06/24/2021, 15.22
PAKISTAN
Send to a friend

More families freed from brick kiln slavery thanks to the AsiaNews campaign (VIDEO)

by Shafique Khokhar

Readers’ generosity has freed seven more families victims of debt slavery in Faisalabad. Some tell their stories. Grateful that their “grandchildren can now go to school”, they “will always remember in our prayers all those who have helped us.”

Faisalabad (AsiaNews) – Starting last December, AsiaNews has campaigned along with the Diocese of Faisalabad to free workers and their families from slavery-like conditions in a brick factory in Kamalpur after they contracted debts with their employer during the pandemic.

With God's help and the generosity of many benefactors 45 families were freed, given food and clothes several times. Now seven more families have been helped in Faisalabad, three of which have been able to pay off their debt thanks to this help.

Mushtaq Masih, 68, a father of two sons and four daughters, spoke to AsiaNews about it.

“I had to take out a loan several times from the brick kiln owner, especially for my daughters' weddings,” he explained.

The debt “reached to 330,000 rupees (about US$ 2,100) and we were not able to return even a quarter. That is why I was forced to work at the brick kiln with my whole family. Even my grandchildren worked at the kiln” and could not go to school.

“We wanted to be free from this slavery, and asked Father Abid Tanvir, the vicar general of the Diocese of Faisalabad, to help us. Today, with the help of AsiaNews benefactors, we are free, we paid the entire debt.

“My grandchildren can now go to school and our family can go back to the village and look for another job. The help given to us comes from the Lord who today has again freed his people from slavery, like in Pharaoh's Egypt.”

Sarwar Masih, 65, was also able to pay off all his debt with the help of the campaign.

“I am unable to express all my joy today,” he told AsiaNews. “After decades I can now say that my whole family is free from slavery.”

“I worked for 20 years during which I took a loan of 200,000 rupees (US$ 1,300) which, for various reasons, I could not repay.

“I had a major accident and broke my right leg. I have been unable to walk properly ever since, but I had to keep working at the brick kiln with my whole family. We dreamt of freedom and this miracle was achieved thanks to the AsiaNews campaign.

“My grandchildren will no longer work there; they will go to school and can have a better future. We will always remember in our prayers all those who have helped us”.

Fr Abid Tanvir has “known these families for many years. I have seen them work at the brick kiln and I can imagine their suffering. But every pain can find some comfort in the end.

“Thanks to the help of people from all over the world, who never met them, but wanted to support them, these families are free.

“This is precisely what our faith teaches us: help those who have no one to help them. I am very grateful to AsiaNews and everyone who supported our request.”

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
'You freed our children': 45 brick kiln families pay off debt
16/03/2021 16:59
More brick kiln enslaved families freed thanks to AsiaNews (VIDEO)
29/06/2021 15:33
Court orders compensation for two bonded migrants who had a hand chopped off by contractor
30/08/2019 17:37
Enslaved children working in brick kilns in Shanxi and Henan
15/06/2007
Modern-day slaves are beaten and buried alive as police looks the other way
15/06/2007


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”