MY ACCOUNT
At A Glance:
Because her husband, Hassan, lost a leg in an accident, Nasreen has to make most of the bricks required by their bonded slavery at a kiln in Pakistan.
- Circumstances drove their debt to 200,000 rupees. Repayment was impossible.
- Hassan and Nasreen do not dream large. Not wealth. Not comfort. Just the ability to earn a living. For that they pray.
- Through our Blueprint for Freedom debt relief program, your giving pays off a family's debt, provides an income-generating opportunity, and walks with them as they build a new life.
The Family That Remains
Nasreen Bibi cannot contain her tears.
Her husband, Hassan, sits beside her. He has one leg. Their young daughter, Amna, sits with them. She has never been to school.
They have an older son, but they haven’t heard from him since he got married a decade ago. The family that remains is the family that is here — at the brick kiln, in debt, with no support system and no way out.
How They Got Here
Fifteen years ago, Hassan drove trucks. That was his life and his livelihood. Then the accident happened.
"When the accident with the truck happened, my thigh got cut off," he says. "After my thigh was cut, then cancer spread to my leg …. And after that, then the leg was amputated."
Next came the bills.
"Even the truck people didn't help at all," Hassan says. "Then, taking out loans with our own money, we kept getting it treated."
The first loan was 30,000 rupees. Then came the seasons without work, the rain that shut down the kiln, the days when there was nothing to eat without borrowing more. Hassan was stuck in a system designed to fail him. With his wages garnished and his debts increasing, repayment was impossible. The debt grew to 200,000 rupees.
That is how a truck driver with only one leg ends up making bricks.
What a Day Looks Like
Nasreen Bibi described what their days earn them – 500, 700, 800 rupees. On some days, nothing.
Hassan cannot do much of the work. Walking is difficult.
"My husband doesn't get any work at all," Nasreen says. "He cannot do this work. It really is difficult, even walking becomes difficult."
Despite the difficulty, Hassan has been doing kiln work for about 15 years – ever since the medical debt trapped them.
'We will sincerely pray … that we get out of this kiln.'
— Nasreen
Amna
Their daughter, Amna, is young. She does not go to school. When asked what freedom would mean, Nasreen’s mind went to her daughter before anything else.
"Our daughter is very small … and this girl doesn't even go to school. When we are free from here, we will enroll the child in school. Every day, for example, we could feed her or pick her up. That is the matter."
As a mother, Nasreen hopes for the things we often take for granted – the things that are supposed to be ordinary.
A Simple Dream
Hassan and Nasreen do not dream large. Their hope is a cart. Something small. Something Hassan can operate while sitting down.
"We will sincerely pray … that we get out of this kiln,” she says. “We set up something of our own, some cart or something, or some kind of system like that … so we can earn our daily livelihood and eat," Nasreen says.
Hassan echoes it: "We also want to have prayers in this regard, that we get freed from here, and then that we have some business that gets going, which we can do sitting down."
That is the scope of the dream. Not wealth. Not comfort. Just the ability to earn a living without standing on a leg he no longer has.
The Only Option
When asked about prayer, Hassan spoke with the clarity of a man who relies completely on God.
"We are praying from God because without God, there is no source that could support us or help us. We have only trust in God and we only believe in God – that He, only He can help us. So there is no other option for us."
No other option. He is not being dramatic. He has done the math. A one-legged man with 200,000 rupees in debt, a wife in tears, and a daughter who has never seen the inside of a school. There is no human solution available to him. So he prays.
The Ongoing Need
Hassan and Nasreen Bibi's story is what happens when a medical emergency meets a predatory system. A truck accident became a cancer diagnosis, became an amputation, became a debt, became 15 years of making bricks with only one leg.
Through our Blueprint for Freedom debt relief program, your giving pays off a family's debt and provides an income-generating opportunity – like the small cart Hassan dreams of – so they can support themselves with dignity and prepare their daughter for a life of freedom and hope. And through our Mobile Health Unit, we are working to make sure a medical crisis does not become a life sentence for the next family.
“Pray for us,” Hassan asks. “Yes, that our debt gets paid off, so that we can be freed from here. In life, we want this … for the children, that our daughter starts studying. That we get freed from here, and then that we have some business that gets going, which we can do sitting down.“
Pray for rest, for education, for reconciliation with their son, for a chance to earn a living with dignity, and for freedom – answers to the prayers this family has prayed for the past 15 years.
One church. One family. One goal. Help Free a Christian Family in Pakistan
Across Pakistan, Christian families press bricks from dawn to dark to repay debts they can't outrun. But there's a proven path out. For about $809, you can pay off a family's debt and set them on the road to lasting freedom. They're not a cause—they're kin. Will you help free 500 families this year?
