Urgent Need for Food in Pakistan

The COVID-19 crisis is starving Christian and Hindu families in Pakistan, but $30 can feed a family for an entire month.

Just like many of us, Pakistani families are on lockdown because of COVID-19. Unlike us, these families do not have food to sustain them.

Because these two minority religions (less than 3% of the total population in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan) are marginalized in access to education and work, they are relegated to the most menial of jobs. Most are classified as “day-laborers” meaning they go to work (cleaning sewers, sweeping streets, harvesting crops, making bricks, etc.) for the day. Then they get paid, buy food, and go home to eat with their families. Eating is a day-by-day provision. If there is no work, there is no food.

With the country-wide quarantine proclaimed by the Pakistani government late in March, these day-laborers and their families literally are facing starvation. With the quarantine, their jobs have disappeared as have the stalls where they were able to purchase food. No food sources + no money = desperation.

 If you follow Pakistan in the news, you may have heard of the country-wide food distribution that is going on now. That is a great program for many. However, Christians and Hindus are not allowed to receive those goods because they are designated only for those in the majority religion. When Christians and Hindus see others being fed while they are excluded, that makes their situation even more painful.

Reach the Nations Ministries (RTN) is a small Christian non-profit organization serving Pakistan. Over the past several years RTN has shared the message of Jesus and established small groups of Christian believers in villages in Sindh (primarily Hindu background) and in Punjab (primarily Christian background). Pakistani men engaged by RTN to work among these villagers are reporting to us about the now-urgent need for sustenance for those who have no jobs and no access to food.

We have committed to providing, basic provisions such as rice, beans, oil, and flour to those in these villages who have nothing to eat and no one else to provide for them and we need your help.

The U.S. dollar goes far in Pakistan, so $30 will purchase and deliver food to feed a family of four for a month. And we have trusted men on the ground who will see to the purchasing, transporting, and distribution of the food, but only to those who, because of the current COVID-19 situation, are temporarily unable to provide for themselves. 

We are hoping to provide a sufficient amount that we can ask the families who receive this food to share at least some of it with others in need around them. They will discover the blessedness of giving and will be able to be a loving influence for Christ in their villages.

Reach the Nations keeps none of these donations for its own organization. Our overhead is covered in other ways. A credit card fee of 2.9% will be deducted from your gift (we have no control over that), but otherwise every dollar you give will go directly to provide for hungry families in desperate need in Pakistan.

A gift today of $30, $50, $100, or $500 will make a significant impact for these families in crisis. Thank you.

For more information about the ministry of Reach the Nations, visit our website at www.rtnministries.com.