Sri Lanka, a teardrop-shaped island country off the southern coast of India is famous for its natural beauty, cultural diversity, and tea production.

The Sinhalese people, who comprise around three-fourths of Sri Lanka’s population, are Buddhists who follow the Hindu caste system. Half of the Sinhalese belong to the farming caste, raising animals or crops using primitive farming methods. A three-decade long civil war between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists, who wanted an independent state on the north side of the island, ended in 2009. An estimated 60,000 to 100,000 people were killed in conflict.

Nearly 45 percent of Sri Lankans live on less than $5 a day, and the country suffers from high rates of undernourishment, stunted growth and malnourishment, especially in children, according to the non-profit Borgen Project.

Many children in Sri Lanka, considered a major center of pedophilia, are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Several indigenous ministries are protecting such children, sheltering them and providing them with food, clothing, medical treatment, and discipleship in God’s Word. One of these ministries runs a rescue home for marginalized and exploited children, providing them with education, spiritual guidance, the saving knowledge of the Lord, and involvement with the local church where they get to attend Sunday school, Bible study, and prayer groups. Many of these children have grown up to serve in the ministry.

“Children, dirty and hungry, began arriving on our doorstep,” wrote the ministry leader. “Many of the children who came to our center had been abused by alcoholic and drug-addicted parents.”

With help from Christian Aid Mission, the ministry built a girls’ shelter and, later, a separate shelter for boys. Their literacy center provides children from four slums with an education. They also have a women’s shelter, where they provide a safe, caring environment for young women who have been raped or otherwise abused.

Other indigenous ministries in Sri Lanka share the gospel with unreached Hindus and Buddhists, helping poor families send their children to school and providing for their basic needs. Another ministry is bringing the gospel to remote villages and the Free Trade Zone where over 100,000 young men and women labor in 180 factories.

Sources: Joshua Project, CIA World Factbook, Borgen Project