Kenya (MNN) — Kenya is set to experience one of the worst droughts in many
years. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,
more than 10 million people from Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti, and Somalia will be
affected by drought in some way.
Coupled with rising food and fuel prices, government experts say they’re
looking at a worsening food security situation with alarming levels of acute
malnutrition being recorded in drought affected parts of Kenya.
Africa Inland Mission says as a result of the roughly three-year drought,
there is a famine relief program that is still in effect. There is also a push for sustainable gardening,
but the climate is creating adverse farming conditions. For a nomadic tribe of camel herders called
the "Gabra," drought is part of eking out survival in northern Kenya.
For the past year, no rain has fallen upon the lava flats and deserts which
the Gabra people call home. More than that, though, the Gabra live in a
spiritual drought. Few have been refreshed from the Living Water. Rather, they attempt
to quench their thirst with rites of passage, sacrifices, and blessings to their
god and their ancestors, only to find themselves living in a spiritual desert.
Gabra believers often spring to new life in Christ quickly, but
they desperately need discipleship so that their traditions will not choke out all
growth. AIM estimates that there are
possibly around 100 evangelical believers among the Gabra.
As the AIM workers travel around visiting villages, they are finding some
believers who are still scattered around, continuing their nomadic
shepherding in some of the most inhospitable places in Africa. AIM is encouraged that there may be more
believers out there that have been reached by some of the previous workers.
Pray for a full-time Gabra pastor to be trained and serve
among his people. Ask God to sustain the people in the area so that they
may have the opportunity to hear the Good News.
