Working in Southern Sudan is not easy. God has blessed PPF with so much success through the years that it’s easy to forget that it doesn’t take much for things to quickly go very, very wrong. We were reminded of this in early April when we received a distressing e-mail from Nashon M., our agent in charge of logistics and distributions. Two of our staff were missing, along with “Mercy,” our Mercedes truck.
Brad Phillips with "Mercy," our Mercedes 911 truck.
PPF driver, David M., and Conductor, Peter B., had completed a delivery of shoes and medical supplies to the Darfur refugee community in Jaac and were headed back to Kenya before the Sudan elections when they were stopped by soldiers manning a roadblock. The rogue soldiers took everything of value the two men carried, including their identification, and forced them to drive troops through the bush to various villages and check points. While this was happening, Nashon waited in Kenya for the team to “check in” to report their progress for the day.
But no word came for three days.
PPF's driver, David M. (second from left) was kidnapped for three days.
Finally, the soldiers released our team, and they drove straight for the border, only to be arrested again by another group of soldiers because our men had no identification! Providentially, a group of Kenyan soldiers patrolling the border saw the truck stopped by the Sudanese soldiers and secured the release of our team.
The two men are now back in Kenya, safe but a little rattled, as you can imagine.
PPF is blessed with a dedicated staff willing to submit to the risks associated with working in a very volatile and even hostile environment. Our goal is to reach the lost with the message of the Gospel, and the persecuted Church with encouragement from the Body of Christ here in America.
God has used the continued support of our ministry partners to supply the materials needs of this ministry. But it is God alone who provides us with the protection to do our work. Please pray that God would continue to keep all of us safe as we seek to be an effective witness for Christ in Southern Sudan and Darfur.
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