Partnership Overview

The town of Rawat is the gateway to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, and is an old historic town. In the past, subcontinent king's armies took rest in Rawat Fort although now a Muslim mosque is there. There are approximately 20-25 thousand people living in Rawat, all fundamental Muslims with only approximately 30-40 Christian families in the town. Because of the Muslim domination all the Christians are very poor and the only employment they can find is cleaning jobs - streets, hotels, shops, homes etc - or repairing shoes beside roads.  No Christian from Rawat has finished high school. 

This partnership seeks to provide hope for these Christians by teaching women how to sew and giving them a way of gaining worthwhile employment and financially supporting their families. The course will run for two hours a day, five days a week for one year. 

History Of Partnership

Azam and Barbara Gill have been visiting Rawat at least once a week since the late 1990's endeavouring to encourage the Christians there. Azam has a real desire to lift that Christian community up, spiritually, physically, economically and socially because times are very hard currently in Pakistan. Their dream is that the Christians there will receive blessings from the Lord in all aspects of life. 

BHW has had a relationship with Azam and Barbara since 2002 after our Field Director met them at an international conference.  In August 2008 we funded a pilot sewing programme in Islamabad where 20 women were trained and this had an incredibly positive impact in that community as for the first time many of these women are now able to support themselves and their families.  Azam was therefore very keen to run a second programme in Rawat. 

Beneficiaries

The 10-15 women who will be trained at this centre each year are the direct beneficiaries but the flow-on effect will be huge throughout the community as these women are then able to gain worthwhile employment and provide financial support for their families. 

What We Like About The Partnership

The pilot programme in Islamabad has shown what a difference a course like this can make in people's lives. Life is very difficult for Christians in Pakistan and it is exciting to be able to empower them in this way. 

Azam and Barbara have a good reputation in Rawat due to their input into that community over so many years.  Several pastors have come and gone from Rawat but Azam has a real love for these people and a desire to help them. 

This is a church based programme and it will have the ability to empower the church families and help them to become more influential in the Rawat community. 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Azam and Barbara Gill
Azam has been in ministry for more than 10 years and is very passionate about the gospel. He is married to Barbara and they have three children, two boys and one girl. He gave his life to the Lord in 1987 and in 1991 joined Bible School here in Pakistan. The Gill family is well known and has served the community for many years, especially in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. He has a heart for evangelism but can see the benefits of providing training and education to the poor in his community.

They both come from Christian backgrounds, Azam from Christian Brethren and Barbara from Baptist. They are passionate about seeing communities transformed by the power of the gospel and the presence of local churches. Barbara is a school teacher and is leading the development of the training and poverty reduction programmes. Azam is fearless in his proclamation of the gospel and travels around a lot preaching and training people.

Other People Involved

Mrs Fozia Darshan
Mrs Fozia is the teacher who will be running the sewing classes. She is married with one young daughter. She has two years teaching experience in a sewing centre and has earned a one year training certificate from an institute.  Both her and her husband Imran are a Godly couple and she will have a Christian impact on her students.

Vision And Annual Strategy

An initial group of 10 women were selected to commence the first course in August 2009.  All the women were Christians but in subsequent courses it will be open to Muslim women as well to learn the art of sewing. A certificate will be given to the women who complete the course. Some machines are available for the students to learn on and at the end of the course each graduating student receives a sewing machine.

Subsequent courses will take around 12 - 15 students per year. 

Annual Budget

The budget provides the sewing machines, scissors, material, thread, needles, teacher's salary, food/refreshments, rent, administration costs and transport.  They are able to use the tables and stools that were used in Islamabad so there isn't the need to purchase them for this course.