INTERNATIONAL WORKS OF MERCY
We are all connected, so we are all affected. As the Body of Christ, we are all connected. This means that when any of us is in need, the ripple effect of that need impacts us all. In keeping with this baptismal reality, PCSJ leadership identifies each year an organization or individual that we discern in prayer Our Lord is asking us to assist. Do you want to join us in these international works of mercy? Learn more on this page about our 2026 People Helping People Campaign.
2026 PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE CAMPAIGN RECIPIENT:
FURNACE TO FREEDOM
AMJAD ASGHAR
Kasur, Pakistan
Most brick kiln workers in Pakistan are persecuted Christians, and they’re not free. They’re in bonded slavery, paying off insurmountable debts that carry to succeeding generations. Comprising less than 2% of the population, Christians are at the bottom of the economic and social scale. Kiln owners offer them loans to pay for urgent familiy needs, but these loans are snares that trap families in modern-day slavery. Workers' daily wages are garnished with interest, and the meager wages (~25+ cents per day) make repayment of the loans impossible, leaving parents and children in slavery for decades unless something breaks the cycle. Your gift helps break the cycle.
The LORD sets prisoners free. - Psalm 146:7
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Children's development is often stunted and plagued by diseases associated with the unsanitary and economically debilitiating conditions of brick kiln work.
Children suffer from malnutrition, illiteracy, and lack of educational and personal formation opportunities. Women have little hope for the future of their children.
Furnace to Freedom offers children and their parents material and spiritual support in accord with the human dignity of all involved.
In collaboration with PCSJ and its partners, Furnace to Freedom provides:
1. Prayer, praise, and spiritual formation for poor families trapped in brick kiln debt
2. Food rations for the women and their families
2. Payment of impossible debt burdens for heads of households
4. Catechesis and games for children who labour without access to schooling
Most brick kiln owners are Muslims in a predominantly Muslim country, so even though slavery was outlawed in 1992, these politically and religiously powerful kiln owners are not held to the law. Sometimes, they even retaliate when legal advocacy prevails. For example, in The brick kiln slaves of Pakistan, Kamran Chaudry describes a grim scene: "In 2014, a Christian couple working as laborers at a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan town of Kasur district were locked up, beaten and then thrown on top of a lit furnace by a mob of about 1,000 people incited by accusations that they had desecrated the Quran." Learn more.
Furnace to Freedom operates out of Kasur.
Another infamous moment in this sordid business was the tragic killing in 1995 of Iqbal Masih, the Pakistani child rights activist who was internationally recognized for his efforts to raise awareness about brick kiln workers. Lauded in many nations for telling his story with courage and conviction for social change, young Iqbal was only 12--stunted to the body of a 6-year-old--when he was silenced with a shot. |
Iqbal Masih |
In cooperation with Furnace to Freedom, PCSJ has identified 5 families whose debt burden we want to lift from their shoulders. Due to high interest charges, low wages, and no contracts, families who incur these debts for simple needs like paying a medical bill become trapped in bonded slavery from one generation to the next. You can set them free! Make a donation today. We make every cent count.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me;
for He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to bring liberty to captives and freedom for those imprisoned in darkness.
--Isaiah 61:1
Meet 5 Brick Kiln Debt Slaves YOU CAN SET FREE.
Brick Kiln Worker / Debt Slave #3:
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Brick Kiln Worker / Debt Slave #4:
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