In just under a decade of partnership with the Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid, the work of bringing education to the children of Pakistan’s enslaved brick kiln labourers has more than doubled.
There are more than three million people in Pakistan living in slavery, and 20,000 brick kilns where they are forced to work.
Miracle School ministries, which began partnering with Anglican Aid in 2015, now educates 2000 children.
“The partnership with Anglican Aid has borne great fruit with us and it is the love from Anglican Aid, and the love of Australian friends, that means today there are thousands of children under the umbrella of the Miracle School Ministries – transforming their lives not only by education, but education with faith,” says the director of Miracle Schools Ministries, Angela Michael.
Ms Michael shares the story of two of the children for whom the ministry has been life-changing.
Kallis was a bright young boy when he was invited to the brick kiln school.
“We found him with his parents and he was the one child out of four, the eldest one, who had a keen interest to have an education,” she says.
“He was the child who was bonded, enslaved [to] the brick factory. When we invited him to the Miracle School his parents were very confused. They said we have no money, we cannot pay the fees, we cannot afford all the things like books, a uniform and everything. We said... ‘Your child will have a free education’, and with the grace of God [he was] very, very attentive.”
Kallis has since graduated and is now completing a Bachelor of Science with honours in Information Technology. “That is a great evidence of a child from bricks to books – this is what we say,” Ms Michael says.
The story of Nimra, a teenage girl, began with training from the Miracle sewing centre. She received a sewing machine as a graduation gift and is now self-employed, sewing women’s clothes to help her family improve their circumstances.
Nimra became a Chistian after joining the Miracle church.
“She was very weak in learning and over age to attend the school, but she joined the adult literacy group and sewing centre and became a regular member of a Bible study group,” Ms Michael says. “She is very determined, hardworking Christian girl.
“Our Christian graduate students not only have a piece of paper of a ‘worldly’ degree but also we are growing them with faith, so that they can have [the] ability to face the challenges of life that every second Christian is facing back in Pakistan.”
As well as 2000 students, Miracle Schools Ministries is building faith with 15 Sunday schools teaching 50-60 children each, home Bible study groups, house churches and 56 Christian leaders studying the Moore College PTC.
Thanking Anglican Aid supporters for their partnership, Angela Michael explained Miracle School’s goal.
“I believe that education without faith is just like putting books on a donkey,” she says. “Have you ever seen a donkey with books? There are so many donkeys in Pakistan. Miracle is a parachurch organisation in which we believe that God is our everything and Jesus Christ is our saviour.”
Read more here
