Written by Grace Prall and Steven Barker - Crossover Church of Rosedale

Imagine the following as your daily routine: you walk among the dirt roads of a neighborhood in North Africa en route to your apartment. Strewn along the roadside are long rows of trash: papers, plastics, food waste rotting under the summer sun. Depending on your neighborhood, there are also piles of brick and dirt from decaying buildings, and the smoke of trash openly burning nearby may also fill the air.

You walk past this scene every day.

Now begins the climb to your apartment on the fifth floor of your complex. An even larger pile of trash greets you in the open space just beyond the stairs. The steps are uneven and fractured, and one misstep could severely cut your foot on exposed rebar jutting out from the stairs.

What awaits you upon arrival at your apartment varies slightly, depending on your living circumstances. For some, one mattress and a thin, separate foam cushion await; for others, two beds, both of which will be shared among many family members that night. Seldom will you find air conditioning, food, or drinkable water; almost always there will be multiple people (children, parents, siblings, grandparents) sharing this space.

This is the scene you fall asleep to every night and awake to every morning.

What sounds like a typical abandoned home in Western television shows is in fact a common apartment setting for Sudanese refugees in a Sudanese community in North Africa. While the Sudanese are thankful to be escaping a devastating and deadly civil war in their homeland, here is little opportunity to improve upon these living conditions.

The end result, then, is apartments filled with refugees stuck in a state of perpetual waiting – for food, for water, for aid, for family members to return from Sudan, for an end to the civil war, or simply just for hope of a better tomorrow.

The promise in Psalm 126

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy.” Hope for MENA seeks to help fulfill this promise in the lives of the Sudanese refugees by introducing life where there is only death, shedding light where there is only darkness, and offering encouragement where there is only despair through the hope of Jesus Christ.

The organization’s impact can be seen in the lives of the Sudanese school children that attend Good Friends School each day, where they receive not only an academic education but more importantly a Biblical one, as well as in the lives of the individual families that receive practical supplies such as food, hygiene items, and clothing.

In order to continue making an impact, however, Hope for MENA requires the generous support of those willing to make the life-altering decision to financially provide for the work being carried out in North Africa.

Empower a child to school

For $48 per month, you can empower a child to attend Good Friends School. This provides the child with school supplies, food and clothing. You can also help to provide for a family by shopping the online store using the link provided. Your financial sacrifice communicates your love for the forgotten and desire to see that Christ is glorified amongst the displaced and persecuted.

Will you take up the mandate found in Matthew 25 to help provide food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, hospitality to the stranger, clothing to the naked, and care to the sick, thereby serving Christ through your service to the least of these?

We ask that you would prayerfully consider joining in this ministry to supply hope to the displaced of Sudan through the work of Hope for MENA.