Photo credit to Uncharted Ministries
Pakistan (MNN)—Religious intolerance is on in the rise in Pakistan—a country that already had a history of Christian persecution.
This persecution takes many forms: Christians are treated as a lower caste, subject to unfair imprisonment and blasphemy laws, violence, forced conversions, and more. Many are trapped in poverty and low-wage jobs. Girls risk being victims of abductions and forced marriages—in 2021, human rights organizations estimated as many as 1,000 Christian, Hindu, and Sikh girls are abducted each year.
“And then there is also the just the terrible needs, where, because of the poverty, if they have a financial emergency, they have no means to get money,” says Bruce of Uncharted Ministries, “and they have to then go to a Muslim brickyard owner, and that Muslim owner will provide the money, but to do so the Christian man and his family have to move onto his brickyard, and then they pay off the debt by making bricks. It’s just like Israel and Egypt all those years ago. It’s a modern day slavery on a scope that’s stunning.”
There are estimated to be 3.5-4 million people trapped in debt bondage in Pakistan, many of them Christians, across approximately 20,000 brickyards within the country. Uncharted Ministries works to rescue families from these inhumane conditions—families like that of Ahmed.
“Ahmed was a Christian. He had his faith. That’s what’s astounding, is in the worst conditions, they still hold on to their faith in the Lord. That’s all they have to cling to. I mean, they’re in just the most horrific sort of living conditions and work six days a week in the blazing sun, with child labor, but they’ve held on to their faith.”
Ahmed has three children, including a daughter whose legs were severely damaged when she was ran over by a truck at the brickyard as a toddler.
“But because her father owed the brick owner money for slavery, he refused to give her any medical help. So the father had to take this girl with crushed, bleeding legs into his little brick hut and lay her in there with no medicine, no medical treatment, nothing. And her little legs became all twisted and deformed.”
The debt that kept Ahmed’s family in bondage and stopped his daughter from receiving medical care—often made unpayable due to meager wages, fraudulent bookkeeping, and high interest rates—was only $700. Through the help of Uncharted Ministries, Ahmed’s debt has been paid, his family has been freed, and he is financially independent, working as a cobbler at his shoe shop.
“There’s so many parallels to what Jesus has done for us. We were enslaved and indebted.”
Now, Uncharted Ministries is looking to get his daughter the surgery she needs. In the meantime, they’ve helped her to get proper nutrition and tutoring.
“And now you look at her, it’s just like a different person, and she’s excelling and doing so well. And they just are so thankful, and they never imagined to be set free and to have freedom. So that’s any that’s one family of dozens that we’ve been fortunate to pay the debt and work with. That paints a picture of one family—and God’s at work in the most horrific of situations. He’s very, very present there.”
To help Uncharted Ministries continue reaching Christians in bondage, Bruce is asking for prayer for their ministry and for Christians in Pakistan, and, for those who feel called as a family, Sunday school class, or other group of believers, to consider pooling resources to help support the rescue of a family.
“The need is enormous, but we can make a difference. We just fold the resources straight over there and it the like I said, the dollar can go a long way. But think of it. We were rescuing families for $600-700—they would never be able to be rescued.”
To learn about Uncharted Ministries and the work they’re doing, go to UnchartedMinistries.com.
Photos courtesy of Uncharted Ministries.
