Freedom is not the end of the story. Here's what life looks like now for some of the families we've walked with.
For nearly twelve years, Yasir Masih's family lived under the weight of a debt they never chose. When his father fell seriously ill, the family borrowed money from their brick kiln owner to cover his treatment — the only option available to them at the time. His father did not survive, and the debt didn't disappear with him. It stayed on the family's account, and it became Yasir's to carry.
He went to the kiln every day and earned around fifty dollars a month — barely enough to feed his own children, let alone touch the debt itself. The harder he worked, the less hope there seemed to be of ever actually leaving.
It was in the middle of this that Pastor Shahid Naveed found him — not with money, but with the Gospel. Yasir accepted Jesus Christ that day. Nothing about his circumstances changed right away. He still owed the same debt. He still went to the same kiln. But something in him did change, and he held onto it for years, praying that God would find a way to free his family, even when there was no visible reason to believe it would.
That way came through donors half a world away, who paid off what remained of the family's debt and let them walk out of the kiln for good.
Today, Yasir holds a government job in Punjab's sanitation department. His family lives in a home of their own, with electricity and running water — things that were once out of reach. They can provide for themselves, and for the first time, their future is theirs to plan. It's a story they tell simply, as a story about faith answered — and they remain grateful to every donor who became part of it.
Akbar Dukhi's debt was never really his own to begin with. It started with his forefathers, passed down through generations at the brick kiln, and landed on him when his father died still owing it. He worked long, exhausting days making bricks, but the income never stretched far enough to feed his wife and children, let alone touch what the family owed. There was no realistic way out.
Life at the kiln reflected it. No bed. No fan. No reliable electricity. No real access to clean water for drinking or bathing. Every day was about getting through it, and a different future felt like something that happened to other people.
When our team met Akbar and heard his story, we paid off what his family owed. The debt that had followed his family for generations was gone, and for the first time, they were free to leave.
What Akbar did with that freedom surprised everyone but him. He had carried a gift for poetry for years, and he finally had room to use it — recording and sharing his work on social media. People noticed. His audience grew. Eventually, that attention opened a door into news media, and today Akbar works as a television news reporter.
Paying off a family's debt does more than let them leave a brick kiln. Sometimes it hands someone back their own life — and whatever they were always capable of doing with it. A man who once spent his days making bricks under a debt he never created is now using his voice for a living, on television, as himself.
Kashif was born into a family already trapped in generational debt bondage at a brick kiln, the same site where his father spent long, exhausting days making bricks that never quite covered what the family owed. No matter how hard they worked, freedom stayed just out of reach.
When Kashif was still a young boy, his father fell seriously ill. Like most families at the kiln, they had no way to afford a doctor, so his mother borrowed still more money from the kiln owner — deepening a debt that was already crushing. Despite everything they tried, his father did not survive, leaving his mother a widow raising a young son while carrying the full weight of what the family owed.
As Kashif grew older, that debt became his to carry. He worked the kiln himself, but his wages were never enough to make a real dent in it. Year after year, he and his mother remained bound to the same site, with little reason to believe anything would change.
That changed when our ministry team visited the kiln and shared the Gospel. Kashif and his mother heard it and found something they hadn't had in a long time: hope. Not long after, through the generosity of donors, their debt was paid in full, and after years of hardship, Kashif and his widowed mother walked free.
Kashif was also given a capital loan to buy a rickshaw, giving him a way to earn an honest living and provide for his mother. In 18 months, his loan for the business will be paid in full, and he intends to expand once he's able. Today, they live in a home of their own, building a life defined by dignity and hope rather than debt. It's a story Kashif and his mother tell simply, as an answer to years of prayer — and they remain grateful to every donor who became part of it.
