Your support has an impressive impact, creating growth and development for these orphaned and disadvantaged young girls. Your support will help them survive in society with dignity and honor, writes Merriam Hakim, who is in charge of the Ibn-Mariam Girls Hostel for orphaned girls in Kasur, Pakistan. The Danish European Mission has recently sent support to the hostel.
The Danish European Mission is helping to protect and educate thousands of vulnerable girls in Pakistan. Unfortunately, the need for help is both frightening and extensive. It is extensive because there are so many who need our help, and it is also shocking to realize that there is an evil that many of the poorest girls in Pakistan have unfortunately experienced far too much of. That is why it is crucial that we help these girls to be restored to human beings with dignity.
This is why we help orphan girls at Ibn-Mariam Girls Hostel, so that we can help secure them a better future in a country where the Christian minority and those at the bottom of the social ladder are especially degraded. We want the orphan girls to know that God exists and that there are people who wish them well.
The aim of helping the girls at Ibn-Mariam Girls Hostel is to give them self-esteem and help them move forward in life, where they can learn self-discipline and acquire skills that will enable them to succeed in the future. The girls often come from terrible circumstances where abuse or subjugation has been part of their upbringing. That's why it's gratifying to know that the Danish European Mission's donors have helped to encourage the girls at Ibn-Mariam Girls Hostel with practical help. In the pictures, we can see that the help has brought smiles to their faces.
Merriam Hakim says they appreciate the help for the poor and oppressed orphans. The girls have received clothes, garments, food, school fees, writing utensils and school uniforms.
Anum, one of the girls from Ibn-Mariam Girls Hostel says:
My name is Anum. My parents died in an accident when I was three years old. It was hard for my grandfather to raise me. He had to beg for money from family members so that I could get an education. He was an old man, didn't have much energy, but he wanted me to get an education because my father also had an education and worked as a civil servant in the public hospital before he died. My grandfather kept telling me that people with an education will never be poor and hungry, so educate yourself as much as you can as long as I live.
But God has a time for everyone, and my grandfather died five months ago. There was no one to take responsibility for me, everyone said: "You take her, you take her, because I can't afford it etc. etc." I heard it all, when suddenly one of my uncles and aunts said: "Ok, we'll take her!"
I was very happy that there was someone who loved me. But when I moved in with them, they treated me very badly and my uncle drank. So many people came to visit them and I was left alone to do the work of cleaning, washing etc. etc. They treated me like a maid and I was not given food and proper clothes and rest. I cried many times, but there was no one to help me. Many times my uncle and his friends tried to rape me, but God always saved me by sending the neighbor to me. The neighbor gave me food and clothes etc.
One day my uncle raped me and beat me badly, He beat me so badly that blood ran from my eye and some people took me to the hospital. There I met some sisters (nuns). When they heard my story, they removed me from the hospital with the help of a policeman and put me in a home for orphan girls here.
Now I live in this home and go to school and am treated with respect and honor. I am very grateful to Sister Saima and Pastor Tahir who pay for my stay at the home and tuition fees, and I have a new uniform, a new bag, socks and a beautiful pencil case, and I love reading books and enjoy my classes. I am grateful for the team that came to our home and provided us with what we needed. I pray for all those who sent us gifts and for the Danish European Mission.
May the Lord bless you all abundantly!
Anum
