No matter what I am going through, my perspective is kept in check by what God’s people in other countries are going through constantly. Indeed, not always in other countries…just not necessarily in my view. I never want to become jaded in face of suffering – no matter who, where or what. This reminder helped keep me in check today.
Despite what the Constitution of Laos decrees, small villages are subject to the tyranny of their local authorities.
The Laotian Constitution states: Lao citizens have the right and freedom to believe or not to believe in religions. Yet Christian believers’ rights were once again violated by local officials of Katin village. One day last month, the village chief, volunteer security force, village elders, and some villagers of Katin village, broke into the pig pens of new believers and confiscated a pig from each of nine families after the believers returned home from fellowship meetings.
Many Christians raise pigs for profit. One pig represents 1½ months income for a Laotian villager. Village officials stated that the seizure of the pigs was a punishment imposed because the families had ignored their order forbidding them from believing in the Christian faith. This action appears to be the follow-up of an earlier incident when Katin village authorities confiscated the water buffalo of Mr. Boonchu (a Christian believer). At that time, authorities told Mr. Boonchu that if he and his family recanted their Christian faith, the buffalo would be spared.
When Mr. Boonchu refused, they took his buffalo to the village square and slaughtered it. The meat was distributed to all non-Christians in the village. They warned them that they would seize the animals of Christians who refused to renounce their faith, until there were no more animals.
The ministry leader of the village has asked for prayer for the families who have suffered the latest loss.
Source: Christian Aid
