The IDP CAMPS of Mt ELGON

The politically correct name is IDP CAMP...internally displaced people... what used to be called REFUGEE CAMPS.

Whether or not the word refugee is the best term, the fact is that on Mt. Elgon, in West Kenya...people are seeking REFUGE.

• refuge from starvation
• refuge from rebel terror
• refuge from the elements, because of their homes being destroyed
• refuge from utter hopelessness

Our PEACE RELIEF team of summer interns has been able to partner with Pastor Crispen and the Mt. Elgon Pastors Network to distribute much needed aid and hope in Christ to these folks. In one village, 22 children have starved in the past month.

People were so 'over the top' happy and celebrated the 2 relief days in typical Sabaot style...with songs and dance and prayers and hugs.  

People who have been run off and burned off and shot off their ancestral land, have gathered and huddled together in these IDP camps for security and survival.
They have no more than a tarp given by the United Nations...and each other...

There are 5 women for every man because so many men have been killed...leaving kids and women to fend for themselves...

Our PEACE RELIEF team has been able to deliver:

• 40 220 lb. bags of maize...a Sabaot staple
• hundreds of pairs of sandals to protect from worm and jigger infestation
• hundreds of warm wool relief blankets...the folks here live 7000 ft above sea level 
• hundreds of 'lesos' or traditional fabric wraps...for dividing up tents or carrying children
• hundreds of Swahili New Testaments and Bibles
• thousands of women's sanitary products (the biggest cheer you can believe)
• sugar, wheat flour, and cooking oil  

4 to 6 families live in each of these tiny dwellings.
Everything we do in PEACE RELIEF is done through the local pastor...as wonderful as all the great help agencies and ngo's are... they pack up and go away... but the CHURCH REMAINS.
Sammy from Cal State Fullerton delivers a blanket to an appreciative mom.
Torie from BIOLA University has made a lifelong friend by delivering... of all things...'Stay Free with Wings' (many asked why do they have 'wings'?...I hope to never know the answer) 
Anne, a 4th grade teacher from Providence Christian School, in Dallas, delivered Swahili Bibles to hundreds who have never had their own copy of God's Word.

We are going back next week and spending the night in one of the camps...something NO white person has ever done in Mt. Elgon...to demonstrate our solidarity and care for these hurting people... please pray...it works