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Africa
James Lual Atak, Lost Boy Becomes Director of MWP Indigenous Ministry
James was ministering in Aweil County of Southern Sudan in the village of Nyamlel. This is very near the Darfur Region, just below it in fact. Our small group had been with James and ‘his' orphans for a couple of days when he asked us if we would go with him into the desert where he knew of many Darfur refugees hiding. Although the radical Muslims from Northern Sudan have been attacking, persecuting, killing and enslaving the Christians of Southern Sudan for at least the last five decades, since Great Britain's withdrawal in the 1950s, it is only recently that the Darfur Region (in Northern Sudan) has been under attack. Darfur is made up of “African Muslims” versus “Arabic Muslims” from Northern Africa. The Darfur people succumbed to the forced Islamic conversions in Northern Sudan long ago, when Arabic Muslims first invaded Sudan. It was the South of Sudan who fought for religious freedom and did not give into such conversions. However, even with the Darfur Region's conversion to Islam, they have never been received by the radical regime which attempts to control the country from Khartoum. Two years ago, the Janjaweed (government sanctioned Muslim Militia) began to act out the same horrific genocide upon the Darfur people that they had been using against the Christians in the South for many decades. “Arabic Muslims” do not consider “African Muslims” to be pure, thus the genocide or ethnic cleansing. With James' request, my heart sank immediately. I had heard many stories of war-torn countries in Africa and Christians who were trying to help but instead got caught up in arms trafficking or some other political agenda. I feared that James was about to ask us to help him take revenge on the Darfurees. Because up to the time of two years ago, when the Janjaweed began attacking Darfur, the Darfur region had been very heavily involved with the killing and enslaving of Christians in Southern Sudan .
So, again cautiously, we asked James, “You know that you are our last stop. You know that these are the last of our supplies. You know that anything we take to these Darfur refugees will come directly from the supplies that we have brought to you and these 153 orphans (this number has since grown). These Darfur refugees are the very ones responsible for killing your (and these orphan's) parents. How do you feel about sharing your food with the murderers of your parents?” James didn't even bat an eye. With clear and determined love, he said, “Jesus forgave me. I must forgive them. The only way for lasting peace is the love of Christ. I cannot share the love of Christ in words alone with people who are dying of thirst and hunger. Please help me to be the love of Christ to my Muslim neighbor by taking them food and water.” With that, the 20 some odd number of us loaded in the back of an old, small Toyota pick up truck that James had managed to borrow (with no small effort) for the day. We drove about 3 hours through the Sahara Desert toward Darfur searching for the Muslims. We found them. We shared the love of Christ with them. None of us will ever be the same. Kimberly Smith - President - Watch Brief Video - click to watch: Dialup Broadband - 200 Girls Now Have Safe Home For First Time - click to watch: Dialup Broadband - Overview of MWP Sudan Ministry: click to watch: Dialup Broadband - Sudan: The Dinka People and The Lost Boys - click here to read
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James
was a Lost Boy. The first time I met James he was surrounded
by 153 orphans who had lost their parents due to the bloody
Islamic raids on Southern Sudan. These precious orphaned children
obviously loved James and played easily with him. I was on
an information gathering trip with three other American agencies.
We each had our own agenda, mine was searching for an indigenous
ministry with which we could partner to prevent and
combat the slavery so rampant in Sudan. By the end
of this story, I think it will become evident why we chose
to invest, through James, at the indigenous ministry he founded
and now directs. 