“Ahmed’s” parents wanted him to become an imam and sent him at a young age to a Quranic school. But Ahmed hated it and ran away to live on the streets. There he fell into bad company, but one day he met a Christian who led him to the Lord. His parents persecuted him for leaving Islam, but, with funding from Barnabas, Ahmed has been trained in how to repair shoes.
![image](https://www.barnabasaid.org/nz/latest-needs/help-persecuted-christians-to-self-sufficiency/images/crop_ahmed-432x324.jpeg)
“Now I have my job” says Ahmed, who comes from Senegal, “and I can work and earn a decent living. I plan on getting married and starting a home later, I don't want my children to suffer like me... I sincerely thank everyone who helped me, especially Barnabas Fund. Without the Barnabas Fund, I was never going to train myself and earn my dignity as a man. I end with this verse of Romans 8:28 ‘We know, moreover, that all things work together for the good of those who love God, of those who are called according to his purpose’. I, who was a child of the street, have become a child of God.”
Dignity and self-sufficiency in post-covid times
What a privilege it is to help our persecuted brothers and sisters. But how wonderful when we can enable them to be economically independent, so they do not need our help any more! This is more necessary than ever, as economies across the world have been wrecked by the coronavirus pandemic.
![image](https://www.barnabasaid.org/nz/latest-needs/help-persecuted-christians-to-self-sufficiency/images/lady-cooking-258x171.jpeg)
Will you join with us in giving the gift of dignity, stable work and self-respect to faithful believers who have suffered so much for so long, just because they love and serve the Lord Jesus?
Your gift now can, with God’s help, transform their lives for ever
What will you give?
£15.50 ($20; €17) could buy two chickens as part of a church chicken project to help rural Christian families in south-east Asia
£26 ($34; €29) could pay for a month's training in a vocational skill, including accommodation and food, for a convert in Senegal like Ahmed. Discipleship training is also provided
£37 ($49; €41) could buy a piglet for a pig farming project for poor and persecuted Christians in South-East Asia
£65 ($83; €75) could provide a steriliser for a beauty salon to employ Christian women from a Muslim background in Tajikistan. This is a safe and respected work environment for convert women
£135 ($178; €150) could provide training and start-up materials to enable a vulnerable Christian woman in Pakistan to support her family by cooking food to sell