Throughout the conflict in Mali, Christians in the south have embraced their fleeing northern countrymen with compassion and helped provide basic necessities. As their funds run dry, international Christian workers in Mali are coming together with Baptist Global Response, the Southern Baptist international relief and development organization, to continue to meet their needs.
In 2012 several rebellious factions, including Islamic extremists, took over the northern part of Mali. As they pushed from town to town, northerners were forced to escape south to save their families. There are more than 260,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mali, reports the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Around 170,000 more are registered as refugees in neighboring countries.
More than 400 Christians arrived in Mali’s capital, Bamako, with what they could carry in a sack and the clothes on their back.
“The Christian community in Bamako rallied together and, despite many missionaries being called to return to their sending countries or choosing to evacuate temporarily, the Malian believers began collecting offerings to support their brothers and sisters from the north,” said Debra Fields, an American Christian living in Mali.
“There were cultural and language barriers with these believers from the south, but their common bond was Jesus,” Fields said.
“Local believers brought clothes, food and money to the [IDPs], and they were visited and comforted by their new brothers and sisters.”
These provisions were made possible, Fields said, because a local evangelical association spread the word church by church, and a committee was formed to set up a fund to help with this crisis.
“The initial fund that was put together was quite substantial, but now, 10 months into the crisis, the funds are practically finished,” Fields explained.
Recently she and some colleagues visited a group of IDPs to share gifts of rice and oil.
“It was then I found out that their daily stipend of $1 a day had been slashed to 50 cents a day per person,” she said.
Fields and Jerry Samples, a Southern Baptist worker in West Africa, decided to meet with the IDPs to discuss relief needs.
“The project is just now launching, but the initial response from the leadership was a feeling overwhelmed with gratitude,” Fields said. “One leader said that the timing was providential that, with their support fund finished and the stress level so high, this act of love was sent from God.”
For more information about helping displaced Malians, visit www.baptistglobalresponse.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Names have been changed for security reasons. (IMB)
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