God's ways are higher than ours, sometimes even incomprehensible. My plan was to gradually close the ministry in Northern Pakistan, but God knows the immense needs of this 6 million-strong Christian minority, who receive little or no help from outside as there are virtually no missionaries or ministries that can be found there.
When I came back from Bolivia, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to get into Haiti because of ongoing violent protests in the streets due to National elections. The “white men” were sometimes accused too: why did they promise billions of dollars and never send it? A reminder for all of us to give with much more discernment.
Back to Pakistan
Since I wasn't able to go to Haiti, I was able to monitor the many emails coming from Northern Pakistan about the ongoing persecution and their immense needs. Their persistent cries for help have brought me once again off from my normal schedule. I already had a more than full-time job with Haiti and Bolivia.
Rabica
There was Rabica, a 9-year-old Christian girl. She was in a terrible way violently assaulted and then thrown into the fire, where she was completely maimed. The photos that my team sent me were so horrible that they were not suitable for publication.
I don't think I've ever seen such a terribly mutilated child in my life.
A campaign was initiated through Facebook and fortunately we were able to have sufficient funds within 48 hours. We could give Rabica eventually all the care she needed and she miraculously survived.
The story of Rabica is typical
She worked as a slave at the local furnaces to bake bricks for the Muslim “lords,” together with her parents, three brothers and two sisters, like almost all the Christians there. The work in these factories is very hard with extreme long hours, often only one meal a day, and even the outside temperature in this flat region, on the western foothills of the Himalaya, raises easily above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
It was in one of these furnaces that a Christian couple was thrown alive, after the 26 year old young woman, a mother of three children, had cleaned the cottage of her deceased father in law. When she burned a fire to get rid of all the dirty stuff, a neighbor saw that also some pages from the Koran were burned. This was enough to be accused by all Muslim neighbors, who dragged them out of the house and threw them in the furnace where they were burned alive. Our team and others were able to rescue their three children, who were at school at that time, and are now on a secret location.
Saima
Then there was the cry for Saima, a 10 year old girl who became blind after experiencing a severe typhoid fever. But there is hope. Saima can regain her sight if surgery can be performed. This, too, has its cost, approximately $1,200, and Saima comes from an extremely poor Christian family. It's Saima's dream to see the world around her again, and to go back to school.
Wheelchairs and sewing machines
There is also the severe drought these days in the Sind Province where currently dozens of children from the Thar population are dying of dehydration. Saima's father is disabled too and needs a wheelchair like many, so we started a wheel chair project as well. The reason for all this is that the Taliban law prohibits vaccination against Polio, and therefore there are many cases of polio. Children sit their whole life in a corner of their hut, if they survive. Thanks to our partnership with 3 local different ministries we have already provided many wheelchairs to children and adults who had been waiting all of their life.
We also have been able to purchase dozens of sewing machines for mainly young widows who lost their husbands in the horrors of war, persecution and martyrdom. This way these women provide for themselves and their children and they have new hope.
By blessing all this people, we can touch them with God's Word and offer them new hope and new life in Jesus.
