From the brick fields to the class room

By Michael Ashcraft --

FAISALABAD, Pakistan -- Kids as young as 2 years old are working in the brick-making fields of Pakistan. One man with a free school wants to change that.

Sarfraz Anwar's father and brother started in the brick fields. To make bricks, they squat and grab a ball of moist clay-rich earth. They form it into a loaf, cover it with dry dust, and plop it into a mould. It is turned over and dropped onto the ground in long rows to bake under the blistering sun.

It's a grueling job, and most who fall into this line of work never get out. Some get indebted to their employees when they borrow for their weddings (Pakistanis love 3-day ceremonies with much expenses). They spend the next decades of their life trying to pay off that debt, much like a student loan in America -- only they become almost like slaves.

But Dad and Umar escaped the fields. They had a vision to work as Christian laborers. First Dad took at a double shift in security to raise money to launch a school for children that could be free. With whatever free time, he pedaled his bike to the brick fields and sprend the message of hope.

“My father is so kind to the people who are poor,” says Sarfraz, 29, in halting English. “He was a very hard worker in the factory and paid the teachers.”

Slowly, a church was founded, first in his home, then in a rented building. The school was started, and for 16 years, he was laboring. Another son went in the military and sent what small salary he could to pitch in. Umar went off to Bible college and in three years he got a Master's Degree in Divinity.

It's been a long time coming. Recently, he connected with an American pastor who funded the building of a second school with a beautiful grass yard.

According to a government survey in 2017, 127,000 minors worked in the brick fields in the Punjab Province and couldn’t attend school. Child labor is one of the harsh realities of the developing countries. Without anyone to take up their cause and pursue costly change, they will be left to their own fate.

Sarfraz dreams to opening a dormitory with food for the children of the area. According to his dream, the kids would have a place to sleep, meals three times a day, clothes and their studies all for free. It's a big vision.

“There are a lot of children in the brickfields. There are many, many,” says Sarfraz. "I want to bring children into the hostel and give them food three times a day and give them clothes, one floor for the boys and another for the girls. They get the education.

"The children are our future. If we give them education, they will know who is Jesus. If they live the Bible, then the can understand what is written in the Bible. It is very special.”

Note: There are red bricks also, but for this report we visited only the earthen brick fields. Those brickes are cheaper and weaker. The red bricks are baked in kilns, also prevalent in the region.

Michael Ashcraft teaches journalism at the Lighthouse Christian Academy. In October, he recently had the opportunity to see Sarfraz's school in Faisalabad.