Pakistan (MNN) — There is a grim, sobering reality that Christians in Pakistan know all too well: the loss of their daughters to kidnapping and what amounts to sex slavery.
A hidden layer
Bruce with Uncharted Ministries says that at first, their team didn’t realize the scale and depth of suffering that Pakistani Christians endure. Then, a young Christian leader in Pakistan revealed another layer to them through a simple request.
“We were introduced to this [reality] by him just sharing a need,” Bruce says. “He didn’t ask for any money. He just said, ‘Please, please pray for this young 13-year-old girl.’”
The teenager had been kidnapped by a man in his forties, then forced to marry him and convert to Islam.
“[She spent] five months chained to a bed and [was] malnourished but was rescued. She was later found pregnant as a 14-year-old and gave birth to a little baby girl,” Bruce says.
Hers is just one story among hundreds that rarely have a happy ending.
“Over 1,000 Christian young women are kidnapped, and only 10% ever make it back to their homes,” Bruce says.
Lifted up out of poverty
By God’s grace, Uncharted Ministries is able to come alongside vulnerable Christian families with practical help and even freedom (more on that here).
“Christian women are in a tough way, so we’ve been providing six-month training courses for Christian young women to be seamstresses or beauticians,” Bruce says. “[They are] six-month classes, 15 students in each one for six months of training in the business skills but also being discipled, being loved. They become a little family.”
A young Christian woman shows what she has sewn. (Photo courtesy of Uncharted Ministries)
The training courses have served 120 women so far. Bruce says it’s amazing to see how God has opened the way for this ministry.
“After successfully completing the course, they are given their sewing machine, a work desk, chair and supplies to begin their business,” he says.
“These young women [will] earn money for their family, but then they’ll attract a young man someday who’s also upwardly mobile, and they together can work and increase their standard of living. So we’re looking at generational change, where God is going to transform their lives.”
One of Uncharted’s contacts in Pakistan recently told Bruce, “It’s so encouraging to know that we weren’t created just to be hated.”
“That stuck with me,” he says. “They feel so reviled in the culture, but what God is doing [is] He’s just plucking these people out and giving them skills.”
You can have a place in this life-changing ministry. Gifts to Uncharted Ministries designated “Pakistan” will aid frontline efforts of rescuing families from slavery, supporting young women who have been sex-trafficked, and training girls in business skills. Visit unchartedministries.com to make a gift under the “Pakistan” designation.
Header photo courtesy of Paul Jai/Unsplash.
