Sudan: tens of thousands trapped
27 Apr 2023
So far, two thousand people from fifty countries have crossed the Red Sea to the port of Jeddah, while tens of thousands of Sudanese are trying to reach Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Those remaining in Khartoum homes are running out of supplies. ‘If this war doesn't stop, there is no way to stay here.’ said a nurse. Lakshmi from Massachusetts was hitchhiking south. He said, ‘For the 16,000 Americans in Sudan, the race to evacuate diplomats has left them to fend for themselves. There are at least 158 Australian families registered in Sudan, but Australia has no embassy, so they have no consular services to help. See Many Britons scrambled to get to an airfield near Khartoum and fly back to the UK via Cyprus before the ceasefire ended.
USA: senseless shootings
27 Apr 2023
Ralph was shot twice after he knocked on the door of the wrong home to collect his younger brothers. Doctors expressed shock that he survived. He has speech problems and has a long road to recovery. A six-year-old was shot after a basketball rolled into a man's yard. When she went to retrieve it, the man aggressively shouted at her. A father went to him complaining, ‘It was an accident’. The man got his gun and fired at neighbours. The girl had bullet fragments in her cheek. Her parents were also shot. Payton tried to enter the wrong vehicle in a car park and was shot. Kaylin was killed after driving down the wrong driveway. Every day about 50 people die and about 100 are injured from shootings. 12,719 people have died so far this year in gun violence. Since 13 April, when Ralph visited the wrong house, there have been 845 shooting incidents.
Venezuela: dangerous to go to school
27 Apr 2023
13-year-old Marcelo and his younger brother leave their Venezuelan home at 4.30 am every day, to walk unaccompanied, in the dark, for 2 ½ hours, to attend school in Colombia. Their lessons start at 6.30. They slip into Colombia through informal border crossings known as trochas - dangerous rural dirt tracks weaving across the arid border, controlled by local armed groups, drug gangs and smugglers who often charge users a fee to pass through. In a sign of teenage bravado, Marcelo denies being scared of journeying through these crossings: he says, ‘I like coming to school in Colombia. They don't ‘have lessons where I live’. Venezuela's crumbling economy and socio-political crisis have pushed institutions to the brink. Rural schools are neglected, offering only a few lessons a week with a critical shortage of teachers. Official border crossings have reopened, but sadly few have the necessary papers to use them.
Nigeria: nothing short of a massacre
27 Apr 2023
In Kaduna state, Fulani militiamen killed 33 Christians in the predominantly Christian Runji village on 16 April and burned down half of the village. ‘Attackers in their numbers maimed and burned mostly women and children’, a press statement recorded. Locals have long believed that the government is capable and able to stop this evil - but they are not ready and willing to stop it. Nigeria is the leading country where Christians are killed for their faith (5,014 martyrs in 2022), and led the world in Christians abducted (4,726), sexually assaulted, harassed, forcibly married, physically or mentally abused. It had the most homes and businesses attacked for faith-based reasons. Being a Christian automatically puts a target on one's back. ‘Please pray for us’, said resident Mugu Bako. Rev Jacob Kwashi presided over their funerals, bemoaning the government's callous response to increasingly violent attacks against Christians. See
Chile: ‘quick trigger’ law
27 Apr 2023
Protesters and relatives of police officers who were killed in the line of duty took part in a march called by their relatives amid an increase in violent crime, in front of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago. Chile is one of Latin America’s safest countries, but its residents are becoming more worried after an upturn in violent crime and a spate of police killings. This month, the government passed a series of laws and allotted an additional $1.5bn to its police force. One of those laws, called the ‘quick trigger’ law, allows police to use force when they feel their lives are under threat. Many Chileans are still haunted by riot police actions during the 2019 protests, and human rights advocates say the new law could lead to impunity for police abuses.
God’s word translated and shared
21 Apr 2023
Sakachep Christians in India celebrated the dedication of the New Testament in their language, which took several years to complete. Now, for the first time, God's Word is available in their mother tongue. After the dedication, eager Sakachep people came forward for their own copy of God's Word. In the coming months several more Bible distributions in new languages are scheduled near the Tibetan border, and in the next few years over 20 new translation projects are planned. Also 771 million people in undeveloped countries catch diseases because they cannot get safe drinking water. The Bucket Ministry reduces that number by sharing God’s love and providing safe, clean water using a filter attached to a bucket that removes harmful bacteria in North America, South America, Central America, Asia, and Africa. Providing clean water also leads to opportunities to share the gospel. In ten years they’ve helped 250,000 families. The difference is lifesaving physically and spiritually.
God restores life
21 Apr 2023
David consumed a lot of cocaine. When he was In hospital after his third overdose, doctors told him his kidneys had failed, he had Hepatitis C, and would need dialysis for the rest of his life. With hopelessness and despair, he mourned his lost life. ’The night before dialysis was to begin, David cried out, ‘God, I don’t even know if you’re real, but if you are, please help me.’ The next day doctors came to his room. ‘We can’t explain it, but you’ve had a complete recovery,’ one told him. ‘You’re being discharged today.’ David wept profoundly. ‘It was mind-blowing,’ he recalls. ‘I don’t know how long I was on the floor asking God to forgive all the things I had done. God is in the restoration business.’
From death to life
21 Apr 2023
A family is rejoicing because Sammy Berko is alive after suffering cardiac arrest before miraculously coming back to life two hours later. He reached the top of the wall at a rock climbing gym, and then went limp. He was lowered and then lifesaving measures were unsuccessfully implemented. ‘They looked at us and said, “I’m so sorry, but he’s gone”’, Sammy’s mum Jennifer said. She and her husband were left in the room to say goodbye to Sammy and Jennifer started speaking to Sammy and to God. ‘As I started praying, my husband said, he’s moving.' The 16-year-old came back to life.