Pak-Christians Face Asylum Ordeal in Thailand

by Christian Malik

On Sunday, May 10th 2015 I met Mr. Wilson Chowdry who had just come to Bangkok last night. Mr. Wilson had come to Bangkok with a compassionate heart after hearing about the ordeal of Pakistani Christian Asylum seekers in Bangkok.
He met me in a Church and asked me to share with him the crisis of Pakistani Christian Asylum seekers. I told him the problems that people are facing daily. Paying the monthly rents, food shortage, problems in obtaining a visa were on top of the list which if discussed all could fill scores of pages. Mr. Wilson was moved after hearing and asked me if we could visit some people in Bangkok. I agreed to accompany him so we went to an outer suburb of Bangkok which is across the main river. We went to a Condominium where 126 families reside and 67 of them are Christian whereas the others being from the Ahmadiyya community. We met the children at the main entrance. We had a chat with them and they agreed to take us to their rooms. The first room we visited was of a man from Lahore. We will not reveal his identity because he has requested us to conceal it. He is living in a small room which would hardly be the size of a kitchen in a normal household of a developed country. They have only 1 bed which is not enough for all so some of them have to sleep on the floor. A balcony where only 2 persons can stand at a time is used for cooking purposes with a 4kg gas cylinder being used which needs constant replacement every 10 to 15 days.
He is surviving with his wife and 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys. His youngest son is suffering from Epilepsy and he cannot pay for his medical expenses. The child is unable to perform the daily activities as a normal child. The total cost for the medical procedure was 20 thousand Thai Baht but the UNHCR denied to pay. He also showed us his monthly rent bill and told us that it is the last day to pay the bill and he is unable to pay it so Mr. Wilson provided half of the payment for his monthly rent and also gave him some money for the medication. We went to many households there and all the people had problem with some unable to pay their monthly rents whereas others had problems to arrange milk and diapers for their babies. Mr. Wilson promised to pay for the diapers.
We went to a room where a couple were living and the girl was diagnosed with Uterus cancer which was in the initial stage. The situation at that place was very daunting. The people are thriving to have the basic necessities of life whereas the people in developed countries enjoy free health care such as NHS.
With UNHCR taking a minimum of 2 years to interview for the Refugee Assessment claims, the people have to manage their survival needs by their own. Education is one the basic human rights
but little effort is being made. The community in the Condominium have set up a small community school on the rooftop where 135 children are being educated. Apart from that the Christian and Ahmadiyya community have their separate prayer centers and pray harmoniously on the same roof. The school is being run under the banner of Pakistan Christian Educational Academy. The have hired 3 rooms and are providing the children with basic educational needs. In one of the rooms they have set up a small dispensary and provide free medication. The volunteers from the community are helping to teach the children and provide medicine to the sick with most of them being professional teachers and nurses in their home country. They have set up a syllabus and are teaching with the limited resources available. The school is in desperate need of medicine, medical equipment, chairs, tables, books, stationary, fans and computer with internet access to have online activities. Despite their tremendous efforts they still run out of finance and are desperately in need of things to keep the institution running. Afterwards, we departed from the condo with a promise to come back and assist with our maximum capacity.
Later that evening we met Papa Thonghai , a local Thai who is helping to arrange an Urdu prayer service every Sunday. He pays for the rent of a hall in a hotel located in Bangna, Bangkok. Approximately 200 people are able to attend the service with some unable to sit inside since the hall cannot accommodate all of them. People are fervently attending the church every Sunday with nearly 500 attending the Christmas day service. Papa Thongchai is providing assistance to limited number people with food packages every month which includes wheat flour bags, red chili
packets, salt, sugar and other essential items. He is also paying the monthly rents of some deprived people in the community. The approximate number of Christians are considered to be 4000 while the rest of the Asylum seeker community in Bangkok are from different minority sects of Islam. Ahmadiyya community being the biggest community comparable to Pakistani Christians.