for their morning prayer in the school yard. Standing in rows, they looked bright and ready to learn in their clean school uniforms and combed hair.

It was hard to imagine they had just come from their mud hut homes, with no electricity or running water.

Every morning, one of the children is assigned the role of leading the others in prayer. On this particular morning, a grade four student bowed her head and loudly led the other children, reciting: "Our Father who art in Heaven . . ."

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Tears sprang to my eyes as I recognized this little girl.

Last fall, at the school's opening ceremony, one of the Dalit fathers came to the microphone to thank the teachers and Christian leaders for starting the school in his village.

As the guests could not speak the tribal language, and the father could not speak English, he had his grade four daughter standing beside him, interpreting his thanks. The teachers and guests were amazed.

Concluding his remarks, the father stated: "Had it not been for this school and the opportunity for my children and family, I would have sold my daughter for $10."

This was the girl who led the Lord's Prayer.

For 3,000 years, 250 million Dalits have lived under a caste system which has held them in bondage and spiritual tyranny. But as I looked into the faces of the children and saw them as created and loved by God, I realized that whatever we could do for even one child would make a difference.

I could not escape the heart cry of the Dalit parents and leaders: "We give you our children. Free them from this tyranny. Give them education and a new spiritual hope."

Contact: dalitfreedom.net

July 2007