Horn of Africa (MNN) — In March, April and May, the “long rains” come to the Horn of Africa — or at least they are supposed to.
For the past five plus years, drought has been an unwelcome reality in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and other East African countries. Poor rainfalls have devastated the land and displaced millions in the urgent search for food and water.
“They have experienced many crop failures because of drought. A lot of animals have died,” says World Concern’s Peter Macharia.
Woman collects water from a protected water well.
(Photo, caption by Daryl Finley/World Concern)
In East Africa, World Concern serves as the hands and feet of Christ. They work among communities to provide water, nutrition and medicine in the face of hunger and disease. This help is critical, but today Macharia asks us to take a brief step back and consider how water points us to spiritual realities.
“When we talk about physical drought, we should also be thinking about the spiritual drought. You know, water refreshes our weary bodies; so is the gospel. It refreshes our weary souls,” he says.
“The Word of God in John chapter 15:3 says, ‘You already clean through the Word which I have spoken to you.’ So when you think about what water does to us physically, the gospel does the same to us spiritually.”
Macharia asks that the Church would take deliberate action to meet the practical needs of people in the Horn of Africa.
“Think about people across the globe that are suffering without water, and find ways of how do they help? We are all living in a global village and we need to see the other person, the other country as my neighbor, because when they suffer, we all suffer,” he says.
Learn more about how you can partner with World Concern’s relief work here.
Finally, in a world full of trouble, advocacy is another way you can stand with East Africa.
“Prayer is able to go where we cannot go,” Macharia says. “(People) can also be participating by sharing the word and speaking about the suffering of the people wherever they are.”
Header photo of young girl in East Africa drawing water from unprotected well, courtesy of Daryl Finley/World Concern.
