Kazakhstan (MNN) — Severe heat and drought continue to torment Central Asia. Two provinces in Kazakhstan have lost over 2,000 domestic animals amid water shortages. Farmers fear they may lose this season’s harvest.
It’s all part of a dryer trend in the region over the past 30 years. Eric Mock of the Slavic Gospel Association says, “The same dry trend that we’ve seen in the US is the same dry trend that they’re seeing in Far East Russia and through Central Asia. And Central Asia was already a very arid climate. It’s the land of camels and difficult to farm. In the middle of this drought, we’ve seen photographs of water wells that are just completely dry with just an old bucket. And people don’t know where they’re even going to get a bucket of water.”
You can help
SGA has responded by equipping local churches to help their neighbors in need. You can get involved with this work here.
Mock says, “With only $10, you can send a bag of food and a few bottles of water to a family. That’s literally the cost of a pizza for us. It could mean food and water for someone for seven to eight days. Pray for the people there and then get behind providing the aid.”
As the churches carry out this work, pray the hope of Jesus would enter what looks like a hopeless situation.
The header photo shows a Bactrian camel, native to Central Asia. (Photo courtesy of Edmart80, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
