Sudanese Christians Reaching Out to Former Persecutors
Recently, the U.S. Discipleship Ministry teamed up with the Persecution Project Foundation and The Voice of the Martyrs to help Sudanese Christians reach out to refugees in Sudan's Darfur state
Christians in Sudan are reaching out to bring help to their former persecutors, a Virginia-based weekly news program reported Friday.
Recently, the U.S. Discipleship Ministry teamed up with the Persecution Project Foundation and The Voice of the Martyrs to help Sudanese Christians reach out to refugees in Sudan's Darfur state, according to CBN’s Christian World News (CWNews). They have provided them with more than 19 metric tons of food, clothing, tarps for shelters, Bibles and life packs.
“Just two hours north of here in southern Darfur, there are 25,000 refugees – Darfurians, Muslims – who for the past 20 years have been persecuting the Christians,” Africa Leadership Director Larry Warren told CWNews. “But now, they’re being persecuted by fellow Muslims.”
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So, he added, “They've come here [to a refugee camp]. We're so thankful for the Dinka people—Christian people—here in southern Sudan who are now meeting the needs of those who persecuted them.
“It’s such an encouragement to see the people here living out the words of Jesus,” Warren stated.
According to reports, war in Dafur has now killed an estimated 180,000 people, and has left nearly 2 million homeless.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called the situation in Darfur “appalling,” while the U.S. State Department said ongoing attacks in Darfur during the past two years have amounted to nothing short of genocide – Muslim Arabs are killing black African Muslims.
Most of the children are orphans, CWNews reported.
Pastor James Lual Atak, one of the former ‘lost boys of Sudan,’ told CWNews, "All of them have no parents – no mother, no father. They stay with caretakers and they move from house to house."
CWNews reports that one child was found alone, wandering through the bush nearly two days after his camp was burned to the ground by members of the government-backed Janjaweed, a military force.
In response to these and other reports, Africa leadership is helping the Sudanese establish a school for 153 orphaned refugees near Nyamlel, Sudan.
Meanwhile, food is scarce in the desolate Sudanese bush, CWNews reported. “The Darfurees are forced to eat nothing but leaves. They boil them to make a spinach-like porridge.”
Dr. Samuel Ani of Persecution Project, affirmed the report, adding that “they dig in the waterbeds of dried-out streams trying to get any kind of water, and what they come up with is just muddy water. This is making many of the kids and adults have diarrhea—all types of diarrhea and water-born diseases are common in the camp."
In addition, refugees are not well-covered against the elements—rain or wind, Ani told CWNews. “They are practically lying outside."
Some refugees have left Darfur and set up make-shift houses out of sticks and straw.
Despite the shocking reports, the international community has been slow to respond. However, sources say help is now getting through to the needy.
