My name is Emma, and I returned recently from a trip to Pakistan. There are some wonderful stories to share with you, an urgent request for funds from one of our partners and an inspiring new vision for Release:Women which everyone needs to know about, whether you are a woman or a man!
I have been involved with our persecuted brothers and sisters for a while now: I’ve lived and worked with them, and prayed for them. But it was only on my recent trip, as I held the hand of a weeping mother traumatised by her daughter’s injuries and pain, listening to her words spilling out through translation, looking into her troubled eyes and feeling her hold me so tightly as I embraced her, that I found myself moved and challenged as never before. Despite her suffering, God’s Spirit of joy was so evident within her – and the other persecuted Christians I met in Pakistan.
A Vision of Hope
You might remember young Noureen's story. She lives in a community that was caught up in Muslim mob violence in June 2009. The mob burned down much of her village. Noureen was in the bath when her house caught fire. To escape the flames, she was forced to run out into the street just as she was, where she then endured the taunts and humiliation of the mob. One of them threw acid over her – scarring her badly – and she escaped only when some Christians came to her assistance.
We met Noureen in the office of Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP). We had been warned about how deeply she had been traumatised, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually, too. How can a 15-year-old girl face her community in the knowledge that her nakedness has been seen by so many? How can she imagine a future free of shame when her humiliation is so widely known? How can her family hope that she will ever marry?
Before I met her, my mind was full of what we could do through our recently formed ministry stream Release: Women. She needs post-trauma counselling; the community might need training on the treatment of dishonoured women, reconciliation between religious communities, human rights awareness, etc. More and more ideas came to my mind. Then we met her. Noureen is a pretty young woman with a warm and welcoming smile. She looked straight into our eyes, and seemed pleased to meet us. She did not show a hint of the shame I had expected. However, her mother’s anguish was very evident. She just wept in our arms and sat close to me holding my hand.
Noureen's eyes were bright. It seemed that the prayer and ministry that she had received, the kindness of other Christians and the prayers of her Release family in the UK had led to her healing. We spoke about her future and we could see that her experience deepened her faith in God. We celebrated with her by adorning her with some garlands we had been given and gave her cards made at the recent Release:Women conference by her sisters in the UK. We prayed for a husband for her, we talked about how God seemed to be raising her up as a future leader of women, and we laughed. It was God's gracious turnaround in Noureen's life that we witnessed. It was beautiful.
Noureen and her family and the wider community still need help and assistance and Release continues to support them through SLMP.
Signs of Hope
Above the door of a classroom in the Community Advance Programme (CAP) Girls' High School are the words 'Education is the Chief Defence of Nations'. As we toured the packed classrooms of young enthusiastic learners, I began to realise how educating these girls is key to reducing their vulnerability to persecution.
They are studying in a safe environment away from the risk of sexual abuse frequently endured by those working as maids in Muslim households.
They have a greater chance of finding better-paid work. This can help them to break out of the cycle of poverty that many Pakistani Christians endure from generation to generation.
They will be able to read the word of God, to teach others, to understand their legal rights and be better able to face persecution.
These girls will be transformers of their community, where poor literacy robs large numbers of Christian women of any opportunity to improve their lives.
You can bring Hope
Tragically, this school may have to close. From January 2010 the teachers' salaries must be increased by law to the government scale for registered schools, and CAP does not have an income stream to meet the increase.
Release is providing some emergency financing but without your help we are, sadly, unable to sustain the regular funding that is needed to keep the school open.
Please will you help these Christian girls?
CAP needs £1,000 a month to keep the school running.
Could you be:
- One of two people who give £100 a month?
- Or one of six people who give £50 a month?
- Or one of ten people who give £20 a month?
- Or one of thirty people who give £10 a month?
Give now to support the school
That would mean that CAP would need only 48 Release supporters to keep this school open. But however many people respond to this appeal, and however much you can afford to give, you can contribute to the transformation of Christian girls' lives through education in Pakistan.
This is just a start for the ministry of Release:Women which we plan to develop around the world. Our vision is simple and founded upon the words that Jesus spoke to the woman healed after twelve years of suffering:
'Daughter, you took a risk trusting me, and now you are healed and whole. Live well, live blessed!' (Luke 8:48 The Message)
What this short interaction reveals is that Jesus acknowledged her physical healing and her faith, and publicly restored her relationship with her community and family. Remember, her illness would have made her a social outcast for all those years based upon Levitical laws. Release:Women is about restoration of women and the communities and families that they belong to.
Release: Women is also about men. We are carefully talking to Pakistani Christian leaders about our vision and they welcome it with open arms. I heard twice in my trip this statement from different well-respected men, 'If you help a woman, you help a nation.'
As well as funding for the CAP Girls' School, we are also seeking funding for our first major programme in Pakistan, which we plan to start this year. It is a community-based programme to initiate women's fellowship groups. These groups would mean that the most vulnerable women would have access to Bible teaching, literacy programmes, facilitated peer group support to discuss issues related to women such as sexual harassment and violence, and human rights training so they are better aware of their legal rights when violations are committed. 
This project needs funding of at least £10,000 annually to be started.
Our prayer is that these women find a place in their society in which they can learn what it is to have a voice and be heard by the decision makers. This would enable them to express the need for changes in healthcare facilities, education and protection for women. But most importantly these fellowship groups would allow them to encourage one another in their walk with Jesus.
It is to these fellowship groups that we plan to send women from the UK to offer prayer ministry, Bible teaching and other appropriate skills. We believe that this model could potentially be replicated in many other countries in which Release works. Please donate now
Release:Women is about relationships. Please be a part of sharing this relationship with our suffering church. Let us, together, release women in Pakistan. With grateful thanks,
Emma Dipper
Emma is married to our Chief Executive, Andy, and has recently assumed responsibility for our women's ministry as Release:Women Programme Manager.