⁨The Black Day ⁩ ⁨تور ورځ- Black Day

 ⁨The Black Day ⁩ ⁨تور ورځ- Black Day

Today is Pakistan’s Independence Day, known by Pashtuns as Tur Warz- Black Day- because there is no freedom and independence for them as they are oppressed by the Pakistani government and people.
Internet cuts in KPK inhibit people from sharing the atrocities committed by the army during their peaceful protests. Fake protests about unrelated things like Palestine solidarity are staged by the government in other districts to distract from what is really going on in KPK as peaceful protesters are murdered, schools are burned, water and electricity are shut off, among other pressures to keep the Pashtun nation disabled and in economic backwardness- these things receive no media coverage. Independence Day being so joyfully celebrated in the Punjab district is a slap in the face to those who are not free in other districts. Pray for this day as any event in Pakistan generally gets very rowdy and therefore usually turns out violent, especially with the growing discontent arising in KPK and Balochistan.
 
Pray for me as it has been a crazy time lately. Basement flooding destroyed all my documents except my passport, which was only mildly warped. My laptop seems to have lost its ability to charge, but I think it can be fixed, like losing some supplements and medicines I took from America. Despite thorough cleaning, the residue from the sewage water seems to have caused me and the other family in the basement to be really sick. We are all still recovering, as well as and my husband is recovering from surgery to fix the damage done by four bullets that were held together by bolts and rods for years from whatever the Afghan surgeons dreamed up. Pray for us, we will all get well again. At the same time, this was happening, a lot of other things also happened involving a strange situation with a professing believer that sent us traveling for a while all over, as well as some pressures on the believers regarding safety and intelligence.
On top of this, I have been trying to advocate for a better place as the inhumane hostel conditions are left unaddressed and sugarcoated with empty promises. The girls in the hostel are continuously denied justice, whereas the boys' hostels are well maintained due to the tense political atmosphere between the college authorities and the boys’ federation. On the other hand, when the girls protest nobody cares.
My friend is going to a private hostel for the university girls, and I am trying for permission to stay there as well. There is always water, electricity, air coolers, and the ability to cook, as well as more freedom with a 7:00pm curfew as opposed to my 4:00pm curfew. She invited me to room with her, but I will need to fight the system for permission. The college doesn’t want the liability and tried to dissuade me with promises of making the hostel better despite their never having done it when I petitioned them last school year. I would also need written special permission from the police as well.
I prayed for a mediator as this is best for these kinds of dealings- and God provided me with an ally within the special force police ranks who really is doing all he can to speak to the college authorities on my behalf as well as provide very surprising advice as to how to respond if the college will deny me permission to switch to an external hostel, which he told me not to let anyone know that he suggested it.
So, between seeing the injustice done to the Pashtun nation as well as the injustice done to the girls in the college, this has been and will be my prayer:
 
““Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.””
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭12‬:‭5‬ ‭
 
Pray that the Lord arises and the needy are placed in safety.

On a lighter note, we took an unprecedented and bold move-we went on a girls' trip! For “Roya”, her life is spent in the house. Rarely being allowed to leave, being nervous even to go out for such an exciting adventure as sitting in the completely walled-in backyard. Her husband had previously not even let her go next door to talk to the neighbor. We were all shocked when he suggested to me that I should go with his wife and some other ladies on a trip to Murree- a popular vacation spot in the mountains. (See pictures above) So me, Roya and her two baby sons, two other expat women and their rowdy kids, and an elderly expat woman all packed up and headed out for an adventure without male escorts. Roya was so delighted at the freedom and fun it afforded as well as so surprised to see a woman driving-especially on the steep mountain roads. We had a great time and all thought it was a huge win as the other women’s husbands had challenged Roya’s husband about how he should treat her. He is a believer, and she is not causing great tensions about their marriage, as well as, a difficult time for him, and he walks with God through undoing a lot of cultural baggage. Just recently we let him open up as well to let Roya and I and the lady next door go out to the park by ourselves. Praise God for steps big and small!
 
Pray for my time going back to Peshawar in the next week or two. I am very excited to go back and see what God does this school year. Pray for a fellowship of believers there, as the Christians there speak Urdu, which I don’t speak, and seem more interested in catfights instead of prayer and fellowship, and the underground Pashto-speaking believers there don’t want to meet me out of fear.
Praise God for how He provided for me in Islamabad with a great, encouraging family to stay with me, worship and prayer nights that are nonexistent in Peshawar, space to rest, freedom to go walk in nature and pray, and be refreshed before going back.
Thank you for praying, Khoda Haafiz!‬‬⁩
Kendall Freeman
Aug 14th 2024