UN leader calls for cooler heads in Sudan

[Cover photo by Samaritan's Purse.
 Story photo by AIM-AIR.]

Sudan (MNN) ― The UN Secretary-General is trying to keep a lid on the simmering tensions threatening all-out war again in Sudan.

Ban Ki-Moon is calling on cooler heads to prevail over the conflict between Sudan and newly-independent South Sudan. The world's leaders echoed the United Nations' condemnation of  Khartoum's bombings of a refugee camp in South Sudan's Unity state--a charge Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir denies.

It's the first test of independence since South Sudan formally seceded from Sudan in July following a successful independence referendum in January that was guaranteed in a 2005 peace deal. 

Disputes that festered are flaring into violence. Phil Byler with Africa Inland Mission says, "The President of North Sudan is just a ruthless man who doesn't care who he kills. Bombing the refugee camps in the South is an atrocity, in my opinion."

It may be that the war of words is now a step closer to a genuine conflict. Satellite photos revealed last week's strikes on refugee camps were just the beginning. It appears Sudan's military is repairing and improving air bases in its Blue Nile state, potentially allowing it to bring challenge over disputed borders with South Sudan.

Now, both leaders of Khartoum and Juba are predicting the possibility of a new war in an oil-rich region that has seen a spike in cross-border attacks. "The President of South Sudan is now saying that war is a possibility. Up until this point, he has repeatedly said, 'We will not go to war again.' This is a disturbing trend," says Byler.

It is disturbing, but not alarming. "All of our missionaries, besides the pilots, are well out of the area. Samaritan's Purse personnel were on the ground; our AIM-AIR pilots were in the air, and they mobilized an intense evacuation force to deal with the bombing."  

On November 9, SIM evacuated six team members from Doro base--the area in which the refugee camp was bombed last week by Sudan's military. The team was moved before the attack. They were flown out of Doro and are in Nairobi until things settle down.  

This not only presents a direct threat to these refugees of the Nuba mountains and the Samaritan's Purse team, but a challenge for ministry and aid teams. Byler says, "The war activity along the border area disrupts life drastically. That's why there are refugees. Consequently, the work of the church and the presentation of the Gospel is disrupted as everybody goes into a survival mode."

AIM AIR has been supporting the work of relief efforts that are helping to meet the immediate needs of those who were displaced. They are providing critical supplies and evacuation options to several other organizations in contested regions between North and South Sudan. 

Please be praying for the country of Sudan as a whole, that the Church would grow strong in this turbulent time. "We're alert and watchful," says Byler, "hoping and praying that the war will not restart and/or spread throughout the region."

As the tensions ignite, "Pray that in the providence and sovereignty of God, He will spare the people of South Sudan from another war, Number One. Number Two, pray that even in the horrible things that are happening localized in Sudan, God will make Himself known to the people that are seeking Him."

Please also pray for safety for AIM AIR personnel and passengers as the team seeks to serve those who are serving in these tense locations.

Samaritan's Purse Comforting the Homeless After Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

By Michael Ireland
Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
CHARLOTTE, NC (ANS) -- Six months after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, 3,000 families have home kits, filled with supplies provided by Samaritan's Purse.

Karayoshi Abe and his home kit from Samaritan's Purse (Photo courtesy Samaritan's Purse)

According to an article posted on the Samaritan's Purse Facebook page, Karayoshi Abe and his family looked to the hills when the tsunami hit the Baba District in northeastern Japan on March 11.
"I was on the coastline," he said. "The walls in my home started to come down; we ran away immediately. I had my 6-month old son with me, so I went to a high place." Karayoshi didn't look back as he was racing up the mountainside, but when he finally stopped and the clouds of dust cleared, he saw his home and place of business completely under water.
The Samaritan's Purse article said that about 240 people who lived in the Baba District and escaped the giant waves found refuge at a volunteer center. Everyone was freezing cold, and there was no food or water, so they began to look for fuel and food in the remains of the destruction.
"When I came back home I saw everything was washed away, but I was more worried about all of the people in my community," Karayoshi said.

All the fuel and food they could find only lasted them one week. Samaritan's Purse arrived shortly after with fuel, food and water, shelter, and hygiene supplies. We were the first organization to bring them aid, which had come over on a plane filled with 93 tons of emergency supplies.
"Two hundred people were relieved when Samaritan's Purse came," fisherman Chiba Takahiro said. "It really gave us peace and assurance that they would keep coming and be here a long time. It was quite amazing because when we needed anything it came."

Chiba said that the hygiene kits were especially helpful because everyone was dirty after surviving the tsunami and the conditions in the shelter were poor.

"Samaritan's Purse gave us hygiene kits first," he said. "We were so thankful because we had no toothbrush, toothpaste, or soap. There were no shops and we had no money."

The Samaritan's Purse article said that a few months later, 21 families were able to move into a temporary housing community nearby, provided by the Japanese government. The small homes are equipped with basic appliances, such as a washer and dryer, and a stove and oven. However, other necessities like knives, pots and pans, and bed sheets were not given to them and were very difficult to find anywhere on the coasts of Japan.
Samaritan's Purse developed "home kits" to give to families living in shelters, temporary housing, or in their flood-damaged homes, so they could have these basic needs. The home kits include not only useful goods like salt, sugar, and cookware, but also a Bible in the style of a Japanese comic book, called the "Manga Bible." Since we began working in Japan, we have distributed about 3,000 home kits to Japanese families in need.

When Karayoshi and his wife Chikami received a home kit on August 14, they smiled in great gratitude and then stood in shock as they went through the different gifts in the box.

As he picked up a container of rice seasoning he said, "I can't find this in stores anywhere. It's hard to find this, so this is very helpful."
The article says Karayoshi used to have a seafood factory, but it is now buried underwater. In order to provide for his family, he borrows a friend's boat and fishes all evening and then sells the different items-octopus, crab, and scallops-to local markets in the morning.

"I'm so thankful when we receive things from people," he said. "There are many places that don't receive these kinds of things. You have to drive hours away to buy things like these. So I am thankful for these people delivering these things to us.
"In Japan you always give something back, but we have nothing to give."

The article goes on to say that Karayoshi and his family are taking a risk by staying near the coast, but they have hope that they can rebuild and renew their lives again. Since he is a community leader, he asked Samaritan's Purse staff if they could help his community pave a road to the volunteer center in case another earthquake and tsunami hits Japan. This summer we met that need by providing the equipment to clear a road up into the hills.
"Samaritan's Purse is not just helping now with the home kits, but right from the beginning," Chiba said. "I'm thankful for the home kit today. They have delivered things that we are in need of."

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** Michael Ireland is Senior Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of th e National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior Reporter

Samaritans Purse UK team works with Russian Ministries to help Ukraine's most marginalized children

By Peter Wooding
Europe Bureau Chief for ASSIST News Service


POLTAVA, UKRAINE (ANS) -- A team of ten volunteers from Samaritans Purse in the UK are working alongside Association For Spiritual Renewal/Russian Ministries to share Christ's love with 55 children facing the stigma of HIV and special needs during a summer camp in the town of Poltava, 200 miles east of Kiev, Ukraine.

Special kids enjoy summer camp

The team is working alongside Association For Spiritual Renewal, Russian Ministries' national affiliate in 10 countries in the Former Soviet Union, who run an on-going HIV/AIDS project called To Know Is To Live, in Ukraine which has one of the fastest rates of the pandemic in the world.

"The problem in Ukraine is not so much with statistics, but the stigma and discrimination towards people with HIV, which is not just from normal community members, but even from the people that should be helping them, who should be best equipped and most willing to help them, from medical personnel from government officials, from the church unfortunately," explains Rachel Schupack, communications coordinator for Association For Spiritual Renewal/Russian Ministries.

She added: "So that's why this project has a two part strategy. One is to help these people directly affected by HIV and AIDs and the other is to change attitudes in the community. We have now started over 20 action groups in local churches throughout Ukraine. They run seminars in local churches to inform these churches about the problem and to motivate and envision the churches to get involved in this area of ministry to show them the importance of it and show them what they can do and how they can do it to equip them."

Rachel Schupack - ASR/Russian Ministries Communications Coordinator

Schupack says the main reason for this discrimination is ignorance: "People don't understand the basic things, like means of transmission. For instance in many churches people do not want to drink out of the same communion cup as people with HIV because they have this irrational fear of being infected. They just don't understand. They don't want their children to be in the same Sunday school class, or Kindergarten pre-school class with children with HIV because they just don't understand and so that's why it's so important to inform people about HIV. Because in the West actually there is a very high level of information available."

However with 10 volunteers from the UK working alongside 20 Ukrainian volunteers, 55 children who daily face this discrimination are enjoying a very special summer camp, where they can hear Gospel presentations and learn about Paul's journeys in the Bible through songs, stories, crafts and other various activities.

"We're working very closely with the church. Many camps that I've been involved with in the past, where we've been running the whole thing and being with the kids 24/7, but here the kids are coming in the morning and the church is running a program throughout the morning where we're doing some songs, Bible stories and crafts and activities and we've been providing the crafts and activities, although we've been teaching them quite a few songs as well, which has been really fun," said Samaritan's Purse team leader Chris Thomson.

Chris Thomson from Samaritans Purse UK hanging out with camp kids

"We run the camps each day until just after lunch, but what has also been very special is in the afternoon we've been going on home visits to visit kids with cerebral palsy and other difficulties and pass on some help.



"We visited a child today with cerebral palsy. The team member I was with knew a few exercises that would help the mother and help the child as well, helping her strengthen the muscles and legs That was really good to see and the child as well was keen to meet us and sing songs to us and just have fun with us. And it gives the mum and the dad a little bit of a break as well.

"Quite a few people visited young adults as well who have disabilities and again some of the moving stories have come back. It's been a humbling experience for every one of us, but it's been a joy to be with them and show that we care for them, and we'll take these stories back to the UK and let people know what's going on."

Chris, who is a regional coordinator for Scotland and Northern England for Samaritans Purse UK, says to have a long-term impact in Ukraine, it's vital to work in partnership with the local church and organizations like Russian Ministries.

"We want to encourage the church that they will feel a sense of partnership with us when times get tough for them they won't feel that they're on their own, that we are there to give advice and hopefully come again next year and there may be other churches in the community here that can be drawn in to help out or go on training courses and we can pass on advice to them.

"It's a huge job we've got on our hands here. The disability rates are not what we're used to the UK and there's a lot of ground work being done by the folks out here and if there's some way we can pass on some help that in general a partnership so they're not alone in what they're doing.

"It's my first experience of working with ASR/Russian Ministries. I've been involved in various other Eastern European countries over the years, but it's great to know there's a partnership going on here and there's people on the ground here really searching out those who need help, searching out churches who want to partner with us that want more information and involvement. It's great that people like Rachel are here and others who work for Russian Ministries who are trying to strengthen the churches and really extend God's kingdom here."

For more information how you can partner with Russian Ministries' work among marginalized children in Ukraine and through Eastern Europe go to: www.russian-ministries.org

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Peter Wooding is an award-winning TV, radio and print journalist and media consultant under the name of Peter Wooding Productions (www.peterwoodingproductions.com). Having previously spent 10 years as news editor with UCB Radio in the UK, he has travelled extensively reporting from countries including Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Dubai, South Korea, Zambia, Gambia, Mozambique, Croatia, Israel and India. He now reports regularly for CBN News, ASSIST News Service, GDOP London, Russian Ministries, Whispering Word and Sorted Magazine. Peter and wife Sharon live in North Wales, UK with their three children. Passionate to see God's Justice and Mercy impact lives, Peter is director of a new UK ministry Mercy Projects International (www.mercyproject.org.uk) to help at-risk young people in Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, Kosovo, the Middle East and beyond. Contact Peter for consultation at:peter@peterwoodingproductions.com or tel. +44 1244 549167/+44 7500 903067