By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ISLAMABAD (Worthy News) - A Christian aid group said Wednesday that it managed to free some 100 Christian families in Pakistan from brick kilns where they were effectively held as enslaved people by Muslim owners.
There were forced into “bonded labor” due to the “yoke of debt and bonded labor,” said Barnabas Aid, the group involved in the rescue.
No more details were immediately available amid security concerns.
“It brings to 1,575 the total number of impoverished brick-kiln families whose lives have been transformed since Barnabas first stepped in to help in 2017,” the aid workers told Worthy News.
“Pakistani brick-kiln workers are low paid, and families live at survival level. If someone falls sick, or another family crisis occurs, they must take a loan from their employer, the brick-kiln owner,” Barnabas Aid added.
Among those freed were Sardar Masih, his wife, Shakeela Bibi, and their three children, who “are now tension-free and happy,” the group explained.
“These debts keep the families bonded to their brick kiln, with money deducted from their meager wages to pay the interest. They can't pay off their debts, and families feel trapped, almost like slaves.”
PRAYING FOR MIRACLE
Sardar Masih, 37, and his wife Shakeela Bibi, 36, had “prayed for a miracle to release them from a total debt of $540, Christians said.
The debt “accrued after they took out loans when their first child was born and when Sardar needed urgent and expensive medical treatment,” Barnabas Fund explained.
“The worry of how to meet his family’s needs on his reduced wages left Sardar feeling anxious. Thanks to the donations of Barnabas supporters, he is now “tension-free and happy with my family.”
Sardar said in comments shared with Worthy News that he was “very thankful for this huge blessing.”
Other recently freed Christians include Yaqoob with his wife Haleema and their son and daughters Yaqoob Masih, Worthy News learned.
They were “also forced to take out a loan after bad weather caused the ceiling to fall in at the one-room home where he lives with his wife Haleema and their three children,” Barnabas Aid recalled.
Yaqoob struggled as repayments for the money he needed for repairs were deducted from his weekly wages. And he worried as the interest on the loan “increased every passing day,” Barnabas Fund explained.
HEALTHIER FOOD
The group said it could pay his accrued debt of some $541. Now, “Yaqoob can buy healthier food for his family, save some money from his wages – and build another room on their house.”
His daughters were able to start school again as Yaqoob could afford their tuition fees, Christians said.
His son was already receiving “a free and good quality education at a school established and supported by Barnabas,” Barnabas Aid added.
“My family and I saw God’s glory” through the support, added Yaqoob.
Yet many other Christians are still believed to be held as effective slaves in different brick kilns and working places in Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Rights groups have expressed concerns about the treatment of minority Christians and other groups in the Islamic country.