Pakistan Children’s Rescue
Blue Ridge Bible Church is partnering to provide seed money for a major rescue of impoverished and hopeless Pakistani “brick kiln” children, trapped in darkness and needing the light of Christ and practical support.
WHAT IS THE PAKISTAN CHILDREN’S RESCUE?
Who? 10 boys between the ages of 5 to 15 who are orphans or children from dysfunctional families, and expanding up to 20 children. Pakistan’s brick kiln industry widely uses child labor as indentured workers, under the most odious conditions, enslaving them for most of their lives. At present, 1 million people work in these kiln communities and roughly one-third of these workers are children under the age of 10. Many of these children have been sold as indentured workers by their parents due to the family’s poverty.
What? Starting and building a center that provides food, shelter, safety, and education in a loving environment that exposes these children to salvation in Christ.
When? Starting in 2019, over a three-year period. 10 boys over a period of two years and expanding up to 20 children over the full three-year period.
Where? The center’s location will be in Lahore, Pakistan and situated to service children from one of Pakistan’s brick kiln communities, which are located around most of Pakistan’s major cities. The center’s location will be outside of the kiln ghetto and within the nearby city. (Having the center in the city allows access to many necessary services, including electricity and sanitation.)
Why? It is a direct outreach to the unsaved children in the worst of Pakistan’s ghettos – the brick kilns. The project’s primary content goal is to expose the children to God’s salvation, by bringing them, and when relevant their families, out of the brick kiln ghettos over a multi-year process with the goal to be totally self sufficient at the conclusion of three years.
Why now? BRBC’s ministry partner to the persecuted church, Smyrna Ministries, supports a Pakistani-based ministry called Healing Journeys Foundation. Healing Journeys currently provides medical assistance via Dr. Ambrose Emmanuel to the destitute and hopeless families in the brick kiln communities, offering the opportunity to assess the dire need for a rescue project. (Mark your calendars: Dr. Emmanuel will visit BRBC in July 2019.)
HOW TO GIVE
Online: Log in to Blue Ridge Connect > Select “Give” > Select “Pakistan Children’s Rescue”
App: Go to Give and designate “Pakistan Children’s Rescue”
Cash or Check: Just designate “rescue” on the check or envelope
2021 UPDATE:
(From Dr. Ambrose Emmanuel)
It all started almost a decade ago when I started going to the villages and especially brick kilns to see patients and help the poor and needy through medical education and provision of medicines. Sharing the gospel and practically showing them the love of Christ. During my MPH degree I got a chance to have a closer look at the lives of the brick kiln workers. The indentured slavery they’re deep in, is so difficult to get rid of and on the other side it’s a skill at least. I often used to think how to get these people out of these brick kilns and what could be done got them. In the past I heard about many people paying off the entire debt on their behalf but again these people would go back to the brick kilns. Why? Because that was the only skill they had.
Then God gave me this vision that if you want to help these people recover. Focus on the unemployed children. The children are school going age but don’t go to school and are just roaming around. Focus on those children. And there where the vision of a children center was born. And later on I called this children center as Healing journeys children center.
During my visit to states in 2018 three close friends of mine (Alan, Bill and Mark) were sitting in coffee creek house and the discussion started and I shared my vision about HJCC and Mark, Bill and Alan loved the idea. Right in front of my eyes Mark did some calculations and said this could be doable. Let’s work on it.
2019 the land for HJCC was purchased and in 2020 the building was built and now its in the final stages of completion and furnishing. And in March 2021 operations are starting at the HJCC.
We’re going to be foster caring for 10 boys initially and the center will be able to look after a maximum of 15 boys. The boys will be 5-10 yrs of age and we’ve got Samran Emmanuel as the energeti project manager for HJCC and David & Raazia as the caretaker couple.
This is indeed God doing things and I’m so excited that the vision is coming true
Update May, 2022
