A day in the life:

 

Muslim women in Pakistan need the love of Jesus in their lives

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By Geneva Donoho*

Life for a woman living in Pakistan is very different from that of a typical American woman. For a Muslim woman in a village, her day begins early in the morning. She quickly dresses in her “shalwar kameez,” a long-sleeved, loose-fitting shirt that reaches down past her knees draping over baggy pants tied at the waist with a drawstring. A “dupatta,” a long headscarf, covers her hair and much of her face. You will never see her without her head covering.

As the sun rises, she is milking the cows so that the family can have milk in their morning “chai” (spiced hot tea made with lots of milk and sugar). Once she has finished the milking, the woman returns to the kitchen to begin cooking the morning meal. Her kitchen is very simple – a small room with a dirt floor and a wood-burning mud oven. She cooks the family’s breakfast of “chapatis” (round, flat bread similar to a tortilla) and chai over the fire.

She must then see her school-age children off to school. She has much to do before they return at 1 p.m. She begins with feeding the family’s cows, goats and chickens. After she has fed the animals, she goes to help her husband work in the fields.

She returns to the kitchen in the early afternoon to prepare lunch for her family. Lunch often consists of “dal” (a type of beans or lentils) and chapatis or a rice and yogurt mixture. In the afternoon, she may walk three miles to get fresh drinking water and wash clothes. She carries her jar of water back on her head, the easiest and most convenient way to haul a heavy burden.

Her next task is to cut wood for her cooking fire. Once she has completed these chores, she may have chai and visit with her neighbors or sew clothes for her family. In the evening, she will prepare another meal for her family. Pakistanis eat meals at different times of the day than most Americans. For example, they eat lunch at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and then dinner is around 8 p.m.

Like most village women, she is nonliterate. Her parents did not send her to school when she was young. They expected her to help in the home instead. The situation is beginning to change in Pakistan and more young girls are going to school.  

One concern American women do share with this Pakistani woman is the concern they feel for their families, their households, their friends and their neighbors. Most of all, they share the need to be loved by Jesus. Like most Muslim women, she does not know that Jesus (Isa al Masih) died to save her from her sins.

She does not know the peace and forgiveness from sins that Jesus can provide. She has never heard that she can know for sure that she will be in heaven one day. This woman needs to hear about Jesus. Your prayers can make a difference. Please pray that God will send more women to share God’s love with the Muslim women of South Asia.

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*Name changed for security reasons.

Geneva Donoho is a journeyman serving among Muslim women in South Asia.

 

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