There are thousands of refugees fleeing Ukraine, arriving on foreign land. How long will they be there? Where will they live? How will they make a living? Will they ever return home? These must be some of the questions going through the minds of the people fleeing everything they know. Can you imagine how you would feel?
Sadly, it has been the same for those living in Chad and the neighbouring countries of Nigeria, Sudan and the Central African Republic for many, many years.
Chad faces instability, but also acts as a host community for refugees and returnees who had fled during periods of conflict. Conflict in these countries and these population movements are a familiar story that has been told for decades. It has become a story that is all too familiar.
But, as much as we would like the story to end and never be repeated again, it is a reality we have to respond to! We, as Christians, who know the God of the universe are to bring solutions. Through Christ we can bring peace in a time of conflict, a hope for the future, and the joy of the Kingdom to pass to those who desperately need it, not just for strength, but also for life on earth.
For the eastern communities of Chad, in a small but significant way, this looked like a consortium comprising three national and three international NGOs who have been hosting a four-year programme to meet needs. MAF was privileged to be a part of transporting the people who work in this programme. One of them was Bella, the coordinator.
She explained how conflict resolution, inter-community dialogue, and living peacefully side-by-side was one of the main objectives. Another objective was to improve livelihoods through income generating activities.
She explained that, “travelling by road can take more than a day and can make it very challenging to do our missions and offer the support needed to our teams and to the programmes.” She says “…the flights have given us the opportunity to contribute to the teams and have the time we need with them, and it would have been potentially not possible to do that if we had to go by road…”
For the Southern Communities of Chad, the solution looks like Angelina and Grover, SIL missionaries living in Mongo to learn the language and eventually translate the Bible into the local languages.
MAF was able to be a part of transporting the people working on the ground who are helping bring peace, hope and joy!
To help improve the lives of refugees and isolated communities around the world, you can help by keeping us in the air!
Would you consider giving R100, R500 or R1000 toward MAF so that we can continue to bring help, hope and healing to the thousands of people living in despair, fear and conflict?
