For many families working at brick kilns in Pakistan, life is a daily struggle for survival.
Parents and children work around extreme heat, smoke, dust, and dangerous machinery. After long hours of exhausting labor, many still cannot afford enough food, suitable clothing, protective shoes, clean water, or basic medical treatment.
Some families go without food for several days. Parents may have to choose between feeding their children and purchasing medicine. Children sometimes walk barefoot on hot, rough ground because their families cannot afford shoes. During summer and winter, many do not have suitable clothing to protect them.
These families are not asking for luxury. They are trying to survive.
Redeemer's Restoration International is a Christian ministry serving families who live and work at brick kilns in Pakistan.
This work is carried out by two small teams who have walked with these families for ten years. They are not occasional visitors. They know these families by name, sit in their homes, pray with them, and have watched their children grow up. Everything described on this page comes out of that decade of relationship, not from a distance.
Illnesses that could be treated sometimes become life-threatening because families cannot afford transportation, medical examinations, medicine, or hospital costs.
One pregnant mother became seriously ill but could not access the medical care she needed. Tragically, she died, and her baby later died as well. The children were then abandoned by their father and left without stable care.
Their identities must remain protected, but their story represents the painful reality faced by many vulnerable families.
Women and girls living in the brick-kiln yards face dangers that go far beyond poverty. Sexual assault and coercion by kiln owners or their employees is a common reality, and survivors are rarely in a position to report it. In some cases a woman becomes pregnant as a result of the assault, and she is left to carry both the child and the stigma alone. Cases are rarely pursued by local authorities, and the men responsible are seldom investigated and almost never prosecuted. Physical violence is also routine: men are beaten for not working fast enough, and children are struck by the owner or his workers. Many women are abandoned as well, left with no income and no protection.
Because families may depend on brick-kiln owners or employers for work, housing, and loans, survivors can feel unable to report abuse or seek protection. Some women are abandoned while pregnant or caring for young children. Without income or family support, they may have no safe place to live and no way to obtain food or medical treatment.
Christian families and other religious minorities may also experience discrimination or disrespect when seeking employment, protection, public services, or healthcare.
These families do not need judgment. They need dignity, safety, compassion, and practical support.
We serve these families because Jesus commanded it and because every one of them bears the image of God.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.”
Matthew 25:35
Scripture does not leave this optional. “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:17–18). We are also told to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute” (Proverbs 31:8).
We give food, water, shoes, and medical care because that is what love looks like when someone is hungry, thirsty, barefoot, and sick. We serve every family in these communities, whatever their faith, and we do not make assistance conditional on anything.
We are accountable for how this work is done. These are our commitments to the families we serve and to you.
Every person deserves food, water, clothing, medical care, safety, and dignity.
