Villagers Flee
AKOT, Sudan — They dine on peanuts and tea. It’s been 16 days since they were forced from their home. As Abraham Maper’s family ran, men raided their house, looting it of food.
His wife, Rebecca, gave birth to their fourth child hours before the violence erupted, forcing her to flee, still bleeding, with her newborn daughter.
“We escaped with our lives,” said Abraham, a local Baptist pastor. “God is with us and we are still alive; we say hallelujah.”
Maper’s family tukel, or mud hut, is on the outskirts of a village called Akot in Southern Sudan. The town erupted in violence December 28, 2009. One killing turned into more than 20 dead. Over 100 homes were burned.
The entire town, including the market area, was looted. All the food supplies were burned. In the end more than 10,000 people ran from Akot and the surrounding areas to seek shelter in 13 nearby villages, which were already low on food because of the past year’s drought.
“Even in a good year there isn’t enough food,” said JenniferM, a two-year IMB missionary in Southern Sudan. “I was upset that they burned the storage houses. The food was wasted.”
The rains had not been good. The people were already hungry.
“It’ll take three to four months for the people to recover from this,” said Maper.
To help meet people’s immediate needs, missionaries working for the Baptist Mission, a branch of IMB, called on Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist international relief development organization that IMB often partners with in disaster relief. Five thousand dollars of emergency funds were used to give out 7,260 pounds of corn meal, 320 pounds of salt, 2,112 pounds of beans, 65 gallons of cooking oil and 6,600 bags of high-energy cookies. The food fed 180 families, or approximately 1,800 individuals, as family groups in Southern Sudan can be 10 people or more.
“All the families that got food live with other families in nearby villages and so the food [will] feed two sets of families,” said Jake Holmes,* an IMB missionary who has worked in Southern Sudan for nine years. Several other organizations — the UN, Oxfam, International Red Cross/Red Crescent and the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission — partnered with IMB missionaries to form an emergency task force to meet the needs of the people.
The other organizations provided transport, jerry cans, tarps, buckets and baby clothing to replace items burned during the violence.
Four Baptist volunteers from Oakland Baptist Church in Corinth, Miss., helped offload the truck of food and supplies to the hundreds of women waiting in the hot sun.
Before handing out the food, the local pastors and missionaries prayed and the pastors told stories from God’s Word to those gathered.
Maper made sure everyone in need got something. He did not notice he and the other pastors helping to translate and distribute food were not put on the list to get food. Later, when he went home to share peanuts and tea, he thanked God for the food before them and the many others who could eat that night.
Two days later, Maper and 10 other pastors were able to split $500 worth of food to share with their families. Some Baptist churches from America gave this to feed the pastors when it was realized the pastors did not get any from the original food distribution.
A few days later, IMB missionaries walked through town to pray with those who were brave enough to return to check on the damage.
The group met one woman as she was sifting through the ashes of her home to find things the fire had missed.
“I have nothing,” she said. “Please pray for peace.”
To give to Baptist Global Response visit www.gobgr.org, or to give to the World Hunger Fund visit www.worldhungerfund.com.
*name changed for security reasons
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