Pakistan #4 - Happy Women's Day with the PEB
“Happy Women Day” with the Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan (PEB)
“Woman, great is your faith!” Matthew 15:28
Jesus held up a woman as a model of faith to his disciples. Not only was she a woman, but she was a Canaanite woman, a “Gentile dog” as Jesus’ Jewish disciples thought of her. She was desperate for help for her daughter and took the risk to persistently shout through the crowd for Jesus’ attention and mercy to deliver her from the evil which controlled her family. Jesus did not send this persistent, noisy mother away, as his disciples told him to do, but engaged her in dialogue, listened to her, did as she asked (healing for her daughter), and publicly praised her in front of his disciples, saying, “Woman, great is your faith!” Matthew 15:28
Open Doors names Pakistan as the world’s 7th worst persecutor of Christians. Christian women face extra challenges, including lower status. Poor women are at the bottom of the heap, usually laboring hard for little money, which may be taken to pay for a depressed husbands’ drug addiction. Their children also suffer from lack of opportunity, education, or hope for a better future. Christian children, especially village children, if in school at all, are in pitifully poor public schools (where they are lucky if the teacher shows up) or in Muslim schools; either way, training in the Muslim faith is compulsory. The mothers desperately long for their children to be free from this cycle of oppression. The PEB’s mission “to provide the highest quality education with missionary values” is a stunningly beautiful answer to their prayers. PEB focuses on “underprivileged children, women and young girls from the Christian community in remote areas.” And they do it not just very effectively, but with deep respect and love, in the Spirit of Jesus who, instead of avoiding the Canaanite woman as a “dog,” listened to her desperate plea, intervened to free her daughter, and honored her for her love and faith.
On Saturday, the women of our team were privileged to hear and see and participate in this interactive process. We joined with PEB staff and board, a group of local women (from Lahore churches), some girl students around 14-16 years old from one of the PEB schools, and mothers from two villages here in Punjab Province – Sangla and Martinpur (where we had visited the schools and attended the ground-breaking earlier in the week) to listen to and honor these strong women. About fifty of us in all, dressed in brightly-colored Pakistani “shelwar kamees,” gathered in a beautifully decorated hall at the school in Lahore. The masterpiece is a banner reproduction of a very creative composite painting of three Pakistani women each carrying a large water jug in her own unique way, illustrating the unique ways women bear the burdens life gives us.
The day began with three women from PEB’s SHE groups (SHE = Struggle, Hope, Empowerment) and SHA groups (Self Help Approach) sharing their stories of how the downward cycles are turning in positive directions. Mrs. Wana, from Shangla Village, whose husband has left her, has four children and very little money. PEB helped her get the children into school, but the PEB schools only go through grade 10, and good jobs require at least two more years. She cannot afford the fees and the “college” is in the city, too far for them to commute because of the risk of being kidnapped and sold. Margrate from Martinpur Village completed school through grade 10 but was unable to continue her education because her parents wanted her to get married. At first, her husband was a good man and worked to support the family. But a friend introduced him to drugs and he stopped working. Margrate became a domestic worker, but her husband would take her money for drugs so that she could not pay for tuition for her children. When he became abusive, she took her children to a shelter run by the SHE program, where she received sewing training for six months. Now Margrate is living with her mother and working in a tailoring factory. The children board at school for now, while Margrate is saving to keep them in school so they can have a better life. There are no quick, easy fixes to such deep cycles of poverty, but a change in direction is worth celebrating – and celebrate we did!
In Pakistani fashion, the event began with a formal group cake cutting. Then, in table groups by area, with one of our extended group at each table, each woman had the opportunity for their stories to be heard as we shared our burdens. After the sharing and shedding of many tears (at my table, at least), we each wrote our burdens on a stickie note which we then attached to the string of a helium balloon. I shared a balloon with the beautiful woman next to me. The entire group went outside and together released our balloons – and symbolically our burdens – into the blue sky of a sunny Lahore day.
A magnificent Pakistani dance and creative skits followed, in which many of the groups shared in humorous or poetic ways the common themes from their groups. My own group had spent all our time sharing stories, weeping, and consoling each other, but were “saved by the bell,” since time for skits had run out anyway. (Whew!) We shared a beautiful meal, including delicious frozen treats. We presented the women with gift bags and the women presented our team with the original painting of the three women each uniquely bearing the common pot which we will bring home for The Outreach Foundation office.
The focus of the day was women’s empowerment, and behind that theme was the voice of Jesus honoring each beautiful, brave, strong, and faithful woman: “Woman, great is your faith!”
Rev. Dr. Nancy T. Fox
National Presbyterian Church; Washington, DC