ORPHANS FIRST | Pakistan

In 2025, we began helping enslaved children who were forced to make bricks each day for pittance, and were hungry and cold.

We started with a Christmas Outreach. Most of the children are orphans, without one or both parents. Others have been left behind as a result of bonded labor aka slavery.

In desperation, some parents have fled the brick kilns to escape lifelong debt, forced to leave their children behind with no safe alternative. In other cases, children are living with very elderly grandparents, or an older sibling has taken on the role of parent. Each child is marked by loss, abandonment, and desperate surviva.

Initially, we planned to provide winter clothing packages for 300 children. We were entrusted with USD 4,000 from Orphans First, and we carried a strong sense of responsibility to steward every dollar with care and integrity. Out of the USD 4,000, we prayerfully decided to divide the funds equally in order to reach two different cities.

Samina was entrusted with USD 2,000 to serve children in Faisalabad (including the Dichkot and Samundri areas), and Neha was entrusted with USD 2,000 to serve children in Pakpattan. Both Samina and Neha identified and gathered orphaned children from nearby brick kilns in their respective areas to ensure that those in the most immediate and vulnerable situations were reached. By purchasing locally, negotiating prices, and managing logistics carefully, we were able to cover clothing, transportation, and food, and by God’s grace, we were able to serve 350 children instead of 300.

Each child received a complete winter package, including a warm shirt and pants, a warm jacket, a wap cap, gloves, warm socks, and a small toy. For many of these children, this was the first time they had ever owned something new that was theirs alone.

The outreach was carried out across multiple brick kilns, not just a single site. Hundreds of orphans were reached, living in extreme hardship. We also provided transportation for children who traveled from distant brick kilns so they could receive this Christmas blessing, as shown in the documentary.

For the remaining gift items, we prayerfully identified children who were urgently in need, children living in slums, extreme poverty, and daily hunger. Many live in very small, clay-made housing units or informal shelters provided by brick kiln owners. These homes are overcrowded, fragile, and unhygienic, offering little protection from weather or illness.

Hunger from food shortage is one of the most painful realities we encounter. Many children receive only one simple meal a day. Nutritious food is rare, and meals such as biryani are considered a luxury beyond imagination. When we bring such food, the joy is overwhelming, not only because of the meal itself, but because it communicates care and dignity. Alongside physical nourishment, we also share Bible stories, prayer, and hope.

 The children do not attend school. They are slaves, spending long days working in the brick kilns. The nearest schools are located far away, and after a full day of exhausting labor, they have no time, strength, or opportunity to attend. Education remains an unreachable dream for most of them.

 Health conditions are equally concerning. There are no doctors or medical facilities available at the brick kilns. Many families originally entered bonded labor due to medical emergencies, childbirth complications, illness, or injury, that forced them to take loans they could never repay. Constant exposure to brick kiln smoke has led to widespread respiratory problems, including asthma and lung disease, especially among the children.

For many of these children, the gifts from Orphans First were not simply gifts, They meant a moment of being seen. Several children expressed that they had grown up believing no one cared for them and that they had been forgotten. Our gifts were a message of love, dignity, and hope—a reflection of the heart of Jesus reaching those who feel unseen and unloved.