DEAR FRIEND,

Please donate to help send food packs and small gifts to Christians living in poverty in Pakistan

I have recently returned from Pakistan which is in the grip of Covid-19, dengue, typhoid, viruses and smog. The main purpose of my visit was to see first-hand the issues which are impacting minorities. I have had several meetings with church leaders, Christian human rights activists, lawyers, and victims of religious persecution and their families. I also visited several brick kilns and slum areas where large numbers of Christians live, working in menial jobs and the majority living with the instability of being daily wagers.

What I saw there truly shocked me. As I met several Christian families I saw the hardship that Covid-19 has brought; many have lost their jobs, illness spreads quickly in cramped conditions, and children who should be at school are now working on the brick kilns and shops to support their families. Pakistan’s Christian minority already has so much to contend with: their low status, grinding poverty, the shadow of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and the growing numbers of daughters enduring forced conversion through marriage. A community with so many challenges has been made even more vulnerable in the wake of Covid-19.

CLAAS has long established relationships within these communities, and every year distributes thousands of Christmas gifts to children living in poverty, thanks to support from individuals like yourselves. We work with our partners in Pakistan to distribute gifts such as packets of dry fruits, biscuits, candies, children’s Bibles, painting books and sweaters etc. In addition each family receives a pack which includes a sack of flour, a bag of rice, lentils, sugar, tea bags, and dried milk, so they have enough food to cook their Christmas dinner. 

There is so much we could do to help these families this Christmas, but we urgently need the funds to do it. With your help we can:

• • Provide food parcels –  A gift of £25 would provide a food pack for a family in need this Christmas, alongside small gifts for their children.
  • Locate abducted girls and reunite them with their families.
  • Provide legal aid, support, counselling and safe houses as they fight to reunite with their families.
  • Provide financial support to those suffering because of Covid-19, and to the families of Christians who are in prison.

The extent of the need is large, and there is so much good your kind gift could make possible. Your donation will be used by our longstanding partners in Pakistan to purchase food packs and small presents for the brick kiln families who need it most. 

You can donate directly to the Christmas appeal via our website or alternatively you could send a cheque to CLAAS, ICG House, Oldfield Lane North, Greenford, Middlesex, UB6 0AL.

With kind regards and our thanks,

Nasir Saeed

Director of CLAAS-UK.

JOIN FORCES WITH US TO HELP CHRISTIANS IN PAKISTAN THIS CHRISTMAS

REENA’S STORY:

‘I WILL DIE, BUT I WON’T CONVERT’

Reena is a young Christian girl from Jaranwala in Pakistan. This year, her faith in a loving Father God was tested to the extreme.

In July, she was abducted at gunpoint and drugged. She said: ‘One day I came back to consciousness, and I was aching and unable to stand up. They kept torturing me. One of them told me to convert to Islam. When I refused, he started badly beating me and he raped me.’

After five days refusing to convert, Reena was released and reunited with her family. However, what happened next was almost as shocking.

Her family took her to the hospital where they explained her ordeal.

‘The doctor treated me like an unclean person for being a Christian, and not converting,’ says Reena.

There was a similar response from the police. Reena’s father told us: ‘They are still unwilling to register a case against the kidnappers. It seems that they know the abductors or have been bribed.’

He added: ‘It was so painful to hear the agony that Reena went through. But I am proud that she courageously faced the situation and didn’t waver in her Christian faith; she told them that she would die but would never convert to Islam.’