Update from BHW Partnership Facilitator 

Final report  

Azam and Barbara Gill have been partners with BHW for more than 15 years. In 2011 we began sending some financial support for them personally as they were involved in many different projects and needed to travel extensively. Since that time several projects have also been developed to assist with their personal support. These include the establishment of a garment production and sales business in Azam's home village run by his brothers (PAK01e) and investment in a school (PAK06) that could generate funds to assist with their support.  

Both of these are struggling to achieve the desired outcome and have struggled even more since the onset of COVID. However, in November 2018 the final amount of personal support was sent and it is up to them now to manage their income and resources without assistance from BHW. 

Of course, Azam and Barbara continue to partner with BHW. They are involved in sewing training in rural Faisalabad and around Rawalpindi, and Barbara is still running Horizon School in Chaklala.

As well as this, Azam has a wide ranging ministry as a church planter. He does this by finding small groups of Christians and visiting them, slowly gathering them together. Usually they are  discouraged and despised in the community and have lost their Christian foundations. Few of them are literate and they have very low paying daily jobs. As he gathers them, he takes a young person with him and trains them to lead the work. Currently there are about six of these in various stages of development. Most are small groups and non-denominational. They mainly meet in houses and are usually from one extended family. However, there could be 30-60 people in each group. In one area of Rawalpindi, in the adjacent building to the school the church has grown to around 200. This is a large church in Pakistan. 

As well as this he visits and prays with people in hospitals and wherever he can visit. He also earns some income from translating English books into Urdu. 

We expect that BHW will continue to partner with Azam and Barbara into the future. As I write this, two sewing projects in rural Faisalabad have ended and we are waiting for the proposal for two more to begin in the next couple of months. 

Comments

Azam and Barbara are good people with a real heart for the people of Pakistan. They love the Good News and the poor and love to bring the two together. We should continue partnering with them as we are able.