Refugees

The thirteen year old girl was playing outside on the dusty streets of her town when they arrived. Men from the insurgent group that have been wreaking havoc in the northern part of Mozambique. They took her. Took her away from her family, away from her home, away from the town she's always known. They took her out into the bush along with six other girls from her town and fourteen other girls from a nearby village. The girl's mother has grieved her loss for days but the rest of the family decided it was better to leave the area before anything worse happens. This hurting family will arrive at one of my friend's house here in Pemba tomorrow.

This same friend who is receiving these refugees tomorrow also told me what she has been learning in the audio Bible I gave her a few months ago. She told me a second audio Bible would be helpful to share with those arriving in her home. She herself has not fully grasped the truth held in God's Word, and yet she wants to share these words of hope with those hurting.

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"It's full Rachel, completely full of refugees who have arrived. You can't even imagine!" my language helper exclaimed as we sat several feet apart in my yard with our masks on. She was referring to the neighborhood just below our homes but where I am unable to walk right now due to Covid restrictions. Anyone fleeing from the north who have family members living here in Pemba have been coming to live with their relatives. A few neighborhoods, like the one I live in, have received a high percentage of these refugees in the last month.

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As he sat in the overcrowded, public bus he glanced out the window and saw a field full of families sitting on the ground surrounded by the possessions they had managed to take with them as they fled the terrorized region in the north. These are the people who have no family members in any of the southern towns to take them in. They sit encamped at the crossroads unsure of what their future will hold.

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These are glimpses into the world of the growing refugee situation here in northern Mozambique.

Please pray with my team and I as we desire to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the least of these. We want to help with their physical needs, but we also want to help with their emotional and spiritual needs. These people are hurting, they are searching for hope. In the midst of the Covid pandemic and government restrictions may God grant us wisdom to know how to help these people. May He open doors to demonstrate the love of Jesus to them and bring glory to His name.

A typical village, like where the fourteen girls were taken