Caring for Imprisoned Prostitutes — Nalla Sundarajan, founder of Lighthouse for Women

Nalla Sundarajan

Nalla Sundarajan is living a transformed life. Once a nominal Christian, she is now a deeply committed follower of Christ living in India seven months a year – a place she had no desire to return to live. She is running a non-profit organization that cares for imprisoned prostitutes. “Never in a million years had I thought about working with prostitutes,” says Nalla.  But God changed her life.

On April 21, I posted a story about her husband, Isaac. In that story, I mentioned Nalla’s call to open Lighthouse for Women in Chennai, India. The vision of Lighthouse for Women is to transform the lives of the most oppressed and abused women and their children; to break generational poverty and to provide opportunities for women to change their lives and the lives of their children. Lighthouse serves these women by providing temporary safe homes, and empowering them through literacy and vocational programs to help them gain financial independence.

Coming to faith

Nalla was raised in a Christian home. Her family attended church but she says, “I had no real understanding of who God was.” As she got older, she stopped going to church.

All that changed when she was 30. She read a book by Ruth Heflin called Glory, which is about the glory and reality of God. Nalla was impressed with this woman’s experience walking with God. “He’s so real to her. I said, ‘Lord, how wonderful would it be if I could get just a small, little piece of it.’”

Nalla decided to attend a women’s conference where Ruth Heflin was speaking. While at the conference, Nalla felt the presence of God. She describes her experience this way:

During the praise and worship, I sensed a strong presence of God. I was just shaking, crying uncontrollably. The reality was like God was saying “I don’t want you to deny me again.”

The next two nights Nalla had profound dreams about the people she was traveling with.

On the plane home, there was a passenger beside me. God dropped her name in my heart. How weird is that? I said “Excuse me, is your name so and so.” She said, “Yes, how do you know?” Then I began to share with her what had happened to me two days before. For whatever reason, God was also confirming to me what I had experienced was real. I realized that it wasn’t just my emotions that swept me away at the moment. That was the happiest day of my life. Since then, the Lord has become so real to me. He is my best friend, my everything.

After her experience, Nalla began to notice changes in her life. She says, “I think until that point, I was expecting a lot from Isaac even to sustain my self-esteem. There was such a need — a craving in my heart — but when Jesus became everything to me, I regained my self-esteem.  Also, the Word of God that used to be boring became very real to me — my daily bread.”

She also noticed changes in her behavior. She says, “Before this, I always had this thing where I would start projects but would never see them through.” But as Nalla began to take on new projects she started completing them, asking God to guide her through the process. For example, despite a lack of skill or enjoyment in sewing, she decided to take on the task of making drapes for all her upstairs windows. It was a daunting task, but she pushed through and was able to finish all the drapes by the deadline she had set for herself. She says, “In the big scheme of things people might say that it’s a very small thing. However, it was one step that God was showing me. It was like He was saying, ‘This is a huge thing that you undertook. However, I am with you and you can finish it.’”

She also went back to graduate school. Nalla hadn’t been to school in 13 years and had a rough start. She says she “felt completely lost with what the teachers were saying.”  But God carried her through. She earned straight A’s in all her classes. Nalla was the first student in her class to finish her thesis and did so while teaching part-time as well.

Lighthouse for Women

God was proving himself to her and preparing her gradually for bigger and bigger steps of faith. In 2000, God gave her a vision to start Lighthouse for Women. She didn’t know what the ministry would be or how it would come together, but she registered the name and began setting aside money. A few years later, while watching a documentary about prostitution, God spoke to her. In the film, authorities were searching for a prostitute’s daughter. She comments:

They were in a house that was pitch dark, bringing prostitutes into the camera light to get a closer look. And God said clearly to me “These are my treasures of darkness. Do you want them?” That was very profound. I said yes. I had no idea how it would come to be. But I knew somehow a part of Lighthouse for Women would be to minister to prostitutes.

In 2008, Nalla sensed from God that she needed to go to India. She had not been in India for seven years, but with God’s prompting she decided to take the trip. Nalla comments, “I had no idea how everything would come together, but God said ‘Just trust me.’” While she was in India, she was able to use various connections to meet with pastors and others willing to help. She started holding meetings with victims of prostitution where she would speak about God’s love. The women responded and the ministry began coming together. A year later, she decided to move to India to continue the ministry.

Currently, the bulk of her work takes place in a low-security prison where prostitutes are incarcerated for a few months. The prison typically houses 50-60 young women at a time. She and her team go to the prison three days a week for three hours every day. They work on fun projects with the young women to teach life skills, like parenting, HIV prevention, nutrition, personal hygiene, and budgeting. Lighthouse for Women sponsors a tailor who teaches the women tailoring skills.

On Sundays, they pray with the women and talk about God’s love in ways they can understand. The women come from a belief system that convinces them that they are in prostitution because of bad karma, a consequence of something horrible that they had done is their past life; therefore, they can never change their destiny. “We confront their beliefs: Who said this is your destiny? Can God change lives? We make the women think for themselves and sow life-giving seeds in their hearts. Most of all, we give them hope.”

Nalla gives out her phone number and frequently receives calls even from women whom she hasn’t seen for years. “They talk about how their lives have changed.” She says that some of the women have left prostitution and work in honest jobs; some attend church regularly and are now sharing the word of God. Nalla comments, “I don’t know how God is going to change their lives, but God promises, ‘You sow the seeds I’ll bring the harvest.’ We just go with this. God is with us. We let God do the work.” She stays in touch with several of them and helps them find work and helps their children with school fees and medical bills.

Nalla says there is much more in store for Lighthouse for Women, but she is relying on God to see where He will take the ministry. She says, “For years, God has been speaking to me from Isaiah 45:1-3, which basically says that He will go before me, He will open the gates, He will flatten the mountains, and He will give me treasures of darkness stored in secret places. God has done so much, and I know He is planning so much more for us.”

To learn more about Lighthouse for Women or ways you can help, please visit their website:  Lighthouse for Women.

 

__________________

Story by Skip Vaccarello and Christina Richardson

7 thoughts on “Caring for Imprisoned Prostitutes — Nalla Sundarajan, founder of Lighthouse for Women”

  1. Thanks very, very much for your kind words here …. as each of you are aware, my life is a great testimony of how God can use an exceptionally ordinary person to accomplish a small but significant something for Him on this earth. I am privileged to know each of you and appreciate and admire you …. I learn from your faith and strength in the face of great tragedy, your generosity, your unconditional love to people, and I am so grateful to have you in my life. May the Lord continue to bless and prosper you abundantly, and establish the work of your hands!

    Nalla.

  2. Thank you for highlighting Nalla’s story. She’s a champion who inspires both men and women, a true selfless light in this world where darkness pervades.

  3. Wow…Nalla … I did not know all the details, but now thanks to this article, i know what you have done and the amazing work you are doing – JD

  4. Dearest Nalla, my beautiful daughter in Grace, God has purposed that you share in the inheritance that belongs to His children who live in the light. He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son and purchased our freedom and this is the truth you speak and practice through the Lighthouse for Women. I have prayerfully watched your journey in fulfilling the vision that God has given you and He will cause His blessings to overflow beyond you to these young women in darkness.You are blessed and I love you. ES.

  5. Thanks for writing about Nalla and her ministry. She is a remarkable woman, whom I have the privilege of knowing. However, I did not know the details of her story, and now I am even more inspired by her journey with God. May He continue to lead her and bless her in all that she does, one of His treasures caring for so many others.

    1. peter raj kapoor

      Dear Nalla
      We couldn’t be happier that you came to Chennai in India to help the less privileged and folks who have ben abused .We will continue to pray for God’s blessings to be showered on you and family and you continue to be a blessings to many.
      God Bless!
      Sanjana Kapoor
      Peter Kapoor

Comments are closed.

Share:

For a list of all past blog posts:

Most Recent Posts:

Love that Serves

I am troubled but hopeful. I am troubled by the toxicity in our culture today. Our country seems to have lost its moral compass as we observe smash-and-grab lawlessness, senseless killings, and divisive politics. One of our Founding Fathers, John Adams, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is

Read More »

God and Silicon Valley

The Lion, a publication by The Herzog Foundation in its blog called Faith in the Public Square recently published an article I wrote. The article, which is titled God and Silicon Valley, describes the evidence on how God is moving and having an impact in secularized Silicon Valley.    

Read More »

Paul Nyberg — A True Servant Leader

I am proud to say that Paul Nyberg was my friend. Paul passed away at the age of 89 earlier this month. Paul lived a life of servant leadership, wanting to make a difference in the community. He was the publisher of the Los Altos Town Crier and a community leader. He was active in

Read More »

Rescued to Serve

Following is a personal story — a story about how a near-fatal incident transformed the life of my mother, Lil Vaccarello, who turned 100 years old this month (July 2021). She is an inspiration to me and a significant reason for my faith and the work I have done in Silicon Valley. _________________ Palm Sunday,

Read More »

Evidence That Demands a Verdict

The title of this post is the title of one of the bestselling Christian books of all time. The book’s author is Josh McDowell. McDowell has written 151 books in 128 languages. He is one of the most influential Christians of all time. In my book – Finding God in Silicon Valley – I cited

Read More »

Helping Children Know Jesus

An important element in my coming to know Jesus was a children’s program which my young daughter attended over 35 years ago. It changed the trajectory of my life, with Jesus becoming the central focus of my life, affecting my purpose, mission, and my work and family life. Saturday night, April 24, I told this

Read More »
Scroll to Top