Girl at brick kiln site

Unshackling the Enslaved:

Your Gift Has Set Families Free

World Challenge rescues Christian families from the brick kilns of Pakistan, bringing freedom from bondage and the horrors of sex trafficking.

It is a heartbreaking scene in an outdoor brickmaking factory in Pakistan. Many families with young children are forced to stack clay bricks in the scorching sun. One six-year-old girl is stacking bricks and pushing a heavy wheelbarrow. Her quota, along with her family, is 1,000 bricks a day in the dust and heat. It certainly is no place for a child.

These brick kiln workers are persecuted Christians in bonded slavery. To feed and provide for their families, many resort to borrowing, forcing them to work in the brick factories for as little as $1 a day to pay off insurmountable debts. It’s a vicious debt cycle that traps many families in slavery for decades.

In a region controlled by Islamic extremists hostile to the gospel, these faithful followers of Christ work in harsh conditions and live under the threat of intense persecution daily. Tragically, many of their teenage daughters are taken by sex traffickers, doomed to another horrific kind of slavery. It is one of the cruelest systems of anti-Christian persecution.

Yet, gratefully, because of your heartfelt generosity, World Challenge has rescued some of these families—literally buying back their freedom.

Pakistani family
Trapped in bonded slavery, families worked endless days in scorching heat—some for just $1.
Pakistani family
Threats of trafficking loomed, until your support made urgent rescue possible.
Pakistani family
Moved to safety, each family received housing, support, and freedom to worship.
Pakistani family
Now, they’re building new lives and breaking the cycle for future generations.

While ministering to these enslaved Christian brothers and sisters, our team was approached by a young girl asking for prayer. She was about to be sold into sex slavery. We knew we had to act quickly on the family’s behalf.

Through your partnership, we were able to rescue the girl from trafficking as well as four other families in similar circumstances. Each family is now free from the harsh labor of the brick kilns and the threat of their daughters being sold into slavery. They are now living in homes in safer communities with a means of support that enables them to become self-sufficient.

One of the women shared her family’s rescue: “We received a message from the landlord to prepare our daughter. They were going to take her as their sex toy. A few days before the ultimatum date, World Challenge reached us and turned the tables. They paid to free my daughter and our whole family. Those cruel people couldn’t take my daughter. Our family is now safe. We have dedicated our lives to serve Jesus, who showed up in the form of these compassionate team members of World Challenge and changed our lives.”

Prayers were answered. God made a way for their escape! These families are not only free from generational bondage but also free to practice their faith in Jesus Christ without the ongoing threat of persecution.

“I knew that my children and even the next generations would live in the same slavery, but you have challenged the destiny of my generations to come,” one father testified. “What I knew was proven wrong. My faith in God has gotten even stronger. God never leaves us.”

Your continued prayers and support will set more captives free, helping children and families in desperate need. The funds you provide help them start their own small businesses where they can earn a living with respect and dignity. It also supports local churches that provide outreach assistance to reach enslaved families, enabling them to live free in Christ.

Will you pray and ask God what he would have you do? 

A monthly recurring gift of $40, $50, $100, or more will make a significant difference in the lives of these persecuted families, offering them freedom and hope.

 

 

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