Due to her weak financial condition, Bal sought refuge at the shelter as it offered to provide her free food, accommodation and education.
"Back at home everyone in my family is a Buddhist. But these people here pay all my expenses. Therefore, I converted to Christianity at their request," she said. Currently, Bal is studying in sixth grade and says the Christian shelter has been taking care of her for the last three years.
Similarly, Mahima Paswan is from a Hindu family. She has been living at the shelter for the past six years and has converted to Christianity also.
Children are taken in by the shelter at a very young age when they have no knowledge of their own religion. But when they live with people following Christianity, they too adopt that religion.
Currently, there are 10 girls from different indigent families residing at the Jesus Family Shelter. These girls are enrolled from grade one to eight, informed Prem Bahadur Balon, the shelter's secretary. He also informed that since the institution is run by Christians, it was mandatory for the children to follow Christianity if they lived there.
Poverty: A Multidimensional Problem, Nepalese Context
"Our caretakers tell us that the Christian god answers our prayers earlier than any other gods," said a child at the shelter. "They tell us that if we follow Christianity, we will get ourselves a place in heaven," she added.
A majority of locals in Makwanpur district either follow Hinduism or Buddhism. But the surge in the Christian population has them worried. According to the statistics of 2001, out of the district's total population of 392,604, Hinduism was followed by 49.4 percent or 193,801 individuals. But as of 2011, only 48.23 per cent, i.e. 202,912 individuals out of a total population of 420,477, identify themselves as Hindu.
Statistics from 2001 also show that 47.6 percent (187,014) of Makwanpur's population was Buddhist. And in 2011, the Buddhist population had dropped to 45.57 percent (191,603).
And as the number of Hindus and Buddhists is dropping, the percentage of Christians has increased by almost 250 per cent in the last 10 years, informed Makwanpur Statistics Department chief Nawaraj Poudel. Whereas in 2001, there were only 8,129 Christians (2.8 percent of the total population), in 2011 there were 20,354 Christian followers.
Christian foundations are found targeting poor locals in rural areas and luring them with various incentives to convert to Christianity. There are more than a dozen Christian-funded INGOs in Makwanpur district alone.
Pic: Children reading books at Jesus Family Shelter at Hetauda's Chauki Tole.
