Graham Defends Evangelical Work in Africa

While Christian teaching and Bible distribution overarch all the group's work, many of its programs are secular — such as helping the U.N. manage refugee camps.

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(Photo: AP / Katy Pownall)

From top left: Pastor George Purkweri and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist stand alongside Samaritan's Purse president Franklin Graham as Graham preaches to the young members of a Samaritan's Purse children's club in Aler refugee camp, northern Uganda, Monday, Feb 5, 2007.

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In the blazing midday sun at Agweng, another northern Uganda camp, Graham witnessed the distribution of 600 tons of U.N. food aid to over 30,000 people.

Another Samaritan's Purse program focuses on AIDS. The group gets some funding from the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; the Bush administration has been criticized for channeling money through religious groups who play down condom use in favor of abstinence.

In Uganda, Samaritan's Purse has worked to make sure camp residents are tested for HIV. Staff members provide AIDS sufferers with blankets and food — and share their love of Jesus.

"You are the most important thing that has happened in my life," Sipriano Ojok, an HIV-positive 54-year-old, told Graham. "I was too weak before your staff came to visit us. ... I accepted Jesus Christ into my life and now I feel good."

"One day you and I will be together in heaven worshipping God together," Graham told Ojok before praying with him. "You will have a new body and be strong and healthy."

Those infected with HIV here are normally shunned.

"It's important to show people that we're not afraid," said Graham. "When a person has AIDS you can give medicine — many agencies do — but what hope do people have if you don't show them love?"

In Yei, southern Sudan, Graham was visibly delighted to be greeted by a crowd of women dressed in immaculate white shifts, ululating, singing hymns and waving tree branches.

Yei was once an epicenter of the war between Sudan's Muslim-dominated north and mainly Christian and animist south. Residents told of pastors being crucified, their churches destroyed and Christians enslaved. Evangelicals lobbied the U.S. government to get involved. A peace deal was reached in 2004.

Today, the people of Yei live in huts with no access to electricity and face a seven-mile walk to the nearest hospital.

Graham proudly inspected a large church built by his organization, its mahogany shutters and immaculate stonework looking markedly out of place. Though designed for worship, the building will double as a school.

"You go into these remote communities, and the church is the center of that community," Graham said. "And when the church was destroyed, the people feared and became discouraged. Now the war is over and for the church to come back is a symbol ... of hope, a symbol of independence."

He noted that Samaritan's Purse also built a hospital and drilled water wells.

Graham acknowledged that Christian evangelical organizations like his have detractors, but asked that Samaritan's Purse be judged fairly.

"They may not agree with me. But do we feed people? Yes. Do we clothe people? Yes. Do we provide doctors and medicines? Yes. Do we have hospitals? Yes, we do," he said. "If they want to look at the work I do, they can't complain because the work is there."

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