The Abduction of the Nigerian Schoolgirls!

--An article came out yesterday about how 11 of the parents of the kidnapped Nigerian girls have died. Seven of the fathers were killed while in the village of Kautakari by Islamic extremists, and the other four died from illness.

--I'm researching the facts surrounding the abduction of the Nigerian school girls.  I thought it would be good to give a brief overview of the situation.

When and where were the girls kidnapped?
--The girls were kidnapped on April 16, 2014, a little over 3 months ago.
--They were taken from a private school in the town of Chibok in northern Nigeria.  It is around 600 miles from the capital city of Abuja.

How many girls? 
--The numbers vary according to what source you read, but the latest numbers are that 276 girls were originally taken and 57 have escaped.

Where do authorities think they are being held?
--The Sambisa Forest, which is a wildlife reserve that has a very thick jungle.

Who kidnapped them?
--An Islamic terrorist group called Boko Haram, which has ties to Al Qaeda.



Who are the Boko Haram?
--Founded in 2002
--Their name in the Hausa language means "western education is a sin".
--Launched military operations in 2009
--Founding leader was Mohammed Yusuf who was killed in 2009 
--He was succeeded by Abubakar Shekau
--Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, they also attacked police and UN headquarters in Abuja 
--U.S. declared them a terrorist organization in 2013
--Nigeria's Boko Haram  has "caused havoc in Africa's most populous country through a wave of bombings, assassinations and now abductions - is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state."  They want to impose Sharia Law on the whole country.

Why does the Boko Haram kidnap girls?
--"The group especially opposes the education of women. Under its version of Sharia law, women should be at home raising children and looking after their husbands, not at school learning to read and write.

--It has repeatedly targeted places of learning in deadly attacks that have highlighted its fundamental philosophy against education. The spate of kidnappings began in May 2013 when Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau announced in a video that this was part of its latest bloody campaign. The kidnappings, he said, were retaliation for Nigerian security forces nabbing the wives and children of group members."

What happens to girls and women that are kidnapped by Boko Haram?
--Many are forced to marry their kidnappers and convert to Islam.  When some girls that had been kidnapped last November were rescued, many of them were pregnant.

--Boko Haram has threatened on video to sell this latest group of girls into slavery and as child brides.

What is Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan doing about Boko Haram?
--A state of emergency was declared in 3 Northeastern Nigerian states (Borno, Yobe & Adamawa) where Boko Haram is the strongest in May of 2013.  National security forces are trying to crack down on the terrorists.  But civilians are getting caught in the crossfire.  Villages in the north that are primarily Christian are being targeted.  Villages all along the Cameroon border have been attacked, sacked, burned and are deserted.

--Many residents in the affected areas feel abandoned and are reaching out to the United Nations.

Conclusion:
--A BBC Africa article concludes with these 2 paragraphs about the reign of terror by Boko Haram--

Analysts say northern Nigeria has a history of spawning militant Islamist groups, but Boko Haram has outlived them and has proved to be far more lethal, with a global jihadi agenda. The threat will disappear only if Nigeria's government manages to reduce the region's chronic poverty and builds an education system which gains the support of local Muslims, the analysts say.

Africa in Review!

--Since, I am back to blogging on a regular basis, I thought it would be good to reflect on what I have blogged about for the past 9 years, starting back in 2005.

 --Monday is Africa day, so, I thought I would post some of my previous posts on Africa.

 --I went to Senegal, West Africa in 2011.  It was an amazing trip, the above picture is just one of many from that trip.

--I think I'm going to continue my series of doing a profile on the different countries in Africa.

SENEGAL
--I am Going to Senegal, West Africa
--Senegal ABC's

SUDAN
--The Lost Boys of Sudan!
--Pray for Peace for Sudan
--Sudan--Global Day of Prayer!
--Horrific Flogging of Woman in Sudan!
--President Bush Fed up with UN's Lack of Action on Darfur
--Genocide in Darfur
--A review of Attack on Darfur

SOMALIA
--Going After Terrorists in Somalia 
--A Review of The True Story of Black Hawk Down

RWANDA
--Rwanda

UGANDA
--Kisses from Katie

The Lost Boys of Sudan!

Monday is Africa day, so since I'm in the middle of What is the What, I thought it would be good to talk about the Lost Boys of Sudan.

Who are the Lost Boys?

The Lost Boys of Sudan is the name given to the groups of over 20,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced and/or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983 to 2005); about 2.5 million were killed and millions were displaced.  The name "Lost Boys of Sudan" was colloquially used by aid workers in the refugee camp where the boys resided in Africa. The term was revived, as children fled the post-independence violence of South Sudan with Sudan during 2011–13.--Lost Boys of Sudan

Since 1983, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Sudanese Government have been at war in southern Sudan. The conflict has already claimed more than 500,000 lives and displaced huge numbers of people. Among these were at least 20,000 children, mostly boys, between 7 and 17 years of age who were separated from their families. 

These'lost boys' of the Sudan trekked enormous distances over a vast unforgiving wilderness, seeking refuge from the fighting. Hungry, frightened and weakened by sleeplessness and disease, they crossed from the Sudan into Ethiopia and back, with many dying along the way. The survivors are now in camps in Kenya, the Sudan and Uganda.--Unicef

 I read Running for my Life back in 2012. Here is my short review:

This book is amazing! It is the true life story of a lost boy from Sudan who makes it to America. I have a heart for Africa, especially Sudan, so I found this story fascinating. Lopez is also a Christian whose faith carries him through his many hardships in Sudan and Kenya and after he makes it to America. God provided him a loving family and parents who believed in him.

He went on to compete in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. He now has a foundation that helps many in Sudan. The book was hard to put down, and the author does a great job of pulling you in to become a part of the story. I highly recommend this book.

I am currently reading What is the What.  Below is part of a New York magazine review about the book:

What Is the What tells the story of a refugee from the second Sudanese civil war (1983–2005), one of the 20,000 so-called Lost Boys who walked thousands of miles from their decimated villages (their homes burned by Arab militiamen, most of the adults slaughtered) to relative safety in Ethiopia and later Kenya.

In a region with no shortage of unimaginable horrors—the ongoing genocide in Darfur has taken some 300,000 lives with no signs of abating—the particulars of the Lost Boys have long stood out as a crushing reminder of the primitive cruelty of African warfare.

Few were older than 10 when they were displaced, and many died during their journey, some of starvation and dehydration, others at the mercy of lions and armed forces. It is a tragedy related by the extraordinarily clear-eyed Valentino Achak Deng, one of 4,000 refugees offered sanctuary in the U.S. in 2001, who is reflecting back while trying to survive an altogether different struggle: assimilation into a culture defined by its short-term memory and chronic indifference to the world beyond its borders.

I recently watched the documentary, Lost Boys of Sudan which shows the difficulties of transitioning to life in the United States.

My heart goes out to the countless children of Sudan, and other African countries who have been orphaned by war.  The needs are great, but we can all take action and do something, even if it seems small.

The Africa Series!--Part 2--Rwanda!

Hotel Rwanda--Based on the true story during the Rwanda Genocide

After my summer trip to Senegal, I decided that my son and I would do a Unit Study on Africa this year. I wanted to learn about as many African countries as we could, but I especially wanted to learn about 3 countries in particular: Sudan, Darfur has been a focus of mine, Rwanda because of the genocide in 1994 and Somalia because of Black Hawk Down.

After learning of the genocide in 1994, I also learned that like most African countries, Rwanda has a lot of orphans and street kids. Operation World is a book that has statistics on every single country in the world and how you can pray for them.(I use it all the time, and highly recommend it!) According to OW, Rwanda has up to 900,000 orphans.

It is for this reason, that I picked a 12 year old girl named Beatha from Rwanda to sponsor. The group I went with, Food for the Hungry, had several countries in Africa, but I felt led to Rwanda. My kids are helping with their money as well in this sponsorship. So, it has become a family project.

What made me even prouder, was when my 17 year old daughter went to a Christian concert and decided to sponsor a little boy with AIDS from Rwanda all by herself. She is sponsoring him through Compassion.

I am seriously considering and praying about going back to Africa this coming summer. I am looking at a possible Tanzania trip, and I also found a trip to orphanages in Ethiopia and Rwanda that looks awesome, but praying for God to lead me where He wants me to go.

Previously:
The Africa Series!--Part 1--Senegal ABC's!

The Africa Series!--Part 1--Senegal ABC's!

My passion for Africa started awhile ago, and ever since my trip to Senegal, it has exploded. I am in love with all things Africa.

God got a hold of my heart through politics/current events and through home schooling my son. We are now doing a Unit Study on Africa and making our way through each country. I will be posting about that in this series.

My first post is about my trip to Senegal. I meant to post something right away, but life was crazy and I never got around to it. Below is something I came up with for my church presentation and a letter I sent out. I had to change it a little for safety precautions.

Senegal ABC’s
A-African jewelry-I was given and bought to bring home.
B—Babies I got to love on
C—Charms-many villagers still think they need these to protect them from evil spirits.
D—Dakota, who was one of my teammates on the trip.
E—Ethiopia-One of the men on our team was born in Ethiopia, which gave him a special bond with the people we met.
F—French is spoken by some villagers but most spoke tribal languages.
G—Goats, chickens and other animals roamed freely through the villages, fields and roads.
H—Hands—they eat with the right hand only, the left hand is used for other things.
I—Islam—A lot of the people believe in folk Islam which is a mix of Islam and ATR (African Traditional Religion).
J—Joni was the other woman on our team.
K—Kenya, Sudan and Tanzania were the African countries where my Pastor, Dr. Hadaway had gotten his experience in African Missions.
L—Late—I am notorious for having “issues” with time. So, I adapted to “Africa time” quite well.
M—Mosque—I went with Dr. Hadaway to the mosque one day and was swiftly kicked out.
N—No Problem!—Our driver’s favorite phrase in English!
O—Orphans—the street kids broke my heart and made me want to sweep them all up and start my own orphanage.
P—Pop—I am a Coca-Cola addict, so I was shocked/happy to see that most places had Coke available for pretty cheap.
Q—Quickly, left to go to historical Goree Island. It was one of the main hubs where slaves were picked up and taken in the 1800’s.
R—Rhinos on the safari!
S—Safari that we got to go on!
T—Theater—so many of the experiences would remind me of movies/tv—Roots, Locked up Abroad, The Amazing Race.
U—Unbelievable—how stressful shopping was because of how they descended on you like vultures to pressure you into buying things.
V—Van got stuck in the mud numerous times. We were there in the rainy season.
W—Wife—Dr. Hadaway kept joking that I would become someone’s 3rd wife. I thought this was purely comic humor, but we found out it was all too real for the women who live there.
X—X-rated—I saw lots of naked people in the villages.
Y—Yummy—I wasn’t real excited about the tongue and the liver we prepared in the village, but the 1st week we ate at the retreat and that was great food.
Z—Zebras we saw at the Safari.

Previously:
Laura Bush Honored for her Work in Africa to Beat Malaria!
I am Going to Senegal, West Africa!

Laura Bush Honored for her Work in Africa to Beat Malaria!

Amazingly, George W. Bush did more for Africa while he was president, than any other U.S. president to date, and yet one would never know it. In 2006, he held a White House Malaria Summit and announced the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), which has led efforts in 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to end malaria deaths. I found this description by Tim Goeglein of Bush particularly telling:

In my present role with Focus on the Family, I had to be up in South Africa earlier this year. Everywhere I went, whether for business meetings or ministry meetings, I was amazed at how highly regarded George W. Bush is in Africa. That’s a direct result of his compassionate conservatism and his historic work battling AIDS and malaria there. The President’s PEPFAR initiative against AIDS, and his anti-malarial program, stand among his most significant foreign policy achievements, and yet they’re little known or appreciated now, at least in the United States. I hope they will be recognized over time.

The great thing about this "Africa Story" is that it became a family affair. Laura Bush and the Bush daughters also took it on as a cause while in the White House, and the whole family continues to help the people of Africa.

Laura Bush was honored last night for her efforts to beat malaria. I have fallen in love with Africa since my missions trip this summer, so I find the Bush family's efforts very inspirational. Kudos to Laura Bush!

Related Links:
--Analysis: How George W Bush became an African hero
--First Lady Laura Bush Discusses Her Family’s Dedication to Ending Malaria
--President's Malaria Initiative
--Malaria No More

I am Going to Senegal, West Africa!

I have been horrible about neglecting my blog lately. I have tons of stuff I want to post, its just been hard to find the time. I am hoping I can find a balance between work, writing and everything else and still find a little time to blog.

I am very excited about the subject of this post. For about a year or so, I have felt this nudge from God about going to Africa on a short-term missions trip. I have been studying the countries with my son in school and praying for different countries via Samaritan's Purse's Prayer Points.

An opportunity arose recently for me to go, and the more I checked into it, the more it seemed right up my alley. I prayed about it and talked to my family and stepped out in faith. God has been amazing. I found out about the trip a little late, so I needed to raise $2,100 in a little over a week. I knew that if God wanted me to go, He would provide. And that He did. He waited up until a couple days before, but He provided. The whole amount was $3,500 and I am almost there. Amazing!!

I have been reading and learning a lot about Senegal. Its definitely going to take me out of my comfort zone. I will be in the "bush" a big part of the time. And its a Muslim country, so I will have to wear covered attire.


Yet, I am excited about what an opportunity God has provided. Jeremy Camp's song, Walk by Faith is my theme song for the trip and the summer. Stay tuned for more posts!!

Books:
Senegal--Tanya Mulroy
Senegal--Elizabeth Berg