Report from BHW Pakistan Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key people:   Azam and Barbara Gill 

Recent Events

Activities

After the last visit in 2019 by BHW personnel, it appeared that the sewing had lost its way. We thought that it was largely because Azam was too busy, overstretched and not able to oversee what was going on in all four sewing programmes plus everything else he was attempting to do. It was recommended that Azam cut back to running two projects at a time to help him manage his time more effectively. Then came Covid which delayed a few things. In 2022 the new strategy was introduced. 

In March 2023 a team of four from BHW visited the partnership and was able to attend the graduation ceremonies of the two programmes. We were very encouraged by what they saw.

Azam and Barbara retain the leadership of these programmes. They are busy in other areas, but it was evident that they are under less stress now. Part of that is that there are only two programmes to keep going. Barbara’s school in Islamabad makes it difficult for her to visit the sewing programmes frequently. Talking to Azam, it’s obvious that he has been able to refocus energy on church planting, his first love. The projects he is leading now fit into that strategy much more clearly. 

The current courses are 9 months long and 5 days a week. The students come in for 3 hours a day and frequently stay longer for fellowship.  

Graduation Ceremonies

While in the Faisalabad area we were able to attend the graduation ceremonies of two of the programmes and also visit a village where a previous course had been held. 

Village #253
The first was on the 21st March in the village #253 GB, Khosran. 13 women graduated with certificates and 10 of them also got sewing machines. 

We met the man in the village who had ‘pressured” Azam to come to his village. He was sitting at the back, in tears as the graduation programme began and wept all the way through. Since this course began, he has had a stroke from which he is slowly recovering. He was so happy to see his dream being fulfilled. We prayed with him, for his health and gave thanks that he had seen this programme commenced. The plan is to run one more sewing programme in this village. 

Comments from one of the BHW team: "We were struck with the quality of the work that had been achieved by the women - the workmanship was well above the usual standard that we have observed in other villages.

I spoke with one of the mothers of the graduates, she and her husband had been baptised the day before by Azam. She was filled with gratitude for the work that Jesus had done in her life and told me that after her baptism all her pain had been healed. Praise God. She had been one of four people baptised.

The graduation was attended by most of the mothers of the graduates - they were very proud of their daughters.  Some of them were hoping that there would be another sewing programme so they also would get the opportunity to learn to sew. One woman told me she was too old to learn - I imagine she was 20 years younger than me!"

Two months from the end of the course the teacher had to leave. Another was brought in to complete the training, she had to travel a distance each day to do it but has done a great job. The students were very appreciative of her and commented that she had helped with their spiritual lives as well as the sewing skills. 

This course was held in a Church of Pakistan building and they are very cooperative with Azam and his desire to help in this village.

Village #322
The second graduation ceremony was in village #322 JB, Shahzada and we visited on the 22nd March 2023. This is the fifth time a course has been run in this village. It is a large village and Azam and Barbara’s base in this area. He has several of his family members living here and a small property on which he is building a meeting place for Bible studies and some rooms for sleeping and accommodation. 

Village #303
The third was on the afternoon of the 22nd March. We drove to village #303 JB to meet women who had graduated from a course late in 2021. The purpose was to hear and assess how the course had impacted the women sometime after they had completed the course. People were gathering as we arrived and continued coming right through the programme. Only three of the graduates came and the teacher, plus another 30 women who wanted to be trained as well! 

A 25-year-old man had been killed in the community that day, so several were affected. Also, two of those trained had been recently married and left the district. However, the three women were very appreciative and all of them are earning from their sewing and continuing to use their machines. It has been a boost to the church as well as these families have more income and those from the Muslim community were happy. 

From Azam’s perspective, training some Muslims is helpful as it builds bridges to that community, and he is very aware that this is important as he seeks to build a reputation for Christ around this area of Punjab. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

People are very happy with these programmes. The people were singing and dancing and so rapt to have this opportunity. The leaders of the church were in tears as they talked about the impact and one parent of a participant stood to give his thanks. 

The real impact is some years down the track. However, we heard many stories of women who now had work in factories earning good money for their families. Because of this they are not married off as young women as there is advantage in them staying in the family. 

Those who do marry take a valuable asset with them, their skills and their machine. Several women from earlier programmes are teaching other women as well. In every village we visited more women want to be part of a course.  

Plans for the Future

The plan when we first talked to Azam was to start two more programmes soon. These programmes are being run some distance from where Azam lives, and he says that it is not cost effective to just be running two and would prefer at least three to be going at a time. This is a good point even though we have increased the admin amount. 

After being there for a time and after several discussions we have a new plan developing and Azam and Barbara will send through details and budgets in due course. 

Current Issues and Challenges

There is still a lot of demand for these programmes. Azam could easily have several more operating, but we don’t want to fall into the same trap as before. He needs some assistance. 

Costs are rising in Pakistan. The poor are becoming much poorer. This makes the management more expensive. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) That the reshaping of this programme has been positive 

2) That several more girls have been equipped with skills and that these women will be able to maximise their earning in terms of helping their families. 

Comments

We spent a lot of time with Azam and Barbara and talked on many occasions. It has been good to have the time to do that, especially since it’s four years since we’ve been here. 

It is good to see that Azam has managed the two sewing courses well. There are still some things he doesn’t get, but the two we attended were a marked improvement on the last ones we saw. 

We had several good talks with Azam about the management of the programmes. Two main points were stressed:
1) that it is very important to select the right people to train and run the programme and that unless he has the right person, a course should not start, and
2) he tends to be very literal in understanding things that have been said to him. On several occasions we noticed that some women did not receive machines. He explained that we said we would only provide 10 machines and we did. However, earlier in the same communication we said he should only have 10 participants in a course. So there appears to be little ability to interpret well, it may be an English thing. We clearly explained that from now on, he needs to set up a programme with between 10 and 15 students and we determine the budget based on the actual number of students. We would then send the funds for the course. The difference in cost between courses would be the number of machines required.