Releasing People From the Bondage of Debt

Set free Christian brick-kiln workers in Pakistan!

“My Lord has sent me good news through Barnabas Fund” Amanat worked seven days a week in a brick-kiln. Every day he made 1,000 bricks, which earned him 800 rupees (approximately $8.14). But he never took any money home because every rupee went straight back to the brick-kiln owner to pay interest on a loan Amanat had taken. His situation was so bad that he had to borrow money to buy food for his children.     Amanat and Rehana with Rebecca, now learning tailoring, and the younger children, going to school at last. Their lives have been transformed by paying off a debt that had consumed all they earned making bricks When Barnabas Fund’s partners told Amanat that his debt would be paid, his eyes filled with tears of joy. The impossible had happened. Now his eldest daughter Rebecca is learning tailoring and his younger children are at school. Barnabas supports the school and the tailoring skills' training project. “My Lord has sent me good news through Barnabas Fund. Now I enjoy freedom from debt!” exclaimed Amanat. Like thousands of Pakistani Christian brick-kiln workers, Amanat and his wife Rehana had borrowed money from their employer for essential needs at a time of family crisis. The debts keep each family bonded to their brick-kiln, unable to leave and get another job, with money deducted from their wages to pay the interest. It is impossible, out of their poverty, to pay off the debts. Despised, despairing and trapped, the bonded brick-kiln workers feel like slaves. But Barnabas Fund supporters have donated to set free hundreds of families by paying off their debts.