Aringa lady
To the Aringa, rains are a vital commodity that helps grow the crops they need to continue their life year by year.
Last year’s drought was harsh and the rains that have just come have been welcome. But droughts don’t always mean no rain at all—it can mean that the rains are not enough and it is heartbreaking when the rains start the crops growing in the fields but stops before the plants get to maturity. For many families this is devastating.
Whatever happens in Sudan affects Uganda, especially in Yumbe which shares a border with Sudan. Recent elections in that country (Sudan) went along well and, as a result, the area continues to go about their lives in relative peace.
Since the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army has been driven out of the area by government forces there is one thing less to fear—but the bandits still remain at large in both the Congo and the Central African Republic, so please be in prayer that this group will be defeated and disbanded. Continue reading ‘Aringa Update 2, 2010 - “…some have been threatened with death”’
The Cray family is back in Ba Illi after a year’s leave and contacts with the Ndam are better than ever. There is a high school in Ba Illi and four young men from an Ndam village are there for the school year.
They are interested in the translation and have all taken copies, including and especially the Transitional
An Ndam woman
Primer. One of the men can read the Ndam text and they are helping William to test and improve the work in Exodus. William has been revising their earlier work which includes the first four chapters and parts of several others. He hopes to get his translation helper up soon to carry on the work with Exodus.
There is a tradition in West Africa that once God was near to people. But one day, a woman was pounding our her grain in her mortar and lifted her heavy wooden pestle too high striking God in the nose. He took offense and went away. William has heard an Ndam elder tell this story as well. It is interesting to see the parallels between this and the story of the Fall in Genesis: that the action of a woman seems to be the cause of God’s absence, and that once it was not so. Continue reading ‘Ndam Update 1, 2010 - There is a tradition in West Africa that once God was near to people.”’
UNHCR has opened a field office in eastern Cameroon to cope with the arrival of several successive waves ofethnic Mbororo refugees fleeing from the neighbouring Central African Republic. In total, an estimated 25,000 refugees arrived in Cameroon and are scattered along the country’s border with the Central African Republic (CAR).
Mbororo child
Mbororo fleeing to Cameroon say they have been systematically and relentlessly targeted by organised groups of bandits and rebels who steal their cattle. Livestock are not only the Mbororo’s primary possession, but also a sign of wealth in this part of Africa. Many Mbororo refugees also claim that their wives and children have been kidnapped and they had to pay high ransoms to get them back.
Most Mbororo cross the border on foot, carrying their few remaining possessions. A small number of those who managed to save some of their livestock continue to graze cattle inside Cameroon. But the others, having lost everything, are in an extremely precarious situation. Continue reading ‘Mbororo Update 1, 2010 - “They have been systematically and relentlessly targeted by organised groups of bandits and rebels”’
God has answered prayer in an unexpected way following the evacuation of the TIMO team that was working with the Didinga.
Shortly after they left God put it in the hearts of Didinga Christians, Hector Loki and his wife Joyce and their baby Jan Natukoi, to go as missionaries to start a church in Makiria. They took over the TIMO team leader’s compound and immediately started to spread news in the community that they would be holding church services in their house starting that Sunday (August 9th). Their first Sunday they had 30 people show up to hear the word of God. Then the second Sunday they had 225 people! Hector has even started having morning and evening devotionals that some people have been coming to - in fact they must like it because he said they stay until 10pm some nights. Continue reading ‘Didinga - “ Their hearts are being softened to the gospel”’
Aringa Lady
Here is Life in an indigenous Christian organization working with the Aringa people of North Western Uganda, bordering Southern Sudan.
Isaac Jaffer Anguyo, who was himself a Muslim until he met Christ, is the Director.
The majority of Aringa are Muslims. The other percentage is shared by Catholics, Anglican, and a few Pentecostals. At present, Yumbe District is 72% Muslim and the Christians are seen as a small minority - Catholics 14.1% and 8.8% Anglicans (2002 Census).
The Aringa have lagged behind the most of Uganda in spiritual and physical development due to many historical and present constraints.
The vision of Here is Life is seeing many people believing in Jesus Christ, growing in their faith, and meeting their physical needs.
Continue reading ‘Aringa - “The vision of Here is Life is seeing many people believing in Jesus Christ ”’
Aringa
This month’s people group are the Aringa. Click here for our profile of the Aringa people, and here for our most recent update.
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Team members with injured woman
We must work while it is day… Sometimes people ask us what a typical day looks like. There is no such thing as a “typical day,” really. What I plan to do in a day may be completely different from what actually happens. I never dreamed I would do some of the things that I now do and consider as part of my daily life. Today, for example, I had planned to prepare team curriculum, but a good Didinga friend asked if I would go see a boy who had been badly burned. I snatched my “doctoring” kit and went. I’ve never seen anything like what I saw, but with the team absent, I was the only “doctor” around. Beginning shortly, though, we will have a regular clinic with our two nurses and I will be relieved of this particular extra-curricular work.
Relationships always come first, though, and you never know who will drop in to visit, completely altering the day’s plan.
Clinic work is our most important inroad into the community because it is their primary felt need. The nearest medical help other than basic first aid is an eight-hour walk away. A few weeks ago, a drunken man had entered a woman’s compound and cut into her skull with a machete. Her family brought her to our compound. Fortunately, our team nurses were here, yet even for them this stitching was a new experience.
Continue reading ‘“The implements of war all around us remind us to be diligent in our mission.” - Didinga Update Spring 09′
This month’s people group are the Didinga
Didinga
This month the people group are the Didinga
Didinga
Chad has passed through 6 months of great insecurity and trials following the rebel attack on the 1st and 2nd Feb on the capital, N’djamena. Many lives have been lost, families traumatised and property destroyed. In addition there has been a sharp rise in prices especially of staple foods. In the context, it is very difficult to give specific praise and pray information for the Mbororo people that we have adopted. Nevertheless, we are convinced that prayer is needed more than ever to demolish the strongholds in this land. Using some ideas gleaned from Beth Moore’s book, “Praying God’s Word”, I would like you to claim the power of God in prayer by applying the word to these strongholds….. Continue reading ‘Claiming the power of God in prayer for the Mbororo’
