During the Sabaot Tribal Land Clashes of 2007 and 2008, 9500 ft. up Mt. Elgon, Kenya, and a few meters from the Uganda border, Pastor Benson, his wife Alice, and their 10 children faced a terrible dilemma... to stay in their warring mountain community or flee to lower ground and the security of police and government forces.
Then all hell broke loose between the Soys and the Nurobos...
With gunfire and terror surrounding them, Pastor Benson, a graduate of Africa Theological Seminary's first Mt. Elgon Pastor's Institute, decided to gather his family and try to flee through the bush to the Kopsiro Police Station, where they could be escorted by army troops to an IDP camp.
This tree is Pastor Benson's final resting place...just 20 meters from the protection of the reinforced police station, Alice and Benson and their children were fired upon by opposition rebels forces.
As bullets rained down around them, Alice's son cried softly, "Are we dead?" and she pulled the 4 year old to her chest and whispered, 'God will deliver us'.The family ran into the darkness of this dung hut, and trembled as they tried to plan how to get the last few feet to security. But then bullets began piercing the hut, and Benson told Alice, "I am shot". Alice, this mother of 10, and expecting another child in a month, would never see her husband alive again.
And so, she and her 11 children live in that hut...smaller than your work space...and try their best to work out what Alice, in faith, declared, "God will deliver us."
A group from our summer PEACE Relief team traveled for the day, up Mt. Elgon, to visit Alice today with some hugs and some enouragement. The items we brought: maize, rice, wheat, blankets, lesos, cooking pots, flip flops, water jugs and washing basins...will all, wear out or run out, but we are not her family's Saviour...God is...and only God.
And so, she and her 11 children live in that hut...smaller than your work space...and try their best to work out what Alice, in faith, declared, "God will deliver us."
A group from our summer PEACE Relief team traveled for the day, up Mt. Elgon, to visit Alice today with some hugs and some enouragement. The items we brought: maize, rice, wheat, blankets, lesos, cooking pots, flip flops, water jugs and washing basins...will all, wear out or run out, but we are not her family's Saviour...God is...and only God.We can't deliver Alice, but we CAN love her as Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor and to care for the widow and the fatherless. We can do that...we can love...
We also had a chance to deliver 2 sheep and a HOLY COW to Alice from the Thorsen small group at Saddleback church. This milk cow is 'in-calf' which means that in a few months there will be a baby cow, to also bless the family. This cow produces 300 liters of milk a month, which provides nutrition for the kids and income for mom to keep her 11 in school.
Alice and her kids live in the ironic shadow of the Kopsiro Police Station, where they had hoped to find refuge.
We also had a chance to deliver 2 sheep and a HOLY COW to Alice from the Thorsen small group at Saddleback church. This milk cow is 'in-calf' which means that in a few months there will be a baby cow, to also bless the family. This cow produces 300 liters of milk a month, which provides nutrition for the kids and income for mom to keep her 11 in school. 
Alice and her kids live in the ironic shadow of the Kopsiro Police Station, where they had hoped to find refuge. Proverbs 3:5 & 6 is either TRUTH and Comfort, or a convenient cliche we spout when we cannot understand the plight of people like Alice.
I choose to believe that it is the truth...'TRUST in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understandings; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path."
