Photographer Heidi Ram was on assignment in Pakistan with Major Gillian Brown, director of The Salvation Army's world missions department for Canada and Bermuda, when their car entered a small town that had been hit by pre-election violence.

“Tires were burning, buildings were shuttered and black smoke was everywhere,” Heidi says, “and as we approached a checkpoint, the gentle Salvation Army pastor in the back seat with us said, matter-of-factly, 'Just so you know, we could take a shot right now from a sniper on either side.' ”

The trip, like the rest of the assignment last April and May, proceeded uneventfully but the incident honed Heidi's faith as nothing before had.

“I'd never experienced fear such as I did in that car,” Heidi says. “When God's all you've got, life is stripped down to what counts. I learned to love and to trust God in a whole new way that morning, and that will never leave me.”

Helping Hands

Salvation Army orphanages help keep siblings together

Heidi was part of a Salvation Army monitoring mission to Pakistan, one of many such routine trips taken each year by Army world missions personnel.

“The Canada and Bermuda Territory has partnered with Pakistan on a number of programs and projects that are funded through our Gifts of Hope campaign,” explains Major Gillian.

The Salvation Army's disaster/emergency response includes providing basic needs to more than 500 families that were affected either by sectarian conflict or by the flooding and earthquakes that have occurred since 2010 in the country. The community development projects have supported health initiatives as well as income-generating and livelihood projects—for example, helping provide donkey carts so that families can sell their wares at the local market—and clean-water initiatives.

“Our office regularly monitors and follows up on the projects that we have supported, which also affords us an opportunity to listen, share and learn, as well as discuss future projects with the people directly concerned,” Major Gillian says.

“Since photos often tell a story better than words can, it was a privilege to have Heidi participate in the visit.”

Major Gillian Brown shares a quiet moment with some townspeople. Pakistani Christians are sometimes the victims of strife and The Salvation Army provides spiritual and material aid here

 

Naptime at a Salvation Army-sponsored home for orphan boys

 

In the aftermath of the 2013 floods, The Salvation Army provided 300 families with household essentials

 

Mothers and children participate in a healthy-baby initiative sponsored by The Salvation Army. Community health programs provide basic health examinations to 1,170 mothers and 1,387 children every month