CNN Photo Blog-Gary S. Chapman 2011-Persecution in Pakistan

Few people know about the plight of Pakistani Christians. My photos on the persecuted community living there are on CNN’s photo blog. Vivian’s reflections on our experiences are linked on the Belief Blog. Please go to the links below and feel free to comment and share to get the word out.

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Salafina, 29, a survivor of the genocide with the man that killed her family. “I am the only one that remains. They beat me and I am no longer strong. The church started teaching us to forgive each other. He asked forgiveness and I have forgiven him. I can forgive because I am a Christian. I now work side by side with the man that killed my family. The perpetrators and survivors now work together. God gave me a heart of forgiveness.”

Members of the Wirira Association, a group formed to comfort widows of the genocide that were also raped. Wirira means, Don't Cry.

More than 800,000 people, 20% of the country’s population, are estimated to have been killed in Rwanda during the genocide of 1994. I was recently asked by Drink Coffee, Do Good and Savannah Christian Church Global Outreach to document the stories of both the survivors and perpetrators of the genocide.

All Photographs copyright Gary S. Chapman

(Nikon D3s, 70-200mm 2.8 @200mm, 1/250 sec, f2.8, ISO3200)

(Nikon D3s, 24mm f1.4, 1/320 sec, f2.5, ISO3200)

(Nikon D3s, 50mm 1.4, 1/2500 sec, f1.4, ISO200)

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“While we were able to keep Benji from prison, it was clearly God’s will that he go back to the refugee camp. His malaria, typhoid and severe malnutrition were treated and he was able to eat many good meals. He went back to the refugee camp, not as a refugee, but as a missionary. Once he is registered and has the UNHCR docs needed, we will try to get him to the U.S to live with us.”

For a multi-media look into Benji’s story, please click on the video below.

Benji from gary s chapman on Vimeo.

Update 3-22-10

Well we have just returned from the far north of Ethiopia. Three plus day drive through some rugged but beautiful terrain. At the end of the road is a refugee camp with my son Benji living in it. He sleeps at night on a bed made from rocks and dirt covered with a thick blanket. He is with a Christian family and they share a stone hut that is roughly 10′ x 10′. The place is hot and rocky and they are not allowed to work outside of the camp or leave it. They are left totally dependent upon the food rations they get via the UNHCR. He is still very thin and is having issues with the years of imprisonment and torture. His faith is strong and he continues to grow in the Lord. One of our staff Stephanie was able to get some much needed funding to him and Beni was able to spend two days with my son Hunter who led him to Christ. It was very difficult to get to him and even more difficult to leave him. Please pray that the Lord will open the doors for him and allow us to get him out of there. The camp he is in has 15,000 people in it and is filled to capacity. The Ethiopian government is in the process of opening up another camp to deal with roughly 50 people a day coming across the border from Eritrea. Things are terrible in Eritrea and the people are really suffering. Please pray for the church as the government has really put down a hard hand on anyone who names the name of Christ and shares the Gospel. We will continue our efforts to help Benji and many others who are suffering for Christ sake. They have a massive need for counselors in the camp as this issue is totally not addressed due to shortage and no staff. I watched with joy as Hunter and Benji toured the camp hand in hand and shared fellowship after so many years. Kevin SWI

Benji endured over three years in Eritrean jails, beaten and tortured to deny his Christian faith. He recently escaped, walking hundreds of kilometers to relative safety in Ethiopia.

Benji told us of being locked in a suffocatingly hot metal shipping container in the middle of the desert with only two slices of bread and a cup of tea a day. Many fellow prisoners died.

He related one particularly evil session of mental torture when guards had 18 prisoners dig their own grave. One by one, they were brought out in front of the freshly dug graves. Each was told to deny Christ. The guards shot over each prisoner’s head, removed him to yet another prison, and then filled in the next empty grave, repeating the sadistic process for every prisoner.  Each prisoner saw the filled graves and assumed the previous person had been killed. Threatened with death, each prisoner faced what he thought was an opportunity to save himself by denying Jesus. Of the 18 men brought out that day, only 1 did as the guards commanded.

Right now according to Open Doors, in Eritrea, more than 2,800 Christian men and women remain imprisoned for their faith. All evangelical churches have been closed by police.

UPDATE: We just found out Benji is suffering from Typhus and Malaria as well as severe malnutrition. To directly support Benji, you can give here: www.swi.org

UPDATE 2: Received an email in the middle of the night saying that Benji was beaten and robbed of the money, cell phone and malaria meds we gave him. Even worse, his refugee ID card was stolen. If you are the praying type, please pray. He is in a very desperate situation.

Video of his story will be shown soon on this blog.

(Canon 5D2, 24-105mm @75mm, 1/200 sec, f4.5, ISO400)

Photo ©Copyright Gary S. Chapman 2010

I only have this recording of his words because I was testing a new small recorder I planned to take on the trip. His chilling words of the destruction are ended with his call to pray for the ones who committed the violence. It is only by God’s grace that the violated can forgive their aggressors. We have the example of Jesus who said as He was dying, “Forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

Click on the photo at left or click on Pakistan: Eyewitness to Violence to see the multimedia piece.

(Face darkened for anonymity)  Above, “J”  wearing ball cap and western clothing.

Several times a week, he weaves in and out of traffic on his motorcycle darting between donkey carts, and rickshaw taxis to different villages far beyond the outskirts of his city. In each place, he gathers small groups of Christian believers for Bible reading, prayer, and encouragement.

“J” is a college-educated Pakistani Christian, a rare find in a country of 170 million Muslims where Christians, marginalized and mostly illiterate, make up less than two percent of the population. When he isn’t visiting the villages, he tutors full time to make a living. The brother of “M,” (the subject of the previous post) “J” appoints “Bible readers” in each village. These are usually teenagers who spend several evening hours reading the Bible aloud for older people who can’t read. “J” says this practice has worked well. He knows one elderly illiterate man who has memorized the entire Bible.

During our recent visit to Gojra and Korian, the two areas where mobs led by militant Muslims killed nine and destroyed Christian homes, “J” served as one of our interpreters. He has spent years investing in the lives of villagers, educating and encouraging them. He says it’s his faith that keeps him hopeful, even in the midst of trouble and persecution. As we made our way through the rubble down a narrow street, he pointed at the charred remains and said, “We can see the destruction of their homes, but not the destruction of their lives.”

If you would like to assist with ongoing projects to help persecuted Christians in Pakistan, please go to www.swi.org for more information.

Click HERE for an audio clip of an interview with “J” about his faith in the midst of persecution.

(Canon 5D2, 24-105mm @73mm, 1/1000 sec, f5.6, ISO 200)

Article ©Vivian Padilla-Chapman

Photo ©Copyright Gary S. Chapman 2009

“M” (I can’t use his real name) stands dwarfed by this monolithic structure in Islamabad, the largest Mosque in Pakistan. Only 1.6% of the 170 million people living in Pakistan are Christians. As an Islamic-ruled state, discriminating laws against religious minorities are often used to persecute Christians and others. Frequently, the Pakistani government fails to provide basic human rights or protection from militant Muslims.

Growing up, “M” says his father’s encouragement inspired him to do well in school. His father was the head of a sanitation department whose faith, hard work, and support helped his five children pursue an education. “M,” the eldest, became a teacher, despite discriminatory setbacks that Christian students often face. He recalls a time in high school when a Muslim student pushed him, smashing his face into a water spigot, yelling at him for drinking from a water fountain for Muslims. “M” is now principal of a school that accepts Christian and Muslim students. He offers scholarships to poor children, regardless of religion.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians in Pakistan by supporting this school, please go to www.swi.org for more information.

(Canon 5D2, 16-35mm @16mm, 1/200 sec, f8, ISO 100)

Article ©Vivian Padilla-Chapman

Photo ©Copyright Gary S. Chapman 2009

I (Vivian) didn’t get to meet 7-year-old Osama, a Muslim student at the elementary school sponsored by SWI, (Strategic World Impact) but the story the principal told us about him makes me wish that I had. It was just too bad our team left the very morning that classes resumed at a school where Muslim and Christian girls and boys have the rare chance to learn alongside each other.

Osama’s father, we were told, came to speak to the principal about something Osama had said at his house the previous day. Concerned that this Muslim father may want to file a complaint, the principal listened warily.

Osama had come home very excited. Interrupting his father, who had been entertaining visitors, little Osama waved his hands, stood on a bed, and declared, “Listen to me, I want to say something.” His father, curious as to what the announcement might be, gave him permission to speak. Osama wanted to tell his father and guests what he had learned at school that day. Osama spoke, “Jesus says to love one another.”

The principal immediately asked Osama’s father if he was upset or had a problem with this. To his surprise, the father said no. In fact, he insisted, in these days of turmoil, and war, this is what Pakistan needs.

The principal had a smile on his face as he recounted the story and I smiled as well. To lead a school where children can learn truth in the midst of chaos and hatred is an amazing opportunity. We hope that Osama will continue seeking truth and make a difference in his generation.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians in Pakistan by supporting this school that offers scholarships to poor Muslim and Christian children, please go to www.swi.org for more information.

Photo of Osama taken on previous trip in 2007

(Canon 5D, 28mm 1.8, 1/80 sec, f2.1, ISO 500)

Article ©Vivian Padilla-Chapman

Photo ©Copyright Gary S. Chapman 2007

He looks like an ordinary Pakistani, with dark hair, eyes, and skin, but this is no ordinary man.

The 25-year-old father of four small children is a hero to 70 women and children whose lives he saved with a shotgun and self-controlled smarts. He stood on his balcony for almost four hours fending off angry, violent mobs bent on destroying a Christian colony in Gojra city. There, Muslim extremists led thousands in a rampage of violence, looting, and torching that left nine dead and hundreds of people homeless.

When our assessment team from SWI first came to Gojra to witness the devastation left in the wake of such mayhem, the shooter had gone into hiding. We cannot even mention his name to protect him from sure retribution if extremists identify and find him. On our second visit, our contact had arranged an interview. We asked the shooter why he was willing to take the risk to meet with us. He said he wanted his story to get out so that the rest of the world might know the perils of living without civil freedoms Americans enjoy, but mostly take for granted. Then he began to tell us about the decision he faced that fateful day, August 1, 2009.

Like mice chased by alley cats, young girls and women toting their children began to race into his three-story house. As the mob appeared on their street, he knew he had only a few minutes to do something. Pleading with his father to give him the shotgun and case of 88 shells that were in storage, he argued, “If we allow them to come into our house, what will they do? If they kill everyone in the house, then we will have to answer to God why we didn’t protect them. Give me the gun. I said, ‘God I put my life in your hands. I’m going to protect these lives. Help me.’”

He ran up the stairs to the third-floor balcony firing twice in the air. The rabble stopped in their tracks momentarily surprised by the show of resistance. Then a few brazenly moved forward. Having once served in the army, the experienced shooter began discharging rounds over their heads, just close enough to hold them back. For almost four hours he stood as a sentinel blasting towards any threat. When the mob finally left, only two rounds remained. He said his heart was racing, but he knew he had done what was right.

Listening through an interpreter, our team was incredulous, wondering what life would be like going forward for this young man who had stepped up so bravely. While he saved his home and the houses on the rest of the street, the violent rabble had torched his employer’s business just blocks away, completely destroying the building along with all equipment. He was out of a job, but he had saved his family and many others. For that, he was so grateful.

If you would like to help the persecuted Christians in Gojra, a relief team will be bringing in supplies and food in a couple of weeks. Please go to www.swi.org for more information.

(Canon 5D2, 24-105mm @24mm, 1/80 sec, f4, ISO 320)

Article ©Vivian Padilla-Chapman

Photo ©Copyright Gary S. Chapman 2009