Scottish Catholic Observer

The plight of suffering Christians in Pakistan is something that East Kilbride man Alphonse Francis of the charity HOPE is sadly only too aware of. Last month marked the first anniversary of the death of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s former minorities minister, a Christian who was one of the country’s diminishing number of influential liberals prepared to speak out against Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law—which carries the death sentence for anyone who insults Islam—before he was assassinated by a gunman.

Incidences of Christians in Pakistan being killed, attacked and having their houses and churches burnt to the ground are numerous.

This persecution is something that Mr Francis has first-hand experience of. Unlike many of his fellow Pakistani Christians, however, he managed to escape from the country, fleeing with his wife and four children in 2003. And from his East Kilbride home he is making every effort to help those left behind.

New life, new hope

For the new life Mr Francis has in Scotland, he is eternally grateful to God. Far from turning his back to the plight of Christians in his native homeland, however, he has decided it is his vocation in life to try and make a difference to the lives of Christians in Pakistan, particularly young people.

“I have to thank Jesus, and the Scottish people, that I am here and have this second life,” Mr Francis, who moved to Scotland in March 2003 from London after being granted asylum in the UK, said.

From an engineering background, Mr Francis was employed as a senior manager of building services at a construction company. As a result of a heart bypass in 2005—and subsequent heart attack in 2009, on New Year’s Eve when he was getting ready for midnight Mass—however, he is unable to work for the company any more.

Mr Francis has instead dedicated himself to achieving his goal of helping others and making a difference to the lives of Pakistani Christians through education.

He is one of the founding members of the Human Development and Welfare Association (HOPE), a charity working towards supporting children and families in need of education, food and basic health care, in Pakistan.

“I was thinking in the house one day: ‘Why had I been saved, when so many Christians in Pakistan have been killed and are still being killed?’” Mr Francis, a parishioner of St Vincent De Paul’s, East Kilbride, and former parishioner of Christ the King Church, Glasgow, said. “People have been beaten, burned and have had to watch as their houses and churches have been burned down.

“There is a reason that I am here,” he added. “I have to share what I have learned from the missionaries who came to Pakistan. I have to give something back to the people that are suffering there, those that are being discriminated against and those that are suffering from religious discrimination.”

Charity

Since becoming a registered charity in 2006, HOPE has sponsored the education of some of the children who attend St Anthony’s School in Gujranwala, Punjab Province. Last year, the charity sponsored the education of 43 children, a number they have managed to increase to 88 this year.

Mr Francis has even greater aspirations and plans for the charity, and he is hoping to count on the support of the Christian community in Scotland to try and make a difference to the lives of Pakistani Christians who are suffering and living under poverty.

“We want children to be involved in education,” Mr Francis said. “Education is the key to changing communities. When we give them education, we sow the seed of Jesus into their hearts as well.”

In accordance with HOPE’s mission, Mr Francis believes that all children and young people ‘have a unique potential and have the right to literacy and basic living necessities.’

“Our objectives are to establish schools and provide free basic education, equipment and medical facilities,” Mr Francis said.

It is his hope that the charity can buy land and construct a new school building and facilities for the children of St Anthony’s—where 450 children are currently packed into seven rooms, with no proper classroom space or toilet facilities—and then take their project on to more districts in Pakistan.

Challenges

Mr Francis spoke of Christians in Pakistan as ‘a third or fourth grade of community.’  As Christians, he said, ‘they do not have full rights, and called infidel by Muslims, believing in trinity, and Jesus as son of God.’

In addition to the aforementioned persecution, he spoke of the many barriers facing Christians and challenges they face in progressing in society.

Many young Christian women and girls work as housemaids and are often subjected to rape and sexual harassment, which will regularly go unreported for fear of recrimination and the possible loss of jobs, or family members being killed.

“If these people can have a vocational institute to attend then this may be able to change,” Mr Francis said.

In addition to raising funds, Mr Francis is in need of people support to enable his charity to grow.

“At the moment, we are struggling for support, we do not have enough,” he said. “We have limited resources and limited connections. I would like the Christian community to help support this good cause.”

Future support

HOPE charity currently has its headquarters at Mr Francis’ East Kilbride home. With a little support, however, he believes the charity will be able to attract a new office space, and is keen to hear from volunteers—those with or without charity experience—and, ultimately, those with experience in office management, accountancy and the organisation of fundraising projects. The most important thing, Mr Francis noted though, is to have ‘a charitable heart.’

Of fundamental importance to the progress of HOPE, is the opportunity for Mr Francis and his small team to bring their message to as many people as possible.

He added that he has had plenty of well wishes and support in the local community, but to move the charity on, and to start having a major impact in the lives of Pakistani Christians; more and more people need to become aware of HOPE’s mission.

“We hope that churches and parishes may want to here more about us and let us talk to people about what we are doing and what our mission is, this would be a great help to us,” Mr Francis said. “In Pakistan, we cannot change the poverty, we cannot change the terrorism, nobody can change it, but at least we are sowing a seed in children’s hearts, so that this seed will grow within them and then maybe spread in their families. This is what we are trying to do.”

— To find out more about Human Development and Welfare Association (HOPE) visit the charity’s  website: http://www.hope-hdwa.co.uk (website is still under development and improvement stage). For any enquiries about fundraising or volunteering to help his charity, Alphonse Francis can be contacted at: 9 Catacol Grove, Lindsayfield, Greenhills, East  Kilbride, G75 9FD. Telephone: 01355 678130