A Life of Transformation - World Evangelical Alliance

A Festschrift for Colonel Doner
ing. Each family unit is given land which the children learn to
cultivate; they also learn to trade the fruits and vegetables they
produce for other varieties produced by other family units.
The New Hope Campus also houses a large school that provides
elementary and secondary education as well as vocational
training (both schools have been funded by the combined efforts
of the Samaritan Group). When the new vocational training school
was completed, the First Lady of Uganda (a Christian) came to
dedicate it. Jay hopes to soon open a discipleship school for training
young men and women and sending them throughout Africa.
Refugees: Often the only chance (and a slim one at that) a family
has for survival in Africa is to flee — to just get up and go — take
whatever you can carry and run for your life. Many perish in the
exodus; the “lucky” ones end up in refugee camps across Africa
where polluted water, disease, and near starvation await them. As
of May 17, 1998, the United Nations reported that there were
307,137 refugees in Western Tanzania alone while estimates of total
refugees in Africa are almost 4 million.
The refugees arrive at the camps, naked or wearing tattered
rags. They are hungry, thirsty and often sick, greatly weakened by
the ordeal they have been through. Instead of hope, they find
desolate conditions. Carsten Hobohm, M.D., manager of Giving
Hands, toured Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania in the summer of
1998. He reported that in Tanzania, each person receives 350 grams
(approximately 12 ounces) of corn meal per week (less than 2 ounces
per day). Occasionally each one also gets a small amount of oil
and beans. This is too much to starve on, but not enough to live
on. Some of the children are so malnourished by the age of 13 that
their hair turns gray or red.
To ease the suffering, the Samaritan Group members have
helped send food, clothing, medical supplies and equipment into
refugee camps in the Sudan, Rwanda, and Uganda. In Burundi
and Tanzania supplies are being distributed by Giving Hands.
While continuing to meet the immediate needs of the suffering,
Dr. Hobohm looks to the future: “The immediate need is great
but we must also address the future. The country lies in ruins, the
most important social institutions are destroyed. That is why, together
with the government and local churches, Giving Hands
supports the rebuilding of medical stations and schools.”
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