Christian Brick Maker Sells His Kidney to Feed His Family
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
ANS (11/19/06) — A Christian leader from Pakistan has revealed the tragic story of a poverty-stricken Christian brick maker who was so desperate to feed his family that he sold his kidney.
Rev. Faraz Malik, a principal of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan in Lahore, shared this shocking story recently during an interview for my Front Page Radio Show on KWVE 107.9 FM in Southern California.
There are so many brick making factories in Pakistan especially in the Lahore suburbs, he said. The Christian people do the work there because brick making is a menial job and only Christian people are deemed suitable to do this job. These people do not have basic facilities such as clean water, electricity, medical help; their homes are poor and they have little food.
What they do is really slavery. Their forefathers were brick makers; they are brick makers, and in the future their children will be brick makers. They get paid for the amount of bricks they produce and so for a thousand bricks they get the equivalent of $6.00 US.
The Rev. Malik said he discovered the plight of this particular Christian brick maker when he went to the area to distribute clothing that had been shipped over in two 40-foot containers to him for the poor, by ASSIST Ministries.
This man, who is about 36-years-old, is married and has five children, he said. Like his forefathers, he is a brick maker, and just like his forefathers, he was finding that he couldnt earn enough money to feed his family. So he thought that if he sold one of his kidneys, he could get a good amount to help his family. So he sold his one kidney, but due to un-education he didnt know that he must have bed rest so he initially took rest for a month after the sale of his kidney which then turned into three months and then found that he had consumed all of his money.
Now he has a big problem as he is not strong enough to return to brick making as this is very hard work. When I went there, his wife was crying that they needed help and so I gave them some of the clothes.
I tell you this is the problem that many Pakistan Christians are facing. Sadly, many other Christian people are selling their kidneys because they are poor people.
He went on to say, Christians are two percent of the population and we are not so strong in the Pakistan because we do not have much resources. Mostly our people are doing the menial jobs.
When asked about religious freedom in his country, he said, Yes, we can pray in our churches but we are not allowed to preach the gospel on streets, roads and public places. But we can preach the Gospel and worship within our churches.
The Rev. Faraz Malik was born on April 1, 1956 and is a pastor and a Bible teacher in the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan. He also teaches at Bible camps and has taught in a Christian college. He is the president of a Bible research forum and runs a correspondence course. He also visits people in prison and supplies medical help to poor people in his country.
In studio with the Rev. Malik was Brother Eugene of ASSIST Ministries and he explained that he had first met him at a convention in the United States.
We talked together and he explained the situation of the poor Christians there, he said. I immediately thought, Wow, I know a rescue mission director who has an abundance of clothing good used clothing. That director is Dr. Vern Deatherage, Executive Director of the Modesto Union Gospel Mission and when I approached him, he offered to supply literally tons of good used clothing for this purpose. So we were able to gather 50,000 pounds of clothing, divided between two forty foot containers and they were shipped to Pakistan to our brother Faraz under Assist Ministries. And he was able to receive these. So that is the provision that Brother Faraz is talking about.
The Rev. Malik then added, When I got the container of used clothing, I gave a good part of those clothes to the brick workers and poor people and I also gave clothes to other ministries to give out to the needy.
He then spoke of the medical work he is involved with.
We have volunteer doctors who work with us and my wife is also a trained staff nurse, he said The medical teams go to different villages and we supply the medical treatment and medicines and we usually check out sick people, but we now want to start a mobile dispensary. And we are looking for a multi-purpose van in which we can keep the medicines and transport the medical staff and then well be able to visit more villages. We will also use the van to distribute food and clothing.
I then asked Brother Eugene why people in American should care about Pakistan and why this country is so strategic to the future of America.
He replied, Well Pakistan, is of course, home to many radical groups and people. It is heavily populated and both Pakistan and India are now in the nuclear club in a very dangerous area of the world. Pakistan borders Afghanistan as well as Iran and, of course, India and China. So its in a key location and its in the 10/40 Window which has such a heavy population of unevangelized people. So Pakistan is a key country and we need to pray for it.
Note: Id like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing this interview.
