Day 20 - Pashtun Women

 Pa kher raghley! – Welcome!  It’s an expression that Pashtun women exchange countless times each day. Their lives revolve around the home and hospitality. When a guest arrives, the household chores and other activities are dropped to give full attention to the guest.  Men enter a separate men’s guest room; women enter the family home and unveil their faces.  After some gup shup (chit chat), the women of the house disappear to the kitchen and later bring out tea and snacks or a meal.  These are essential to Pashtun hospitality and cannot be refused. It is over tea that conversation flows. Women share the news of the day – weddings, births, funerals – their joys and their sorrows, laughter and tears.   

Rearing children and entertaining guests are the essential roles of Pashtun women, living their lives behind high walls, curtains and veils. They are seldom alone. A young bride comes to live in her in-laws home and takes her place in the family. Her husband’s extended family becomes her world and network of relationships.  She must work hard to be accepted by all. Her hospitality skills, diligent work and submissive spirit are key. Just as tea tastes better as it steeps, so over time relationships warm up to a comfortable level. It’s a long-term investment of the heart to reach Pashtun women with the good news. 

 

Pray that:

• Pashtun women will open their doors and hearts and seek a relationship with the living God who loves them.
• Women workers among the Pashtuns to reach out in patient love and boldness to their neighbors.
• The Word will penetrate Pashtun women’s hearts.

 

Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.