When a catastrophic flood inundated half of Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, in early September, Baptist congregations in the city seized the opportunity to live out the love of Christ with their neighbors.
Using disaster relief funds provided by Southern Baptists in the United States, International Mission Board representatives Jay Shafto and Scott Bradford crafted a plan to help families whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the water.
Shafto, who served as the project director, said major aid organizations, like the Red Cross, World Food Program and Compassion International, had stepped in to help so he and Bradford looked for ways they could partner with Baptist Global Response to complement those efforts.
“We had already seen that the needs for resources differ from site to site,” Shafto said. “Also the emphasis had so far been on bringing relief to those displaced from their homes. We wanted to find a way to help the people who were falling through the cracks.”
Relief efforts involved providing food and health care, as well as helping people rebuild their homes, starting with members of local Baptist churches. The initiative also provided grain for pastors to distribute in their neighborhoods. The team also cooperated with the local government and other organizations to help one particularly hard-hit neighborhood.
For the neighborhood project, Shafto and local leaders rallied the resources of the Baptist churches.
More than 100 Baptist young adults from across the city joined forces to help 20 families in the neighborhood who had lost their homes. Before dividing into seven teams, the youth met for a time of prayer and worship at a local Baptist church. Then they spent the day building foundations, a task that involved digging trenches and laying cement bricks under an “unforgiving sun,” Shafto said.
“By the time the exhausted but tireless Baptist youth sang their way back to their respective homes, 15 foundations had been laid, 1,000 mud bricks had been made, and a whole neighborhood was inspired,” he said.
Yaya, a young volunteer, summed up the event: “Since I have been a Christian I have never participated in anything like this. We came from different churches, but everyone came together as one. … People stopped to ask what we were doing and why, so we told them about the love of Christ. I never dreamed of being part of something this fantastic.”
The relief effort had three immediate effects, Shafto said: It encouraged the community to recognize the work and receive Baptists more readily; it strengthened the relationship between the churches and the local government; and it increased the optimism and determination of the Baptists involved.
“Several observers told us, ‘You are different from the other religious groups. You did not make a distinction between Muslim and Christian when you offered help,’” Shafto said.
Only time will tell the multiple ripple effects this initiative has had, Shafto noted. “One thing is certain: We will never be the same. God is changing the way we see ourselves and the way we are seen by others.” (BGR)
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