All Out War in South Sudan

Tragedy in the Sudan. The war is on again and villages are being destroyed. Above is a recent video by Samaritan's Purse on the suffering of the people of Sudan. Please pray for these people.

Below is a link to Samaritan's Purse that has more information.

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Pray for the People of Sudan

Above is a picture of a church built by Samaritan’s Purse in 2009 and recently destroyed by government aircraft. The civil war continues in that country, and a big part of that war is the animosity between Muslim’s and Christian’s.

Please pray for the people of Sudan.

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Drought in East Africa

From Samaritan’s Purse

As famine spreads across the Horn of Africa, Samaritan's Purse is supplying food and other aid to thousands of hungry families and malnourished children.

More than 12 million people are in urgent need of food, water, and medical care in drought-stricken Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Experts estimate that starvation and related diseases have already claimed the lives of over 29,000 children under age five. The United Nations is calling the crisis "the world's worst humanitarian disaster.”

Samaritan’s Purse has a team based in Garissa, Kenya, along the Somalia border, where we are distributing tons of maize, beans, corn-soy blend, cooking oil, and other necessities.
Our team—which includes experts in nutrition, healthcare, water, and sanitation—is reporting that these are some of the harshest conditions they ever have encountered.

“We drove to a local cattle market, and dead animals could be seen all along the road,” a staff member said. “At the market we spoke with local residents who said this is the worst drought they have experienced in living memory. They made a point to mention that ‘even the older generation has never seen a drought this bad.’ Many of the rural residents are flocking to town because of a lack of water and their diminishing animals stocks. At the market, there were several animals writhing on the ground, left to die because they were so badly off.”

Our emergency response includes plans to implement therapeutic care and supplemental feeding programs for malnourished children. In coordination with our local partners, we have identified sites for food distributions and therapeutic nutritional interventions.

In addition, Samaritan's Purse has launched a cash-for-work program in several villages. We are paying people to build latrines, which will help with health and hygiene conditions while providing some income in these poverty-stricken communities.

"If they are in desperate need, they can use the cash for food, but they can also use it for healthcare or other necessities," said Ruco Van Der Merwe, team leader for the response.

Clean water is another dire need. In some areas, only 20 percent of the families have access to safe drinking water. Many people are now forced to walk miles to reach a water source. As populations are shifting toward areas with better access to water, community resources are being severely strained. Our team is using tanker trucks to haul water to vulnerable villages while we identify longer-term solutions such as drilling boreholes.

“Water is such an issue,” said Zeke Rhodes, program officer. “We see women in the middle of nowhere waving their jerry cans, asking for water. It’s not unusual for people to walk 10-15 miles for water.”

The crisis in the Horn of Africa was brought on by two years of drought that is the worst in 60 years. Massive crop failure and loss of livestock have led to extreme food shortages in a region straddling Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia—a region that has been labeled the “triangle of death.”

As a result, hundreds of thousands of people without food and water have fled to makeshift camps in eastern Kenya looking for emergency aid. Many of the displaced are refugees from neighboring Somalia, who left their war-torn country in hopes of finding help over the border. Much of Somalia is controlled by a militant group, affiliated with al Qaeda, that has denied that a food shortage exists and threatened to maintain their ban on food aid.

“We saw a family with a donkey cart. It was a father and mother, an infant, and two daughters,” Rhodes said. “The girls were in bad shape, emaciated, but still able to walk. It was kind of a glimpse at the journey they’ve taken over the last couple of months. They’ve come a long way, and they’re going to a camp of half-a-million people in some of the most harsh environments you could imagine. It was very sobering.”

The camps in Kenya are overcrowded, and resources are stretched beyond capacity. Conditions aren’t much better outside the camps. Samaritan’s Purse church partners are finding households facing dire shortages of food and water.

Some of the worst hit counties include Wajir and Garissa, areas considered the focal point of the Somalia refugee influx. In these areas, particularly where Samaritan’s Purse partners are involved, there is limited government assistance and little help from other agencies.

Please pray for the people impacted by malnutrition and starvation, for our staff and church partners as they respond in the Name of Christ, that the conditions that are causing this catastrophic food shortage will end, and for God's help in meeting the overwhelming needs of the region.

If you want to help…

Samaritan’s Purse Helps Tornado Victims

Samaritan's Purse Disaster Relief teams are working in Joplin, Missouri to provide emergency relief to survivors of the devastating tornado that ripped through the area on Sunday, killing at least 125 people.
Our staff arrived on Monday to assess the damage. One of our Disaster Relief Units helping with our response in Alabama wrapped up its work in Birmingham Sunday, and moved to Missouri, setting up our base at the Joplin campus of Forest Park Baptist Church.

The first volunteer team was sent out Wednesday morning to work in some of the hardest hit areas of the city. Samaritan’s Purse is asking for volunteers to help with this response. Volunteers will remove fallen trees and debris, make emergency repairs on storm-damaged homes, and help storm victims salvage valuable possessions.

“We want to come alongside these homeowners who have lost so much and help them through this difficult time," said Luther Harrison, Director of North American projects for Samaritan’s Purse.

The twister that ripped through a densely populated part of Joplin is the deadliest single tornado in the United States since record keeping began more than 60 years ago. It destroyed or damaged as many as a quarter of the buildings in the southwest Missouri city of about 50,000. Much of the city's south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses and homes reduced to ruins.

City Manager Mark said the tornado cut a path nearly six miles long and more than a half-mile wide through the center of town. It hit a hospital packed with patients and a commercial area, numerous smaller businesses and restaurants, and a grocery store. Jasper County emergency management director Keith Stammer said an estimated 2,000 buildings were damaged.

Samaritan’s Purse has responded to two other major storms within the past month. We sent three Disaster Relief Units when a series of violent tornadoes ripped across the heart of North Carolina in April. Two units were dispatched to Alabama when devastating twister hit Alabama in late April, and we are continuing to work in the Tuscaloosa area.

“This is the worst storm season I have seen in my lifetime,” said Franklin Graham, President of Samaritan’s Purse. “These survivors need to know that God loves them, and we’re grateful that He has given us what we need to respond to these disasters within hours.”

If you wish to help by volunteering or donating money, Click Here…

Pray for Libyan Refugees

From Samaritan’s Purse International Relief

More than 302,000 people have fled the fighting in Libya in the past month, crossing the Egyptian and Tunisian borders in a desperate attempt to escape the mounting violence in the embattled country. Transit camps are housing thousands, some of them women and children, who are in need of food and other assistance.

With the vote to impose a no-fly zone over northern Libya, an international coalition launched air strikes on Libyan Government forces. The UN Refugee Agency estimates that only 15-20 percent of Libya’s migrant workers have left the country to date, but they expect that to change in light of the recent military activity.

Samaritan’s Purse is working alongside local partners, providing meals and other aid, and bringing desperately needed help to thousands of people.

Our staff in Tunisia reported that the population of the refugee camp there continues to decrease and is now at approximately 5,500 people. We continue to serve more than 3,800 breakfasts daily. To date, we have provided some 53,200 hot breakfasts.

Samaritan’s Purse partners with an organization to provide meals and love in a camp along the Tunisian-Libyan border

In Egypt, the team has distributed over 21,500 parcels containing food and clean water, and 800 kits with hygiene items and baby food. Refugees going across the Egyptian border have reduced dramatically in the past two days and the majority of those crossing into Egypt are not being detained at the transit camp. Our partners continue to monitor the situation and remain ready to respond if necessary.

Rebels are fighting to oust long-time Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi from power, inspired by protesters who toppled authoritarian rulers in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt. The Libyan uprising, however, has already proved much more violent. Since Saturday, the United States, Britain, France, and allied nations have taken military action to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya and to protect civilians from Qaddafi's forces. Witnesses report that intense fighting continues in the country, and Qaddafi has promised a "long-drawn war."

"This remains a fluid situation, and it is possible that we could see increased numbers cross the border," said a Samaritan's Purse partner in Egypt. "Please pray for those who are still seeking refuge from the volatile situation in Libya, that they would make it safely to the border."

In response to the refugee crisis, Samaritan’s Purse quickly mobilized personnel and resources, and dispatched staff to Egypt and Tunisia to serve with our local partners in the relief efforts.

Please pray for the people who are suffering along Libya's borders, especially that they will come to know the Savior through our acts of love. Pray for the safety for our staff and partners, and for God to direct us to people most in need of help.

(Samaritan’s Purse is also helping people in Japan, Haiti and Northern New Jersey. Click here is you want to help.)

Japanese Flee Nuclear Cloud

Janet Chismar and Trevor Freeze, Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusade

When Ken Isaacs got on the train from Tokyo to Osaka last week, he couldn’t find a seat. Thousands of people were fleeing the city in fear of possible nuclear fallout. On his return trip, the train was virtually empty.

As the Vice President of Programs and Government Relations for Samaritan’s Purse, Isaacs is working closely with BGEA Associate Director of Asian Affairs Chad Hammond in a joint effort to bring help and hope to hurting people following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Reporting by phone Thursday, Isaacs said that the nuclear cloud was keeping him cut off from his team to the north in Sendai.

CNN reported that close to 200,000 people living within a 12-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant – the hardest hit of several nuclear plants affected since the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami – had been evacuated. Authorities banned flights over the area.

According to public health officials in Japan, the nuclear fallout can cause both immediate and long-term health problems, including radiation poisoning and cancer. FOX News reports that low levels of radiation have been detected well beyond Tokyo, which is 140 miles south of the plant, but hazardous levels have been limited to the plant itself.

With emotion choking his throat, Isaacs spoke about the hardships the Japanese people are currently facing. “The nuclear disaster is consuming the nation,” he said. "We are in uncharted waters.”

The 747 cargo jet carrying 93 tons of disaster relief supplies that left Charlotte, N.C. at 1 p.m. (Eastern) arrived at Yokoto Air Force Base at 5:30 p.m. Saturday (local time). The U.S. military unloaded the plane in less than an hour with the items being warehoused overnight before being flown into Sendai on Sunday.

“A couple of hundred churches dot the northern part of Japan,” Isaacs said. “The average congregation is 20 people. The churches themselves don’t have the capacity to do distributions, but they are strategic in terms of Kingdom building. This effort is building their reputation and respect.

“People will never forget that the Christians came.”

Supplies will be given to displaced people living in public shelters, said Isaacs, who has led recovery efforts for approximately 25 years and described the damage as worse than Haiti in some ways.

Nearly 13,000 people are dead or missing and several hundred thousand have been left homeless from Friday's earthquake and tsunami. Cold, snowy weather in parts of the Asian nation further heightened the hardship of a nation facing what its leaders call its biggest disaster since World War II.

Isaacs is calling on the Christian community around the world to continue to pray for the recovery efforts. Here’s some ways you can pray specifically:

• That Japan’s military will be able to assist the team from Samaritan’s Purse and BGEA transport 93 tons of supplies that arrived Saturday from the airlift.

• For wisdom from the Holy Spirit in all decision-making.

• Continued favor with Japan government officials.

• For much-needed fuel (for trucks).

• For protection from radiation.

• For the people of Japan, who are very fearful and anxious.

• That people will come to see God’s love in spite of their suffering and in the midst of their suffering.

"Despite the challenges our team is facing in Japan, we have much to be thankful for,” Isaacs said. “Please join us in praising God for the help of the U.S. military, Japanese government officials, and local Christians. Thank Him that our charter flight arrived safely in Japan. Thank Him that our team has remained safe and healthy."

Prayer for Japan on Facebook

Donate to Samaritan’s Purse Japan Relief Fund

Samaritans Purse

 
The story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) gives a clear picture of God's desire for us to help those in desperate need wherever we find them. After describing how the Samaritan rescued a hurting man whom others had passed by, Jesus told His hearers, "Go and do likewise."

For over 40 years, Samaritan's Purse has done our utmost to follow Christ's command by going to the aid of the world's poor, sick, and suffering. We are an effective means of reaching hurting people in countries around the world with food, medicine, and other assistance in the Name of Jesus Christ. This, in turn, earns us a hearing for the Gospel, the Good News of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Our emergency relief programs provide desperately needed assistance to victims of natural disaster, war, disease, and famine. As we offer food, water, and temporary shelter, we meet critical needs and give people a chance to rebuild their lives.

Our community development and vocational programs in impoverished villages and neighborhoods help people break the cycle of poverty and give them hope for a better tomorrow.

We impact the lives of vulnerable children through educational, feeding, clothing, and shelter programs that let them know they are not forgotten.

We provide first-class treatment in the Name of the Great Physician through our medical projects, as well as supplying mission hospitals with much needed equipment and supplies.

As our teams work in crisis areas of the world, people often ask, "Why did you come?" The answer is always the same: "We have come to help you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Our ministry is all about Jesus—first, last, and always. As the Apostle Paul said, "For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Corinthians 4:5, NIV).

For More Information;

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php