February 16, 2012
By Andrew and Esther Schaeffer, the Alliance field leadership couple in Burkina Faso
During the past couple weeks, 8,000 Tuareg (an Arabic term meaning “abandoned by God”) have fled to Burkina due to unrest in northern Mali. We have been given an unusual opportunity to share the love of Christ with this people who have historically been staunch adherents of the predominant religion in this region.
Our workers are collaborating to provide a number of Tuareg refugee women, who have found shelter in an old stadium in Bobo Dioulasso, with rice, oil, milk, coffee and tea, as well as drinking glasses, water buckets, and cooking pots. We’ve also committed to help school Tuareg children for two weeks—until other aid agencies arrive on the scene. Thanks to gifts to the GCF, we are able to share Christ’s love in these practical ways, demonstrating to this people that our loving God has not abandoned them.