Victims of War in Mozambique

As we [Jeremy and Martha Smith] walk in the mornings, we have been seeing truckloads of refugees coming in, sitting on top of all their belongings.  The telltale sign is the foam mattresses.  Sadly, this is the story of thousands of people who are fleeing their homes in the northern part of our province in Mozambique.

A group of insurgents has been gaining strength since it began attacks back in 2017.  Although there are many speculations, no one is quite sure who they are or what they want.  What people do know is that these insurgents continually attack towns and villages, often targeting the police or government buildings, burning cars and businesses.  In more recent attacks they started killing many civilians and burning their homes. They have also been kidnapping women to take back to their camps. Encouraged by their successes, they seem to be getting more and more bold and brazen.  During their occupation of an area, they raise the ISIS flag.  

Unfortunately, many innocent people are caught in the crossfire.  Fearing for their lives, they have often been forced to leave everything behind and flee into the bush while the insurgents are there.  Because of the increased intensity of the attacks, thousands of people have abandoned their homes, seeking refuge somewhere else.  Some people have money to get on trucks and others have walked countless miles with whatever they can carry, children in tow.

Here is a sharp/spry grandma who fled the insurgency. She was hiding in the bush for 7 days. She came across this 10 year old boy who lost his family and decided to take care of him ... brought him with her to Mueda.

Issa arrived in Mueda the other day with his wife and 3-year-old. It seems his 16-year-old daughter was kidnapped ... they don’t know for sure.

Juana and Henriqueta. They’re both missing their husbands and children ... they don’t know where they are or if they’re still alive.

This map shows our Province in Mozambique with its districts. The yellow circle is the town we live in. The green circles mark areas where attacks have happened. The arrows indicate the major movement of the refugees. According to the UN there are more than 200,000 Internally Displaced People.

Watching this has been heartbreaking.  So much suffering!  As people of God, we feel a strong call to help in whatever way we can.  We are currently praying and asking God to show us who to help and how.  In this desperate situation, how can we be the hands and feet of our Father to show love to these His children?  Many of these refugees are from the Mwani tribe, which has been very resistant to the gospel.  Hopefully, they will see God’s love during this trying time and turn to Him.

Please join us in helping these people. If you feel God’s tug on your heart to help with this financially, your contributions will go towards their most immediate needs which include food and other essentials. We need your help! Most of all, please pray for them and pray that those of us who want to help will have great wisdom to know how to do it well.

Donate Online:
Click here to donate and choose:

• "Mission Work Funds" on the first drop down menu
• and in the second drop down menu choose "Mozambique Refugees"
• Fill in the rest of the form

OR
Send Funds by Mail to:
Pleasant Valley Church of Christ
10900 Rodney Parham
Little Rock, AR 72212
(with a note saying that the funds are for the “Mozambique Refugees”)
 
Sadly, three of our missionary friends have had to evacuate, as well.  Please keep them in your prayers.  Also pray for those of us still on the field in Cabo Delgado province.  While we don’t feel threatened right now, we are keeping a sharp eye out for any signs that the attacks are getting closer.  If that were to happen, our team has a contingency plan in place to evacuate, as needed.