Displaying items by tag: Africa

There are some Christian deaf leaders and deaf believers in South Africa who now have scripture published in sign language by Door International. That gives them a perfect opportunity to move into training local leaders in how to evangelise, disciple, and plant churches. Published sign-language scriptures and deaf leaders are rare. Deaf people are one of the world’s largest unreached people groups. Less than 2% of the world’s 70 million deaf people have access to the Gospel. Using a new technique, Door is teaching deaf leaders from Angola and South Africa how to reach their people for Christ. The programme ‘2×2’ is based on Christ’s mission approach in Luke 10. Between now and June four leaders are going into the field to live, work, observe, and serve alongside existing two-by-two teams to gain some of the tools they need and then return to their country and continue the process.

Islamic teacher, Hiire Sadiki, was poisoned on April 2, shortly after his wife learned he had converted to Christianity. He put his faith in Christ on March 27 after several months of discussions with a Christian pastor. After he didn’t observe the Ramadan fast and his wife noticed him praying in the name of Christ she questioned his mode of praying. He told her he believed in Issa (Jesus]). His wife had studied the Koran and knew verses about apostasy punishment. She left the room and began phoning Muslim leaders, then returned and prepared supper. ‘After 30 minutes, a neighbour arrived, went to the kitchen and then immediately left. After supper Sadiki suffered convulsions and vomiting and phoned the pastor who took him to hospital. Tests indicated his food was tainted with insecticides used to kill rats. The assault was the latest of many instances of Christian persecution in Uganda. 

Osinachi Nwachuckwu was best known for featuring in the hit gospel song Ekuweme has died in an Abuja hospital. Police have arrested her husband. Initial reports said the 42-year old had been sick with throat cancer, but her family deny that, alleging she had been a victim of domestic abuse. A police spokesperson said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of her death. Many Nigerians, especially Christians, have reacted with sorrow and anger to the news of her death. Some have gone online to urge religious leaders not to advise church members to stay in abusive relationships. Domestic violence has also been trending on social media.

Floods in and around Durban had caused 306 deaths by 13th April. President Cyril Ramaphosa described the floods as a calamity, saying, ‘Bridges and roads have collapsed. People have died. This is a catastrophe of enormous proportions.’ The search for missing persons is ongoing. The police force deployed 300 extra officers to the region, the air force sent planes to help with rescue operations. Days of driving rain smashed houses and ravaged infrastructure; landslides forced suspended train services. Highways flooded so that only traffic lights tops poked out. Torrents tore bridges apart, submerged cars and collapsed houses. A fuel tanker floated at sea after being swept off the road. Over 6,000 homes are damaged. TV footage showed people stealing from shipping containers during the flooding. Southern parts of the country are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis – suffering recurrent and worsening torrential rains and flooding. 

Tigray remains cut off from the rest of the world in Ethiopia’s civil war where the northern region experiences famine, and hospitals with no supplies. Countless Tigray civilians have fled south to Addis Ababa, many are Christians. Pastor T is a Tigray church leader who often cares for refugees from neighboring Eritrea. Now, Pastor T and his church members have themselves become refugees.
Nevertheless, these Christians continue to feed hungry refugees and have planted over 10 churches in the region. But as Tigray Protestants their welcome in Addis Ababa hasn’t been warm. Ethnic tensions are soaring due to the northeast conflict and Tigray Protestants are viewed with deep suspicion and even hatred by those of Muslim and Orthodox background.

Tigray has been isolated for 17 months. Millions are in desperate need of food and essentials. Tigray's capital is under the control of the rebels. Getting the basics for survival is a source of anxiety. Every bank is shut so people are unable to use the money they have. People are borrowing money from friends and relatives to buy food. Relatives abroad want to help but all phone lines and the internet have been cut off. Plus, any available food has skyrocketed in price. The staple grain, teff, wheat flour, pepper and cooking oil are harder to afford. Foraged wild fruits, which people never used to eat, are now on sale at roadside stalls. People planted vegetables but water is scarce. They sell possessions to live. When nothing is left they start begging in the street. Human Rights Watch-Amnesty report accuses paramilitaries of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In mid-March, 29 evangelical Christians (17 women and twelve men) were arrested at a house church and taken to Mai Serwa prison camp. Such Christian gatherings have been in homes for twenty years after all churches were closed apart from Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran. Every neighbourhood has a government spy living there observing it and reporting unusual activity to the authorities. Churches have found government spies pretending to be Christians, joining and reporting on congregations. Mai Serwa houses more prisoners than it was built for. They are held in shipping containers holding 20+ detainees. Often prisoners take turns to sleep on bare floors because beds or mattresses are not allowed. The conditions were condemned by Amnesty International in 2020. With overcrowding and lack of adequate sanitation, healthcare, and food, conditions are inhumane; Covid-19 is a major concern. Prisoners' conditions have disastrous consequences on their mental and physical health.

For twenty years Nigerian Christians have suffered attack after attack, with little to no response from the largely Muslim government. Anti-Christian violence is often swept under the carpet. On 20 March community members had just finished their church worship when armed insurgents arrived with sophisticated weapons, an eyewitness told International Christian Concern. ‘Twenty-five people were killed and over 100 houses burnt down.’ He added that the evening attack occurred from 7 to 10 pm, without any intervention by the Nigerian army. The total number of casualties is yet to be released. ‘We are now hiding, our church and houses burnt; we are sleeping outside tonight’, said another eyewitness. Nigeria is one of the worst countries in the world for persecution. Due to violent terrorist groups and government indifference, tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced.

The South Africa Council of Churches (SACC) has launched a national indaba (conference with indigenous tribes) to engage interested parties to find solutions to tensions over foreigners living and working in South Africa. Bishop Mpumlwana said they must create ‘a national process towards a stable national environment where the growing lawlessness over non-South Africans can be addressed before it spills into a broader decline of the rule of law, through “justifiable” acts of public frustration.’ He said that deep poverty gnawing at the lives of the economically excluded majority of South Africans is behind murmurings that ‘non-South Africans are stealing our jobs’ and sporadic acts of brutal violence against foreigners. ‘It is a manifestation of the failure of democratic South Africa to achieve the promise of the post-apartheid South Africa. The failure to achieve this causes a mentality that grips poor communities without hope’. he added.

The Horn of Africa is in crisis with drought and food insecurity. 20 million are impacted or in need of aid; pray for the survival needs of both livestock and humans to be met after three failed rainy seasons back to back. In Somalia 4.3 million people are hungry, and people fear a repeat of the 2012 famine. In Ethiopia, the drought is compounding the humanitarian disaster of the war in the country’s north, while in neighbouring Kenya’s pastoralist zone, the loss of cattle is triggering raids and clashes between communities. In Myanmar farmers say the 2021 coup worsened food insecurity and is nothing short of a disaster. Humanitarian needs multiply and continue to spiral. One million people needed aid before the coup; now it’s 14 million. 500,000 people have been displaced since the coup, a quarter of the population is food insecure and violent new conflicts spread in a new wave of anti-coup militias. ‘There is fear everywhere’, one aid worker said.