Miracle School

Sad story…..but also a miracle!

The Country is Pakistan, where 3.1 million people live in slavery. The main work that these people do is in brick kilns, some 20,000 of them across Pakistan. 70% (approx. 2 million) of these slaves are children, and each family is required to work from dawn to dusk and make 1000 bricks, all to earn between $3 - $4 a day after deductions. Life for these families is demeaned, inhumane and terribly hard.

Most children want to run from the brick kiln factory, but it’s where they’re destined to work, just like their father must, as slaves. Their hands are calloused and rough as day in, day out they struggle, missing out on many childhood activities and memories through the relentless forced work.

The work, especially for the children, is brutal, out in the open, with no sheds, no resources and often no water available for them. Many suffer regular and miserable illnesses.

Instead of studying at school or enjoying life like other children, the children of brick kiln families face a grim future.

Enter the Miracle School……

In 1999, a handful of Christians started a one-classroom school in an apartment at the edge of a colony in Model Town Lahore, for orphans and children of families who could not afford to send their children to school. The school, known as the Miracle School, started with 57 children, today it has 800 children who receive free education.

The school sets out to educate the children, break the cycle of poverty, help families escape slavery, and build a brighter future for those who work in the brick kilns, while equipping them with skills and knowledge, and nurturing character.

The Miracle School however, does much more. With the support of a group called The Miracle School Trust, Anglican Aid and many individual supporters, the school today is not just transforming lives through education, but is involved in many development, aid and ministry projects including –

• Distributing food rations for struggling families

• Adult education literacy classes

• Sunday Schools, house churches, and other Christian discipleship such as facilitating the Preliminary Theological Certificate (PTC)

• Medical clinics and health care

• Providing clean water through construction of water tanks

Anglican Aid is also partners with the Miracle School to build water tanks at brick kiln factories. Pakistan doesn’t have a shortage of water but diseases arising from drinking or washing with contaminated water can mean medical fees or time off work push an oppressed family even further into debt. Between 2017 and 2023 alone, Anglican Aid has funded 15 water tanks for enslaved brick kiln workers and minority groups. They have also built toilets, and supported health and hygiene education, medical camps and food distributions.

To find out more about Anglican Aid, or to donate to Pakistan’s Miracle School, click here https://anglicanaid.org.au/projects/miracle-school-ministries/