Exactly one year after the attack on Gojra’s Christians, Pakistan is facing unprecedented disaster with the floods in the North of the country, in the Punjab and in Sindh. With many people having lost their homes the safest place for them to congregate and receive urgently needed supplies is the local mosque and the surrounding area. These are also extremist strongholds where Christians could become most vulnerable.
Christians are the most vulnerable and exposed at this time. It is Ramadan. We are concerned that Christians will become sidelined in distribution and relief efforts.
It is to avoid this neglect that we are responding to the crisis by providingimmediate assistance. Christians in these areas have always felt insignificant and vulnerable, with many seeking opportunities to leave. The flood could add to the despair that already affects these communities. The Taliban strongholds that surround these regions will influence mass attitudes toward Pakistani Christians. And at times like this it makes it extremely hard for Christians to survive.
Please pray and support our efforts in the flood-affected regions – especially the three sets of relief centres from where we can provide medical assistance. Together we must combat air and water borne diseases which spread in the aftermath, as well as injuries received during the flood and displacement.
Help us to strengthen our Christian brothers by standing by them in their hour of need. Pray that they may not flee and leave the region, or be engulfed in more despair.
Prayer Points:
Pray that clean drinking water, food, shelter and medicine will get to the affected areas as soon as possible.
Pray that Pakistani Christians will reach out to their neighbours in love in the affected areas.
Pray that peace will come to Pakistan, which is in the midst of unrest and widespread violence.
Pray that Christians will be granted freedom in worship without violence or harassment.
Pray that the persecutors of Christians will be brought to justice.
Ratna Bangun (1966-2010)
On July 26, 2010, at 10:30 in the evening, Ibu Ratna Bangun died of lupus while confined at a hospital in Jakarta. Linda, Dr. Rebekka Zakaria’s foster daughter, informed Open Doors of the sad news yesterday.
Her husband Sembiring (40), and her two boys, Joshua (11) and Nathan (6), paid their last respects to Ibu Ratna on July 28, in Hargeulis, her hometown.
Ratna Bangun was arrested in May 2005, along with Dr. Rebekka Zakaria and Eti Pangesti, under false accusation of converting Muslim children to Christianity through a Sunday School program. The three were given a three-year sentence on September 1, 2005 and were released from Indramayu prison on June 8, 2007.
Open Doors launched a prayer and writing campaign on July 15, 2005 for Ibu Ratna, Dr. Rebekka, and Ibu Eti, which ended on June 2007. The Sunday School teachers testified of the great encouragement they received through letters from Christians around the world.
While in prison, Ibu Ratna shared to Open Doors her reflections about being in prison:
“Before, I had always been surrounded by fellow believers. But now, I live among non-believers. I realize how hard it is to share God’s love and my life to them. It is also hard to live away from my children and husband. But I am thankful – please note this carefully – that God’s faithful love has never left me. God has helped me through everything.
“Secondly, when Jesus broke the five loafs of bread and two fishes to feed 5,000 people, He turned nothingness into something. As for me, I feel like the insignificant breads and fishes. The suffering I face is nothing compared to what other believers around the world are going through. Just like the bread, I was crushed and distributed to become blessings for many people. I am being processed in this place.
“Thirdly, prison is a school of faith. This is where I fight for my faith, so that I could be a part of God’s plan; it is no coincidence that I am here, in this prison.”
Let us pray for God’s consolation to be upon the grieving family and friends of Ibu Ratna Bangun.
How can converts to Christianity experience equal rights when their true religious identity restricts their future employment?
Tense but elated, 23-year-old Saima* took her place in the government classroom for her Civil Service Examination. She had finally won her father’s blessing to follow her dream by applying to enter public service in her native country Pakistan. She was sure that she could make a difference by serving her country and her God in an official capacity.
But nothing had prepared the young, urban woman for the shock of discovering that she was the only woman present who was not wearing a hijab (Islamic head-covering) over her hair.
As she saw the looks of disapproval in the eyes of every scarved woman and bearded man in the room, a feeling of intimidation washed over her. “What if they found out?” the familiar, haunting question filled her mind.
Although Saima’s father had converted from Islam to Christianity before she was born, he had kept this secret from his deeply religious Muslim family, and Saima’s mother died in hospital while giving birth to her.
But eventually his family found a Bible in his car, and their lives changed abruptly. No longer could he bring up his baby girl within his family’s comfortable environment. Instead, he was disowned, beaten mercilessly and thrown out of the house with baby Saima in his arms. He had nowhere to go.
Most local Christians were fearful of associating with a former Muslim, but a few believers rallied around Saima’s father, welcoming him into their home Bible study group. He and little Saima worshipped in house fellowships, only attending church on Easter and Christmas.
Even as a little girl, Saima loved the church services and longed to go more often. But she obeyed her father, never telling her friends that she went to church.
By then, her father had remarried a Christian woman from their fellowship who began to teach Saima about Jesus. Although Islamic law permits a Muslim man to marry a Christian, this arrangement was not without complications for Saima and her father, who by law remained Muslims.
As she grew up, Saima had heard about families who would kill their own family member for leaving Islam and becoming a Christian. Why hadn’t her grandparents killed her father then? She was so thankful that they hadn’t, but she wondered if perhaps it would have been more kind to kill him, rather than to make him suffer their hatred all his life.
Her father was distressed when Saima had to keep changing schools whenever classmates became suspicious of her. The students’ parents would feel sorry for “the little girl with a Christian mother who did not teach her anything about Islam,” and try to teach her about Islam themselves.
Because her father was officially a Muslim, Saima also had to declare that she was a Muslim on every form and document at school. Every day, Saima sat through required Islamic classes, pretending to agree with everything she heard. Every time her teachers claimed that Islam was a religion of peace, she was in turmoil within. Why then had her father been declared an outcast and beaten savagely for changing his faith?
The better part of Saima’s life had been spent deciding when it was “safe” to be her real self, a Christian and when she had to appear to be a practising Muslim.
Although Saima’s father decided that he would never leave Pakistan, he started praying that somehow his daughter will be able to live in freedom in a Western country. Like any loving father, he wanted her to find a good Christian husband, to be safe, and to be free to raise her children as Christians.
At first, the urge to escape to the West rose within her heart, but in the end Saima could not set aside her dream to enter public service.
But the whole idea terrified her father. “They will kill you if they find out,” he told her desperately, explaining the dangers for a secret believer to work in a government office.
Nevertheless, Saima finally won her argument, both with her father and her own conscience, to pursue her dream. She had dreamt of sitting at an immigration desk at the airport, or helping processing passport and identity card applications, or joining the police force, or serving as a secretary in parliament.
She knew she would not be free to profess her Christian faith. That would automatically disqualify her from any government job in Pakistan, and identify her as an “apostate”, which is punishable by death.
In her heart, Saima knew she had the freedom to choose; she was freer than any of the bearded men and veiled women enrolled in her civil service class.
But in the end, she found that she could not cope with the imminent threat of being discovered. So she withdrew; enrolling at a local university instead, where she could remain more inconspicuous.
“I am comfortable that God will reveal His will for me,” Saima said, surrendering her dreams to His plan for the next steps in her life.
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