Special Alert - Humanitarian Crisis in Burkina Faso

"We left our homes, our cattle, our camels.  We have nothing."

This is what we heard time after time as we walked among the Tuareg refugees here in Ouagadougou.  They fled war and racism in their home country of Mali, literally fleeing for their lives.  The estimate of those who fled here to Burkina is over 20,000.
The majority of the refugees are still in the northern part of Burkina (they are also asking for our help), but about 700 have trickled down to the capital, to an unused school about 15 minutes from our house.  We showed up on Tuesday with a few hundred bananas, 100 breads and sardines.  Those were all eaten in less than 10 minutes.  We noticed that there were a lot of children, just standing around, so Christa and Abby (our new missionaries), began playing games with them - they were so excited!
The Tuareg are one of the least-reached people in all of Africa, and one of the least accessible.  And now, here they are at our doorstep!  What an opportunity to show them the unconditional, unmerited love of God!  Who are the Tuareg? The Tuareg are nomads who once controlled ancient caravan routs across the Sahara Desert. They inhabit the Southern regions of North Africa – Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. Tuareg is an Arabic term meaning abandoned by God. However, they call themselves variously Imohag (translated as free men), Kel Tamasheq or Kel Tamajaq. No one knows where they came from or when they arrived in the Sahara. Their true numbers are unknown but estimates vary between 300,000 and 1.5 million.  Read More