31 Jan

Slaves in Our Family

A young resident of the village of Allah Waisyou, born into virtual slavery

Slaves in Our Family

David’s First Photo-Blog from Pakistan

Greetings from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the world’s fifth-most populous nation. Heaven’s Family has been involved in many projects here over the years, and this is certainly not my first trip to Pakistan. Although Christians, both cultural and born-again, comprise just a tiny minority of Pakistan’s total population, they still number in the millions. They often suffer from some degree of persecution, which can become severe when someone is accused of insulting Islam’s prophet. That happened last August near the city of Faisalabad, and a number of churches and Christian homes were ransacked and burned.

Today we visited two remote villages in Sindh Province where Heaven’s Family’s Safe Water Ministry has provided wells to groups of believers who previously were drinking unsafe ground water. The first village, called Allah Waisyou, consists of just nine families. All are former Hindus from a tribal group, the Marwari, who had never had an opportunity to hear the gospel. That changed eight years ago when my good friend, Sarfraz William, visited them and told them about Jesus. They believed after an elderly man whom Sarfraz prayed for was healed of longterm stomach and knee pain.

As a consequence, the new believers were ejected from their town and were forced to move to its fringes. They now live on cropland where they labor as virtual slaves, working not for wages, but for food. They live in dirt-floor huts with no furniture, own one set of clothing, cook over fires, and eat a meager diet of rice and some vegetables and greens. They generally eat one meal a day. Their children will never attend school. Even the animals in their little village are owned by the wealthy landowner for whom they labor to survive. Such an arrangement is very typical in Pakistan. Millions of people live as economic slaves at the mercy of wealthy and politically-connected landowners.

Previously the nine families of Allah Waisyou were drinking water out of a nearby water canal, from which domestic animals drink and in which women wash clothing. As you can imagine, they and their children were often ill as a result. That all changed three years ago when Heaven’s Family’s Safe Water Ministry provided a 120-foot-deep well with a hand pump. Graciously, the believers of Allah Waisyou allow more than 100 families from the town from which they were expelled to use their water well, a testimony to their love and transformed lives. And they are so thankful for the blessing of safe water. Besides Jesus and each other, it is the most precious thing they have.

Below are a few photos from the day with captions. More to come in the days ahead. We do this because of Matthew 25:31-46. Thanks for joining me on this journey.

In the background is the former water source of the people of Allah Waisyou

The well that now serves over 100 extremely poor families with fresh, safe drinking water

The first believer in Allah Waisyou, named Chando, whom Jesus healed

Two of the beautiful children of Allah Waisyou

I took this photo at the second village we visited today, named Kamisou Jo Goth, that is benefitting from a Heaven’s Family water well. The beneficiaries are also former Hindus from the Marwari tribe and also economic slaves. There are 50 families that live in Kamisou Jo Goth. 40 of them are believing families. The pastor estimates that within one more year, all the rest will believe as well!