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Wells for Churches Samaritan’s Purse is a lifeline for more than 200,000 people in the Darfur region of Sudan, where years of carnage have created “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” in the words of Kofi Annan, the former general secretary of the United Nations.

Through our relief work in Darfur, God has opened doors for Samaritan’s Purse to demonstrate the compassion of Jesus Christ and lay the groundwork for the Gospel in a vast land that has virtually no churches.

Darfur is in western Sudan and is not covered by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the civil war in southern Sudan in 2005. The Darfur crisis erupted in 2003, when several African Muslim tribes rebelled against the predominantly Arab Muslim government. The government retaliated behind the Janjaweed militias, known by the people of Darfur as “devils on horseback.”

As fighting has raged from village to village, it is estimated that at least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million have had to flee for their lives. That’s about half of the population of Darfur.

Seeking safety, refugees have gathered into sprawling camps, where tens of thousands of people lack water, food, sanitation, schools, and medical care. Many of the mothers are widows, and survivors are traumatized by what they have witnessed.

The situation in Darfur went from bad to worse on March 4, 2009, after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan president Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Within hours, the government of Sudan ordered 13 international relief agencies to leave Darfur, cutting off assistance for more than a million people.

Through our years of ministry throughout Sudan, God has given Samaritan’s Purse favor with government officials, and we have been allowed to remain in Darfur to continue our work. This includes:

• Food distributed to up to 200,000 people each month

• Cooking pots, clothes, sleeping mats, and heavy-duty plastic sheeting for newly displaced families who have left everything behind

• Clean water for over 112,000 people by rehabilitating wells, constructing latrines, and teaching proper hygiene

• Providing thousands of farm families with livestock, seeds, tools, and other assistance to help them regain self-sufficiency

• Building and expanding schools to serve 27,000 children in crowded camps and towns

• Vocational training for 3,600 widows and other vulnerable women.

Samaritan's Purse , Sudan , Emergency Relief , Crisis in Darfur