A costly Christmas
Rumana is bullied and abused for following Jesus. But she knows where her hope lies this Christmas!
Every morning when Rumana wakes up, she starts her day like many other 9-year-olds.
She washes her face and eats breakfast. She prays about her day and asks God to bless her. She packs her pencils and schoolbooks in her backpack, and she sets off for school.
But she walks the mile to school on her own. And when she gets to school, no one says hello or sits near Rumana in class. She’s surrounded by people at school, but she’s completely alone.
All because she’s a Christian.
‘I’m just alone’
Rumana’s family is Christian in a predominantly Muslim village in northwest Bangladesh. People are reluctant to associate with them for fear of being rejected by the community – and so the family is persecuted. For Rumana, the abuse is most obvious at school.
“I don’t have any friends in school because I’m a Christian and my parents are also Christian,” she says. “If I sit with them, their parents scold them saying: ‘She is a Christian. You can’t mingle with them because [Christians] are bad.’ I’m just alone.”
Under the pain, Rumana has a remarkable perspective for someone of her age – and shows how God is at work in her heart and life. “I told God everything so I feel better,” she explains. “Why should I be angry at them? I forgive them. I don’t get angry at anyone. If I do, I’ll feel bad in my mind.”
Together at Christmas
Rumana’s Sunday school is run by Open Doors church partners. There, they learn memory verses, worship God and are taught to pray – all valuable things to help endure persecution.
Christmas is a day when Rumana isn’t alone in her faith. She can rejoice and celebrate with other Christians, even as she continues to live in a community that despises her and her family.
“I love to celebrate Christmas because all the Christians, including my Sunday school teacher, we gather around together singing songs and reading from the Bible,” she says. “Sometimes we read from a storybook. We recite the Bible verses we learned from Sunday school.”
Rumana has already endured so much in her short life. And her family has endured much as well. She will likely continue to experience persecution and threats for her faith.
And yet, times like the Christmas celebration give her the strength to carry on. She has people who love her, and who remind her of how much Jesus loves her, too. No matter how alone she feels when she goes to school each day, days like Christmas remind her she belongs to the Body of Christ. It’s why she can continue to walk with Him, even as she knows the path will be dangerous.
Thanks to your gifts and prayers, and through local partners, Open Doors can provide both emergency and long-term support for Christians like Rumana and her family.