Have you ever seen the movie “The Good Lie”? If you haven’t I strongly suggest you watch it. It’s about a refugee family from South Sudan who eventually is able to come to America, facing much adversity along the way. It’s not quite the same as what I am going to talk about but I definitely think it may open your eyes and soften your heart in more than just one way.
This week Team Aléthinos has been working with some Pakistani Refugees who have fled from their homeland taking nothing with them. I have had the absolute HONOR of sitting down with, listening to, knowing, and praying for these extremely brave, bold, and beautiful people. Religious persecution is something I have been briefly educated on through the church community I was apart of for most of my college years. However hearing such horrific details out of the mouth of man who had beaten aggressively in a Pakistani prison is something a person can’t really be briefed on. There truly is nothing like it.
Many times I was able to hear appalling stories and heart-rending statistics, but even coming out of the mouth of a genuine man whose heart truly broke for these people and was very passionate about persecution it just cannot compare. Throughout those years the church hosted many prayer nights where as a community of believers we would gather and pray over specific places, and people but now here I was facing and listening to a man who lived this. And I felt like I was hearing about it for the first time.
Meet Shiraz, a 34 year old man of God that was imprisoned in the Abbottabad compound- the same location where Osama bin Laden had been hiding out until his death. Throughout Shiraz’s imprisonment, he was subject to harsh beatings throughout the day and night. “As a Christian living in Pakistan they can beat you whenever, however long, as often, and as hard as they want to” he painfully shared with us. “There are no schedules so there is no knowing when and how harsh the flogging will be- I still have many scars and much pain in my foot and knee.”
Shiraz expressed that they would each time aggressively ask him to convert to Muslim and would try to have to do certain things revolving around the Qur’an. Last year, Shiraz was able to escape the prison- although his body was bruised and broken he heard the voice of the Lord tell him to stand and go to the bathroom. Fully trusting that God would heal his bones he raised and went. Realizing that the guards were all gone praying to their god, he knew he didn’t have much time to get away, bearing in mind the guards didn’t even cuff his hands or lock his cell and had left him to die because he was so broken and ill. Running over 500 KM back to his home, he got on the very first flight to Nepal where he applied on arrival for a travelers visa.
Despite the many troubles he and his new wife, who is also a Christian Pakistani refugee he met here in Nepal, face daily Shiraz endlessly praises the Lord and lifts up the country of Nepal. The government will not allow refugees to work because they are not citizens, however they tell them they can still find some work and are still forced to pay rent and $5 USD everyday to the government until they decide to leave or until Nepali officials force them to.
Shiraz’s brother in law who was a human rights advocate in Pakistan shared with us that by the time his family has to leave Nepal they will owe more than 20,000 USD to the government. While Shiraz’s brother in law does not have a job, his wife does. She is a schoolteacher, which helps immensely with their 2 children’s education however her salary is $3,000 USD a year compared to all of her Nepalese colleges’ who are paid between $15,000- $18,000 USD annually. Life here is very unfair to them however when we asked the couple how they feel about their various challenges he answered “ I do not feel discouraged; I feel privileged to be a refugee here [in Nepal] for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
There are SO MANY more stories that I would LOVE to share with each of you about my opportunity in meeting these brothers and sisters. Currently our team is looking into how we would be able to help and support to the 5 or so Pakistani families we were able to spend time with this week. If you would like more information of any kind please feel free to email me at [email protected]
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”
2 Corinthians 4:8-12
all my love from Nepal,
Samantha
