A Family Set Free
A s our Life Center friends around the Middle East are responding to the ongoing tragic situation there, we want to give you an update on our South Asia humanitarian projects connected to our Life Center there.
A few months ago, we brought a medical team to serve with our Life Center partners. We identified 9 different humanitarian/development projects that we committed to helping. They ranged from brick kiln slavery situations to families faced with starvation.
We determined that the total needed over $20,000. In the past few months, we've been able to raise $18,363.
We've been able to resolve almost all the situations. We don't have the space to give all the details so we'll share what may have been the most heartbreaking situation.
Our combined WCF mobile medical team and Life Center team did a clinic at a brick kiln in the area. The kilns provide bricks for the country's vast construction industry.
Mobile Medical Outreach Serving Families in a Brick Kiln Area
However, they have highly exploitive practices such as bonded labor. Families with large financial needs such as a medical bill cause them to go to a brick kiln owner for a loan which can have interest rates of 100%, compounded weekly. Most families have ended up essentially enslaved for decades.
"Alan" and his family have been enslaved in a brick kiln for generations. He has three daughters and a son. They came to our clinic and their 18 and 20 year old daughters complained of abdominal pain. Upon further discussion, we suspected they were being physically assaulted. It is tragically common for owners and staff to harass or assault young girls. I asked our Life Center partners to follow-up on this.
Following the medical camp, our partners returned to interview the girls privately. Though they were initially reluctant to speak, our encouragement allowed them to share their story. They described the horrific abuse they suffered on an ongoing basis and were being forced to take contraceptive pills, which was causing them severe abdominal pain.
They endured this for two years.
We immediately had the girls examined medically and found that the birth control pills had caused hormonal imbalances, internal bleeding issues, and anemia.
We encouraged the family to file a legal case against the brick kiln owner, but they flatly refused. We understood that their lives could get threatened. Instead, they asked if we could help them pay off their debt, explaining that this would be the greatest help of all.
We paid their debt of $2,000 and secured the family’s freedom. The family has been relocated to a safe location, hoping to start a new, independent life.
There are too many other cases like this, but we are helping the situations we are made aware of.
Thank you for supporting the Life Centers as we would never have connected to these families had it not been for the faithful ministry that the Life Centers provides to these communities.
WCF Team
