Troy Akers's Vision Trip To India With The CO For The Dalit People

Vital Stats

Troy A

Nashville, TN

  • People Doing It250000000

The Problem

There are over 250,000,000 Dalit people in the country of India. As a direct effect to their social status, they are held up underneath the status of "human". It is a devastating travesty that these people are going through. They are denied health care. They are denied education. They are denied dignity. (There are countless stories of if an upper class Indian is "touched" by the shadow of a Dalit person, they immediately go home...to cleanse.) They are denied aid. They are denied life. // Each year over one to TWO million Dalit women and children are trafficked into slavery...and sexual slavery. I live in Nashville ... which is about One million people ... thus that is two Nashvilles...everytime. Every year. Unbelievable. But it's true. MY goal is in many ways overwhelming to myself. But the main goal, is action. No one within India is joining alongside The Dalit becos they simply say it is not an issue. With the government being run by the Hindu religion, the caste system, whether publicly acknowledged or not, is very much present. The Dalit people have no one fighting on their side. And the epidemic of their strife is growing and infesting deeper and deeper. This simply needs to be stopped. Being one person, perhaps I cannot change this entirely, but with one person seeking change...it can become contagious. I can't deny this. I have to stand with them.

Plan of Action

Before anything else is said, this is most definitely a VISION trip. With DFN, I have planned a trip for myself to go as a member of The CO. We are publicizing it that way, and I am telling everyone that this is a trip with The CO. I will fly into Bangalore where DFN has recovery homes, and immediately join up with them in helping out. The plan is, as a musician to bring in a new method of ministering to the recovering Dalit people through music. I will be playing a few concerts in Bangalore as well as flying to Hyderabad to do the same. I know that this trip will be different in terms of what happens from my last times there. The Dalit that I am going to be coming in contact with will have had several months of support and help...and my main plan of action is to further that in reaching them in a way that not many there could. I hope that through these concerts, I am able to take this back to the states, and cultivate a way to make that a permanent thing. That is the main reason I am calling this a vision trip. DFN has planned out several stops for me along the way in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi---but the main goal of this journey is to get me there, as Troy Akers of The CO, and figure out how deep we can go with The Dalit...what sort of STAND I can make for them there, AND when I return home. We want this to be the start of a long-term thing...DFN has talked about starting a music portion of ministry for the Dalit recovering, with The CO, and that will be one option we will explore while there. It all will have to do with how the Dalit respond...and how much that empowers them. // SO my plan? Go. Listen. Sing. Touch. Grow. Return. REPEAT. // DFN already has a well-oiled machine...the trick will be seeing how myself and my band The CO, can come alongside that, and grow it...and make it louder.
Go
Human Trafficking
Human Rights

Related Stuff