South Asia Trip Report
O ur mission team returned from South Asia where we served with our local field partners. Our medical team was able to serve 546 patients throughout the week at our Life Center, churches and a Brick Kiln. After every clinic, we were able to pray with many of the patients during a prayer meeting as well as provide them with a meal.
We also did a variety of other ministry such as a Young Adult Character/Leadership training.
Brother Tim teaching at our Character/Leadership Training
I've never served in a country that more systemically oppresses and persecutes its recognized minorities more than this country. Even the Middle East treats its small indigenous Christian population better.
Life Center Patients
Our Life Center is located in a deeply impoverished rural area outside of a major city. We have seen more than 33,000 patients in the 3+ years we've been operating.
Over the past few years, I've been privileged to visit these families in their homes. This area rivals the worst poverty I've seen on many continents. Most of the Christian families here make their living from very menial jobs such as making fuel out of cow dung or cleaning out sewer. The worst jobs are advertised as 'only Christians should apply'.
Cow chips harvested and dried as fuel
We met with new families that faced challenges that moved us.
Family 1
A father of 4 children had a job as a cleaner in a government office. However, they borrowed money from their landowner and this gave him license to treat the family as slaves. He had the father and even the son come to his home to do menial work for no pay. It became so much that the father lost his job. The man would publicly beat and humiliate him and his son.
The worst injustice was forcing the wife to come to the man's house to 'clean' late at night. We realized that they were indirectly telling us that she was being unspeakably abused.
The debt is $500. We are working with our partners to pay off this debt ASAP and obtain the appropriate legal papers.
Family undergoing terrible abuse
Family 2
We met 2 young girls, age 18 and 16 who lost their father at a young age. Not having a father in this strongly patriarchal society makes life extremely hard for girls. They live in a small one room house with their disabled mother who had a brain injury.
The mom has a job at a leather factory, but her brain injury causes her not to be able to do her work properly. The youngest daughter had to quit school and work with her mom, but they still only get paid 1 small salary for the work of both.
The oldest is very bright and she had trophies for being the top student at school. However, government schools in this area end at middle school and they cannot afford the private school in the area. She wept while we talked about their situation.
On top of this, their house was irreparably damaged by the monsoons and they have to sleep elsewhere.
Single Mom and 2 young daughters
Family 3
We met a mom with 3 young sons whose husband has become a drug addict.
The mom wept as she shared their struggles as their home also was severely damaged by the monsoon. The 12 year old son is forced to work as a painter and he gets barely any pay, but this is how they are surviving.
12 year old working as a painter to support his family
Life Center Patients
During our medical clinic at the Life Center, one of our patients was a mom who was the former sewing teacher at our partner's sewing class. The husband abused her for years and abandoned the family. The abuse had been so bad that the teacher can no longer do any creative work anymore.
They had just finished using the last of their meager savings to pay their rent of $30. They had eaten no food since the previous morning (36 hours ago) and this only consisted of sugar and water. Her 14 year old son paints houses and gets $2 for 3 days of work and that's their main source of income. The 2nd eldest daughter told us that she has been searching everywhere for a job to help her family survive, but no one would hire her because she had no national ID, which comes from the father.
We committed to paying for at least 5 months' rent ($30/month) and food supplies ($100/month) for them. The family was so grateful.
Our field partners, who are also lawyers, have also committed to helping them get ID cards so the older children can find work.
Mom and her 2 daughters
This is just a tip of the iceberg of the situations we encountered and the tireless work our partners are doing to help so many families in these situations.
Brick Kiln Clinic
There are thousands of brick kilns in this country and they supply the bricks for the country's construction industry. However, they have highly exploitive labor practices such as bonded and child labor.
Brick Kiln
Families with sudden large monetary needs such as medical bills or a daughter's dowry cause them to go to brick kiln owners for a loan, which can have an interest rate of 100%, compounded weekly. This forces them to work at the kiln to pay off the debt.
However, most of these families are illiterate so they sign papers with a thumbprint and no real idea of what they've signed. In addition, their pay is so little with a common quota of 1,000 bricks/day for a net of $2, that the families struggle to simply feed their families and can't make enough to survive let alone pay off the interest or principal.
One of many families we met
Some families started with a debt decades ago that they are still paying off. During our medical clinic, I asked more than a dozen families how they got here and what their debt was. Most were here for an average of 20 years and their current debt was about $2,000.
We met an old man whose debt went back 50 years whose original debt is now the equivalent of pennies. Another man was 60 years old and he wept when I asked him how long he's been here. He was born in this kiln and his debt was originally 2 cents and the balance today is about $3,000.
Man who has been here for decades
There were many moving cases, but one that struck hardest was this family with 2 girls age 20 and 18. Their initial reason for wanting to see a doctor was evasive, but we slowly realized that the girls may have been raped by those in power. I felt a righteous anger in me about their situation. May the Lord somehow provide justice and provision in their situation. We will hopefully find a way to help them and others in the coming days.
Abused family
We are so thankful that we've been able to start this Life Center in such a critical place. This is a very hard place and many avoid helping in this area. When I hear this, it makes me even more determined to serve with our friends here.
Please consider supporting this vital Life Center here. We pay monthly salaries for the medical team as well as subsidize medicines and other supplies. We would not be able to help so many people without your monthly support.
We want to help everyone, but we can't. However, we can help those that God puts in front of us, like the families we met.
Please continue to pray for our workers and the families who are in these desperate situations. Pray for justice, protection and provision for these families.
