It’s good to have friendships across borders.  It enlarges our world and personalizes distant places.  In Christian language, it is the nature of the body of Christ to transgress boundaries of tribe and nation.  In Christ we are one. 

I’d like to use this week’s midweek reflection to pass along a message from a friend of the congregation, Yasir Makki.  Yasir studied at OSU about two decades ago and was part of CMC before returning to his homeland of Sudan where he leads churches and a school.  He visits us and other local churches annually to give updates and invite continued financial support. 

You may have seen headlines about the violence erupting across Sudan.  Here is a message from Yasir sent two days ago.

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Greetings in Jesus name.

I started writing this email to all of you, but was not able to send it.  We had a long blackout and my phone and computer ran out of battery power.  We are still sheltering at home.

Just three days ago, the Sudanese Army and a rival paramilitary force (the Rapid Support Force, or RSF) began fighting in Khartoum and in other cities across Sudan.  This fighting broke out over tensions relating to a proposed transition to civilian rule through elections after a recent military coup here.  The RSF claims to have taken control of at least three airports, the army chief’s residence, and the presidential palace. The army denies this and says that its air force is attacking RSF bases. As soon as my family and I heard the gunfire that was going on nearby early this morning, we immediately sheltered in place.  This fighting we have been hearing today is, we think, at the airport that is close to my house, and it has been extremely nerve-wracking. One bomb dropped from aircraft fell on a building in the next block over from my house, while another bomb fragment landed in front of my house, tearing a hole in the ground.

Meanwhile, we have not been able to leave the house to get food and water because of the fighting, although thankfully, our neighbors gave us food to tide us over.  today (3 days later) a stray bullet found its way to my home. but no one was hurt, but the children and mom are quite traumatized and last night, one of the teachers from our school was killed by gunfire. All of our staff and students are heartbroken. She was one of our best teachers and dear to us all. This is now the second teacher from our schools who has died in the last 6months.

There have also been electricity blackouts for three days, and the water has been shut off. Additionally, my diabetes medicine has run out, but it’s not safe to go to the pharmacy to get it refilled while the fighting continues. I have been eating very little, my blood sugar is under control. 

We have been maintaining our awareness of what’s going on by monitoring local media for updates and reviewing the U.S. State Department’s travel advisory page for Sudan.

Everyone is scared, but we are all okay. Please pray for us, though, and also please pray that Sudanese military forces would find a peaceful way to resolve this conflict. 

We hear artillery and gunfire around us morning, noon, and night. We wake up every day to the sound of it. Unfortunately, things seem to be getting worse.