FF News Edition 1 of 2020

The Rwandan Genocide
In praying as to how best we could
respond to the request to establish
a hospital in the Liberated zones of
South Sudan, one ministry seemed
to me to be the ideal answer,
Samaritans Purse. During my
mission to Rwanda, Samaritans
Purse had been the only medical
mission working in that devastated
country. They waded into the
sewer system of Kigali hospital to
extract the vast amounts of body
parts blocking the entire drainage
system, broke up the congealed
blood and restored the hospital to
full operation, despite the plague
of rats and myriads of flying,
crawling insects. When even the
Red Cross and Doctors Without
Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiéres)
had fled the genocide in Rwanda,
Samaritans Purse was the only
medical mission operational in
that desperately needy country, at
its time of greatest need.
Approaching Samaritan's Purse
So, I wrote to Franklin Graham,
head of Samaritans Purse (SP),
requesting his involvement. Soon
the reply came, from his secretary,
that their programme was full and
SP was overcommitted, not able to
take on any new projects. As I was
praying over this, the news came
that Franklin Graham was
scheduled to come to Cape Town,
South Africa, to conduct an
Evangelistic Crusade at Newlands
Cricket grounds! I eagerly wrote
again, requesting an interview with
Franklin Graham when he was in
Cape Town. Another polite reply
came back informing me that,
sorry, but his programme was full.
An Invitation to City Hall
Pondering this, convinced that
this had to be God's timing,
wondering how I would manage to
meet him, a gold
embossed envelope
was delivered to my
desk. Inside it was a
card from the Mayor
of Cape Town,
inviting me to a Prayer
Breakfast at City Hall,
where the guest of
honour would be:
Franklin Graham! I
praised God.
Meeting Franklin Graham
On the day of the Prayer Breakfast,
I ensured that I was there early.
Parking my motorbike close to the
entrance, I walked in with my
helmet over one arm. I greeted
Franklin Graham: “Mr Graham, I
believe that you are also a
motorbiker?” Franklin Graham
beamed, replied that he was and
told me about his Harley Davidson.
Next, I commented: “I see that you
have been working amongst the
Contra resistance fighters in
Nicaragua?” Franklin Graham
replied: “Yes, I have.”
“I have one question for you, Mr
Graham: Why is Samaritans Purse
not involved in Sudan?”
“We have been,” he replied.
“Yes, but that was in Upper Nile
and I know that the experience was
frustrating, but you were trusting in
the wrong people. Riek Machar’s
crowd are surrogates of the Muslim
government.”
Mr Graham looked surprised.
“I did not know that,” he said.
“I know the people that you can
trust in South Sudan, in Equatoria.
I also know just the right hospital
for Samaritans Purse to renovate
and use as your base of operations
in Lui. It was the first hospital
established in South Sudan, by
pioneer missionary, Dr.
Kenneth Fraser. There is no
hospital for seven million
people in Free Equatoria...”
Mission to Sudan
At this point, a line was
beginning to form behind me
and Mr Graham had to
FRONTLINE FELLOWSHIP
PO BOX 74 NEWLANDS 7725
CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA
admin@frontline.org.za
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
politely excuse himself to give
attention to other guests arriving.
Later, during the prayer breakfast,
he brought me his Operations
Manager, Ken Isaacs, to brief. At
first, Mr Isaacs was a bit skeptical,
leaning back with his legs crossed
and his arms folded. Soon,
however, he was leaning forward,
looking at my photographs and
maps and asking penetrating
questions. Two days later, I received
a phone call from Ken Isaacs:
“Franklin has given us the green
light. Can you take us into South
Sudan in 2 days’ time?” I was a bit
overwhelmed at the abruptness, as
I had a full and demanding
programme. Ken challenged me:
“Peter, you have a green light, go
through the intersection!” So, I
rearranged my schedule, cleared
my plate and headed off to Nairobi
to lead Ken Isaacs and the
Samaritans Purse exploratory team
into Moruland to explore the newly
liberated town of Lui.
The Legacy of Kenneth Fraser
I had told Ken Isaacs much about
Dr. Kenneth Fraser, the pioneer
CMS Missionary, who had
established the first hospital, the
first school and the first church in
Equatoria. I told him that the
people of Moruland were so
evangelised that you could leave
your wallet on the road outside the
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