The Nuba mountains of Sudan are home to that country’s largest Christian community. And this community has been under a humanitarian blockade since 2011. This means there is a shortage of nearly everything, from food, to medicine, to fuel.
But there is no shortage of courage.
A couple years ago, we introduced you to a brave woman named Honey. Honey was living in the capital, Khartoum, with her husband and several children when the latest war began around her home on April 15th, 2023.
As Honey recounts, the artillery fire was very heavy. Then everything went dark. She woke up in a hospital a few days later. To her horror, she discovered that one of her legs had been amputated. Worse, two of her children were killed in the same attack. Honey’s husband, who was away at the time, never returned home.
Through the amazing courage of Pastor Musa (Moses) and his assistant, Emmanuel, buses were organized to evacuate some of the most vulnerable in the Nuba diaspora living in Khartoum. Thankfully, Honey and her surviving children made it onto one of the buses. She now lives in a refugee camp in the Nuba mountains. But her life is far from easy.
For decades, the Nuba have successfully resisted the Islamist Sudan Armed Forces, carving out a comparative safe haven for millions of their fellow Sudanese (mostly ethnic Nuba) who have fled from other parts of Sudan to escape the current civil war which has split the country into at least three major pieces.
The number of refugees arriving, like Honey, has steadily gone up. Three years ago, there were around three million people living in the Nuba mountains. Today, there are over six million— one million having arrived in just the last few months.
One of the new camps is called Umdulu. It is home to 50,000 internally displaced refugees… and growing by around 100 families per day (approx. 700 people). Many traveled for weeks arriving with only what they could carry. The new arrivals are living under trees or whatever straw shelter they can throw together.
But it gets worse.
The rains have begun. And the weather will worsen for the next several months, making transport very difficult. Thankfully, we use tractors which can access most places. But they’re slow and expensive. In the meantime, refugees are exposed to the elements, and when people start getting sick, they will swamp the few hospitals available.
This is a growing crisis. These are the worst conditions we’ve seen since 2011. We committed to sending immediate help to 5,000 additional families above our current budgeted distributions. That’s approximately 35,000 more people. It seems like a drop in the bucket, but we must do something.
The “help” we’re sending is very basic: a heavy-duty tarp to keep off the worst of the rains; a mosquito net to ward off malaria (one of the biggest killers this time of year); a plastic bucket for storage and washing. A heavy-duty cooking pot; and a large bedsheet.
Additionally, the encouragement these families receive will help keep them going until they can be absorbed by the broader community to begin rebuilding their lives.
Please pray for the Nuba people. We can still make a difference. But it’s not Persecution Project. It is God working through your ACTIVE COMPASSION. It may seem little on paper, but to those receiving your help— and those looking on from a distance— the love of Christ is being proclaimed in word and deed.
Pray we can work fast. Since the rains have started, every day we don’t move means the ground gets muddier and the costs go up… and more people suffer. Thank you!
