Neocon, christian evangelist tries to save the suffering of people of color while the world ignores the atrocities.
Suffering, Death and Hope in Sudan's Nuba Mountains
Gary Lane
August 24, 1999
-- CBN News Senior Reporter Gary Lane traveled to the Nubas to file this report.
Imagine your own government launching weekly aerial bombing raids against you and your neighbors, murdering your family members or burning homes and churches in your town.
That's the tragic way of life for Christians and animists in Sudan.
A growing number of Americans are now aware of human rights atrocities in the African nation, but the Sudanese are still suffering and their needs are overwhelming -- particularly in an area known as the Nuba mountains.
The cries of suffering Sudanese appear to fall on deaf ears as Khartoum's holy jihad continues. So far nearly two million people have perished: that's more than wars in Kosovo, Bosnia, Somalia and Chechnya combined.
But the southern Sudanese aren't the only ones who have suffered at the hands of their nation's brutal military regime.
Just north of the southern zone is the Nuba mountains. No people have suffered more in this 16-year civil war than the Nubian people. They're caught in a power struggle between north and south.
Sudanese government troops have surrounded the Nuba Mountains: airstrips have been bombed and are inaccessible; relief supplies from the United Nations and others are not allowed in. The people of the Nubas are isolated, cut off from the outside world.
The governor of the Nubas, Yusif Kuwa Mekki, says Khartoum wants to prevent the Nuba people from aligning themselves with the south: "Being with the south, we strengthen the south. That is why they are bitter, that is why they are refusing relief....We are actually closed from the south, from the north...No medicine and people die. We have enough medicine here to treat 20,000 people for 90 days, or three months for the people of the Nuba mountains."
After an absence of more than two years, Voice of the Martyrs missionary Ray Thorne returned to the Nuba mountains to head up a joint mission with CBN's Operation Blessing. The team delivered ten tons of relief to the suffering Nubians.
In March 1997, after Thorne and colleague Kevin Turner came under attack by Sudanese government helicopter gunships, they spent ten days trapped in the Nubas without food and water.
Several villagers were killed in the assault. Thorne and Turner say the prayers of Christians and God's grace helped them make it out alive.
So why did Thorne return to the Nubas and endanger his life once again? "It's a risky place to go, Thorne says, "but Jesus is worthy of our service, and because of our great love for Him and for the people -- the love He has given us for the people -- I mean, how can we not go?"
The VOM/Operation Blessing team also delivered bales of clothing. Each bale consisted of approximately 300 articles of clothing. Thorne personally clothed a six-year-old boy who was left naked and uncared for when his mother abandoned him. Seeds and tools were brought in so the people could grow their own food.
And 1,500 lifepacks were delivered. Each pack contains essential items for everyday living in Sudan, like cooking utensils and mosquito nets. VOM says it hopes to deliver 30,000 kits to the people of Sudan this year.
Five hundred Bibles, 5,000 hymnals, and gospel tracks printed by World Missionary Press were delivered, and at night, the missionaries showed the "Jesus" film.
The next morning, they shared the gospel. VOM team member and pastor Tom Zurowski of Hellfighters International spoke about suffering and referred to a comment once made by Corrie Ten Boom. "She said that no pit is so deep that Jesus isn't deeper still."
This Nubian pastor -- we'll call him Pastor William to protect his identity --describes his suffering as joy. The government jailed him twice for converting Muslims to Christianity. "I was actually happy at the time," Pastor William said, "because Jesus said whoever follows me will suffer for me. Of course I was very happy because of that."
Pastor William continues to evangelize Muslims and others in the region, as Khartoum intensifies its holy war on the Nubas and the south. On July 17, a government airplane dropped bombs on one Nuba mountain village, killing eight people -- mostly children -- all under the age of twenty.
And on July 23, the Sudan People's Liberation Army reported an Antonov aircraft dropped 16 bombs on the cities of Lainya and Kaaya, one, says the SPLA, was a chemical or biological weapon. The people of Lainya became sick and started vomiting blood. Goats, sheep, cats, dogs and birds died. Says Samson Kwaje, "Nearly all pregnant women in the area have miscarried. It is purely a civilian center. There are no soldiers there. We don't have soldiers there."
CBN News has visited Lainya on several occasions to document the delivery of Bibles and other humanitarian relief. Two of the U.N.'s world food program workers became ill after passing through the area. The U.N. has sent a team to investigate.
President Clinton has announced he will appoint a special peace envoy for Sudan in an effort to end the war there, and the U.S. Senate has approved legislation that will provide direct humanitarian aid to opposition forces.
Meanwhile, Ray Thorne says he'll return to the Nuba mountains to hand out more blankets to the elderly, women and children.
Tom Zurowski says he'll never be the same: "I thought to myself, how could I never want to invest in these kids?...And I think if we can just reach out and give love for free to these young people -- these little children -- to be able to give them a hope for their future, wow, what better way can we spend our time?" |
