Iran (MNN) — Kurds make up to 10 per cent of Iran’s population, which means there’s a good chance you’ll meet a Kurd in ten strangers on the street. Yet, despite this vibrant culture, the regime treats them as unwanted.
Nazanin Baghestani from Heart4Iran highlights the stark contrast between the way Persians and the government treat Kurds. “The people are so welcoming. You know, the Persians welcome all ethnicities, but the government is really against the Kurds, because some are Sunnis,” she explains, noting that the government is Shia.
Kurdistan Province, Iran (photo courtesy of Peyvand Pezeshki via Pexels)
Consequently, Kurds face systematic abuse. “There’s so much poverty among them, unemployment and even lack of services, lack of health insurances and they have to suffer through all this,” she adds.
Christian Kurds face a double threat: both for their ethnicity and their conversion from Islam. Baghestani recalls tragic events affecting some believers: “The ones who smuggled Bibles through the border inside the country get shot by the secret police.”
Yet, there is a plentiful harvest among Kurds.
Heart4Iran provides a way for Iranians to contact them and ask burning questions. Nazanin says that out of 3,000–4,000 calls, 100 are from Kurds. Of those, 70 per cent give their heart to Christ!
Their testimonies help shape outreach events, tailored to the needs of Kurds living in a stateless, rights-deprived environment. But the surest way to capture a Kurd’s attention from the first word is to speak in their language.
Take this man, for example:
“He came to Christ because he read a Kurdish Gospel, and he was so surprised that the Gospel was translated to Kurdish language, and he felt at home.”
He felt important, cared for, and valued — because someone had taken the time to translate the Gospel into his language.
“It was heartwarming to see how happy he was to read the Gospel in his own language,” Baghestani adds.
As Heart4Iran engages with many Iranians, you can support them by visiting their website or reading their news to know how to pray.
One of Baghestani’s biggest requests is for more local workers: “Pray for those Pauls and Peters to come out of the Kurdish people, and they will go and preach the Gospel to their own people.”
Representative header photo of a Kurd courtesy of Dastan Khdir via Pexels.
