Since December 2024, Standing in the Word Ministries, through our partnership with JAMTV Pakistan, has helped secure the freedom of 60 Christian families stuck in bonded labor at Pakistan’s brick kilns!
Through Project Freedom, we are breaking the chains of modern-day slavery, restoring hope, and giving Christian families the opportunity to build a future beyond the brick kiln camps.
But our mission is far from over. Many more families remain stuck in this cycle of debt and exploitation, waiting for their opportunity to experience freedom.
Throughout Pakistan, families are stranded in a system of bonded labor, particularly within the nation’s brick-making industry.
Christians in Pakistan often face severe discrimination, limited economic opportunities, and social disadvantages because of their faith, making impoverished Christian families especially vulnerable to exploitation.
When a family faces a financial crisis, such as a medical emergency, they may be forced to borrow money from a brick kiln owner. Excessive interest rates and unfair repayment conditions can make these debts nearly impossible to repay.
What begins as a financial necessity becomes a cycle of bondage.
Entire families become stuck working at the brick kilns, including children who may be forced to labor alongside their parents. In some cases, workers’ identification documents are confiscated, restricting their freedom to leave or seek employment elsewhere. Although workers receive small wages, their earnings are often insufficient to provide for their families while reducing their debts.
Families often live in small, basic brick dwellings directly on the kiln grounds, working six days a week for eight to ten hours a day in Pakistan’s harsh outdoor conditions. With little financial independence or opportunity to escape, many remain trapped in this cycle of poverty and exploitation for years.
Even more heartbreaking is the abuse and exploitation of children. Many are denied an education and face the dangers of forced religious conversions, sexual assault, and forced child marriages. For some, freedom comes too late to prevent lasting harm.
These are not just statistics. They are mothers, fathers, and children. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ who deserve the opportunity to live in freedom.
Go behind the scenes of Project Freedom and discover how lives are being transformed, one family at a time.
Standing in the Word Ministries partners with JAMTV Pakistan, our trusted ministry partner working directly with families in the brick kiln camps.
JAMTV coordinates the process of identifying families in bondage, confirming their outstanding debts, receiving designated ministry funds, negotiating directly with the brick kiln owners, making payments to settle the debts, and helping secure the families’ release.
Each family’s freedom requires a different amount, depending on the outstanding debt and accumulated interest.
Through the generosity of our ministry partners and supporters, these debts are paid, allowing families to break free from the bondage that has held them captive.
Once a family’s debt is paid and their release is secured, a new chapter of life can begin.
Families can leave the brick kiln camps, reunite with relatives, find new employment, establish small businesses, or pursue opportunities to provide for their households. Some may choose to continue working in the brick-making industry, but without the debt that once held them in bondage.
Project Freedom is about more than paying off a debt. It is about restoring freedom, dignity, hope, and opportunity to families who have lived under the weight of exploitation.
As believers, we are called to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ not only through our words but also through our actions.
These families are our brothers and sisters in the faith. Their suffering is real, but so is our opportunity to make a difference.
Since December 2024, 60 Christian families have experienced freedom through Project Freedom. But many more are still waiting.
Will you stand with Standing in the Word Ministries and help us continue this mission?
Together, we can break the chains of bondage, one family at a time!
