‘I FORGIVE THEM ALL!’

Nine-year-old Moryom lives with her parents and older brother in a small, Muslim-majority village in Bangladesh. Her mother teaches Sunday school and leads an adult literacy class, and her father is a pastor and evangelist. Both are converts from Islam, which often means brutal persecution in this part of Bangladesh. 

“I walk two kilometres to school because no one wants to take me in their rickshaw,” she says. “They mock me, saying ‘Christian’. When I go to school, I see some of my classmates on the way. Sometimes they throw bricks at me and push me.” 

Mistreated at school 

At school, Moryom often spends her day alone. “Most of the people in my school don’t treat me well,” she says. “Sometimes they beat me with sticks and call me ‘Christian’ as an insult. My classmates don’t allow me to play with them.” 

Her teachers turn a blind eye to the bullying. On one occasion, another child pushed Moryom off the roof of a one-storey building while shouting “You are a Christian!”, but the teachers did nothing. “I didn’t want to go to school anymore,” Moryom says. “I got very angry but still asked Jesus to forgive them.”  

Even at home, Moryom has been targeted. Some Muslim women once tried to convert her to Islam by offering her chocolate and asking her to recite the Shahada, an Islamic creed, but her parents chased them off. 

“I will tell children about Jesus” 

The one safe place Moryom and her family have is their church. Here, Moryom isn’t alone, and she can worship Jesus openly. “I really like Sunday school,” she says. “We sing songs, dance and pray together. We also read from the children’s Bible.” 

This children’s Bible was provided by local Open Doors partners, thanks to your prayers and gifts. With it, Moryom has memorised many psalms and lots of other Bible verses. The partners also support an annual Christmas gathering for Bangladeshi Christians and their children. “We have lots of fun,” Moryom says. “I like it when we all come together. It’s a lot of fun to celebrate Jesus’s birth by cutting a cake and eating it.” 

Because Jesus died on the cross for my sins, I forgive my friends”

Thanks to you, Moryom’s faith remains strong. “Because Jesus died on the cross for my sins, I forgive my friends. Those who mistreat me, insult me, hate me, or don’t love me, I forgive them all.” 

“I want to be a teacher,” she adds. “When I become a teacher, I will tell all the children about Jesus. This is my dream.” 

HELP YOUNG PEOPLE LIKE MORYOM. HOLD A ‘NOT ALONE CHRISTMAS PARTY’!

Use our free Not Alone Christmas Party outline and spend a festive evening with your youth group, friends or church, playing games, enjoying food and treats and praying that young Christians around the world would know they are not alone. 

By selling tickets for just a couple of pounds, could you raise £69?

This would be enough money to send a young person like Moryom to a special, three-day gathering where she can safely celebrate Christmas with other young persecuted Christians. 

Your party could fund another party, helping young persecuted Christians know they are not alone!

Get the free Not Alone Christmas Party Outline here…