Picture is of the Kakuma Refugee Camp, NW Kenya
Renee and I are currently planning the details for our next trip to E. Africa. The plans are to travel to Kenya the last week of October. We will do a training event for pastors and who live and work in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. David and other team members will work with pastors, while Renee and her helpers will teach women who are recognized as solid disciples and committed to sharing the Gospel with other women.
Much of our work thus far has been focused on the camps located in northern Uganda. In part that is due to the fact that we live in Entebbe, Uganda from Nov. '09 to March '15. So now it's time to return to the extreme NW of Kenya, an area we are very familiar with, as we worked with various Gospel workers over the years who focused on the Turkana and Toposa; the two major tribes of the area.
I have cut and pasted below part of an article which contains a report by the United Nations (UN). I used the title of that article for this post. The news is ominous: famine, starvation, the life long impact on children through malnutrition, etc.
What can we do? Our commitment is to place as many scripture related resources into the hands of the church leaders with whom we partner, so that they can share the gospel, make disciples and plant churches in the midst of all this chaos and upheaval. True peace does not mean the mere absence of war. It comes only through a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
UN: World Faces Largest Humanitarian Crisis Since World War II
The world is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since 1945, according to the United Nations.
“We stand at a critical
point in history. Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the
largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the UN,” UN Emergency
Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien told the UN’s Security Council last
week.
While many countries
worldwide face food security crises, with large numbers of people hungry
and unable to find enough food, only rarely do the conditions meet the
humanitarian community’s formal criteria for a famine, says the UN.
The UN declares a famine only when the following measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met: at least 20 percent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 percent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
Other factors that may be considered include large-scale displacement, widespread destitution, disease outbreaks and social collapse.
Currently five countries are facing or are at risk of famine—Kenya, Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia. Here is what you should know about each of these countries:
The UN declares a famine only when the following measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met: at least 20 percent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 percent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
Other factors that may be considered include large-scale displacement, widespread destitution, disease outbreaks and social collapse.
Currently five countries are facing or are at risk of famine—Kenya, Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia. Here is what you should know about each of these countries:
South Sudan
Number of people facing severe food insecurity: 4.9 million
Cause of crisis: Famine caused by armed conflict that borders on genocide.
What’s preventing aid: Some UN officials have suggested
the South Sudan government is blocking food aid to certain areas and
that humanitarian convoys and warehouses have been attacked and being
looted, either by government or rebel forces.
UN assessment: “The famine in the country is man-made. Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine – as are those not intervening to make the violence stop,” said Mr. O’Brien, who called on the South Sudanese authorities to translate their assurances of unconditional access into “action on the ground.”
UN assessment: “The famine in the country is man-made. Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine – as are those not intervening to make the violence stop,” said Mr. O’Brien, who called on the South Sudanese authorities to translate their assurances of unconditional access into “action on the ground.”
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