A former illiterate Christian orphan – the only surviving member of his family, after his 10 year old brother Badil Masih was sodomized and killed by Muslim employers, is showing good progress in his education.
Soojal Masih was saved from a life of child labour and a future of illiteracy when British Asian Christian Association, found him after a number of months living with an uncle, after having been shunted from home to home amongst his maternal and paternal uncles.
Preparations were being made for Soojal to become a hairdressing labourer for his uncle, so he could earn his keep till BACA stepped in.
After months of tracing the whereabouts of Soojal in the wake of his mothers death. BACA got permission from a maternal uncle but were rejected by several schools. Soojal had never even been taught how to hold a pen. We found a school that agreed to teach him, but they kept him on probation based on need for clear academic progress.
He started school three grades below his expected level for his age and but with hard work and graft Soojal has now caught up and seems to thrive in the academic world. He even scored a phenomenal score of 98% in first term exams in June 2022. He has now reached Level 2 since December and will hopefully reach Level 3 by April. This means he will be at two levels below the correct educational attainment level for his age. It may not seem like much but it is a huge leap for a student who could not even write his own name before.
Without the support of our donors Soojal would have become another disenfranchised Christian child. But with your help we are slowly turning his life around.
We feel invested in his life and we have been monitoring his relationship with his uncle. This has improved since we have been giving small grants for Soojal’s upbringing. The uncle is bonding well now with Soojal and thus far has been impressed with his academic growth and does not want to put him to work. In a video he thanks donors for enabling him to care for Soojal the way he deserves:
BACA regularly calls Soojal on his uncles phone and visit at least once a month on him, to check his progress. For Christmas we took Soojal shopping at City Market in Lahore. We purchased him some new clothes, as a reward for his educational progress and to keep him warm during the winter. he was also provided with a new school uniform as he is growing taller day by day. Soojal’s behaviour has improved since he began school he is better behaved and his appearance and personal hygiene has improved. He is growing well and has a close connection to the Lord; he attends church every Sunday. Soojal said:
“I am thankful to all the donors that have supported me.”
“I remember the help BACA gave to my mother during the case trial for Badil’s murder”
“I promise I will study harder to make you all feel proud of me.”
“My mother always wanted me to be a police officer and one day I hope to fulfil her dream”
Recently BACA gave a gift of £100 to Faisal towards the cost of Soojal’s upkeep. We pay occasional gifts but would like to be able to provide a regular gift of £50 a month. If you have been moved by this account and would like to help make this financial aid possible then please donate (here).
Faisal, Soojal’s uncle said:
“I am thankful to all those involved in helping this child improving his life.
“I have always wanted to do something good for him but I did not have the financial capability.
Below we recap on the tragic death of Badil Masih
Badil Masih (10yrs) was sodomised and murdered by his employer Mr Mohammed Ikram and a cohort, in July 2019, for daring to seek full payment for work he had carried out at a scrapyard (click here).
British Asian Christian Association stepped in to pay for legal costs, and support the family financially as they challenged for justice. Despite clear evidence of a crime courts offered pre-arrest bail to the murderers who began to threaten the Christian family and key witnesses (click here).
Though Badil’s mother Shareefa remained stoic throughout the court process. The witnesses were nobbled by the murderers and their cohorts. They refused to testify and threatened to alter their statement if Shareefa continued to pursue justice. It is not known whether they succumbed to bribes, threats or both (click here).
In tandem with the ignominy of losing witnesses Shareefa suffered intensified threats of the murder of her remaining son. Unbeknown to British Asian Christian Association or our solicitor, Shareefa met in private with the opponent solicitor and agreed compensation terms for the murder of her son (click here).
The pain of her betrayal led to Shareefa dying from grief. Her remaining son Soojal (10 yrs) has been shunted between homes of maternal and paternal uncles and BACA attempted to place him in a boarding school. Read more (here)
In our last post we explained how difficult it was to engage with Soojal’s uncles, however we had been successful in getting permission for his desired attendance at school (click here). Eventually, we started Soojal at School (click here).
