Less than a year after a UN official announced the official “end” of the war in Darfur, Sudan, the UN released a document stating that May, 2010, was the deadliest month in Darfur since 2008. Fighting between rebel groups and government troops cost nearly 600 lives, which is the highest death toll in a single month since a “peacekeeping” force was deployed in 2008.
These men are in the process of drilling yet another borehole in Jaac.
According to the UN, the war in Darfur has killed 300,000 people and displaced another 2.7 million. Other estimates put the death toll as high as 400,000 killed.
Escalating violence in Darfur means more refugees – people fleeing the conflict zones. And one of the major “safe zones” where refugees go is the community of Jaac, on the Southern Darfur/Southern Sudan border. Since 2005, the community has grown from a few thousand to now over 200,000 displaced persons. People are spread out over a couple hundred square miles of flat, dry “no man’s land.”
Persecution Project Foundation is feverishly working to provide a basic water canopy for the population in Jaac. The 100 Wells Campaign has drilled 62 clean water wells in Jaac, with plans to complete 100 by the end of 2010. But this aggressive goal is totally dependent on God’s grace working through the generosity of thousands of Christians in America.
By using your community in America to support their community in Darfur, thousands of lives are saved. But, most importantly, many souls are saved as well. God has presented PPF with a perfect opportunity to teach the Gospel message in word and deed to many people who have never heard about Jesus Christ. We give them something their bodies need: clean water. And then we introduce them to the Water of Life that nourishes their souls.
This young girl gets a mouthful of fresh, clean water from a new well.
War is a terrible thing. It is our responsibility to do what is within our power to promote peace. But even when peace seems impossible, Christians can still be encouraged, because we know God is sovereign. Our God uses the wickedness of men to work great good. In the case of Darfur, wicked men are killing and destroying to promote their own selfish agendas. But God is using the extreme upheaval in Darfur to drive many people to Faith in Him. In the end, this is the only way peace will come to Darfur – or anywhere else in the world.
