When It Rains It Pours
When it rains it pours! But at least you hope you get water out of it and not troubles. No, in the Horn of Africa it rains troubles. Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia have not received water in over six years. The people there believe that God has turned off the faucet.
A few years ago CRF started bringing relief to this area. We brought in food. We brought in water. Schools were started. Churches were planted. Then we stepped it up—we were given our own water well drilling rig and started drilling like crazy.
But things just kept getting worse. I don’t know how. How can something be worse than terrible? Yet the people there say it is worse. It has become an international tragedy. The Kenyan government has asked CRF to escalate our help.
And if the famine wasn’t bad enough, there is a war next door. The great hope of the new country of South Sudan has certainly taken a hit. Civil war and violence are everywhere.
How does this relate to CRF?
Because of the war, 8430 refugees are leaving Sudan every day to go to Kenya. These refugees are arriving at what was already the worst spot in the world.
They are landing in the Nadapal area where we have been drilling for water and bringing relief. When it rains it pours.
In this picture, you can see a little boy wandering around Nadapal. You will always see something in each of his hands—just in case. He carries a cup and bowl. He is prepared for anytime when he can get water or food. And he just got some hope in what seemed to be his hopeless situation. Jim Shelburne not only sponsored him personally through CRF but also encouraged his congregation, the Washington Avenue Church in Amarillo, to give $40,000 to drill four wells in this very area.
What’s the little boy’s name? Emmanuel. Yes, this four year old is called Emmanuel Lokolonyou. Emmanuel—“God with us!” Jim saw God as this little boy was crossing the desert looking for food and water.
You don’t have to go far from Nadapal to find Somali pirates, militant militias from Ethiopia, and the Al Shabaab (the radical Muslim group that attacked the mall in Nairobi).
When it rains it pours. In fact, we recently had to pull our drilling team out of Nadapal for safety reasons — but we are on our way back.
We have been asked to do more in this area. We now have so many more to help because of the war in South Sudan. The Turkana area is worse now than it was years ago when we started telling you about it. It just doesn’t make the news anymore. The Sudan situation is worse now than it was a few months ago. It just doesn’t make the news regularly.
There are so many more “Emmanuels” wandering across the desert.
Can you help drill a well for them?
Let’s all pray that it starts raining blessings and water very soon in this desperate area.
