Barb Wooler, director of Encompass World Partners’ Crisis Response Network, has issued an update on the situation in the Central African Republic. Today via Facebook, she noted:
The race to distribute seed in time for April rains is on in the Central African Republic! Seed to purchase is hard to find. Please pray for Pastor Elvis and wife Clarisse as they race against the clock to get everything purchased and distributed.
This update came from Pastor Elvis this morning:
“So far we have purchased:
– 3 tonnes of peanut bought and gathered in Bossangoa
– 1,500 tonnes of peanut gathered from Boguila to Nana-Bakassa.
“I and my team just arrived at Bossangoa from Boguila. We will continue on to Bouca tomorrow even as our purchasers at Boguila and Bossangoa continue to buy seed. By Friday (March 27) we will have scoured the country for seed – from Bouca to Yaloké and Bozoum to Bossangoa. We are praying that seed/tool/Bible distribution will start by April, 5 2015.”
PLEASE PRAY for safety in travels and other hazards that await them in the next two weeks as they complete this project. Distributing anything in the present environment is very difficult and can even be dangerous.
Below is more information that was posted on the Encompass website last week. Click here for more information.
Crisis Response Ongoing in CAR
Living in the CAR today is like living in the wild, wild west, or in the time of the Judges, when everyone “did what was right in his own eyes.” It’s hard to believe that the CAR used to be referred to as an “island of peace” in the region of Central Africa! While kidnappings, thefts, and violence continue, these resilient people are doing their best to push normalcy back into their lives. But then, what else can they do? The people of the Central African Republic are a little short on options these days.
So it’s a privilege to stand with these brothers and sisters in Christ in their time of need. To tell them you are not alone in this mess; to make their lives—and their survival—a little bit easier.
2014
To date, God’s people have given Encompass’ Crisis Response Network over $600,000 to help in the CAR. In 2014, $500,000 of it became food in cooking pots, tools in farmers’ hands, Bibles and song books, trauma-healing lessons to sooth troubled hearts, temporary shelters to keep widows out of the rain, and several trauma and reconciliation ministry events.
But the need continues. The UN’s World Food Program, which lists the CAR as one of the world’s top five food-insecure countries for 2015, says the need is for food. But what I’m hearing from the CAR is a need for SEEDS to plant as the rains return in March and April. I somehow find comfort in the fact that our people are thinking a little further down the road to a harvest, and not just to a meal to consume today.
MARCH-JUNE 2015
So here we are at the start of our next (and maybe last?) big push to help our friends in CAR through this crisis. With God’s help and the remaining $100,000 of project funds, plus any more that may come in by June, we will:
- Distribute many more tons of seeds and thousands more hoes throughout the country
- Give thousands more believers a Bible, song books, trauma booklets
- *Finance a 120-hour training course for 30 evangelists, who upon completion of this course will be sent out throughout their entire region to reach many with the gospel of peace. These 30 students are disciples of a converted-from-Islam pastor, some being former Anti-Balaka (non-Muslim) fighters – men who would have killed him had they known he used to be Muslim!
- *Help 40 families still living in displaced peoples camps repair their houses so they can safely return home
*in partnership with Dr. Augustin Hibaile and CIDEL ministry
Please pray for these endeavors to bless these people in crisis. Since all of these projects are being accomplished by believers, let’s pray intentionally that God will bless these acts of compassion with spiritual fruit and many opportunities to share the gospel of hope, healing and peace.
Click here for more information.