Under the Gun-video on Northern CAR

Follow this link for a short video on the situation in Northern CAR. It is informative and accurate.

Under the Gun

IRIN Africa | Great Lakes | Central African Republic | CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Children at edge of survival, says UNICEF | Children Health & Nutrition Conflict | News Item

PLEASE read this. One of the three provinces mentioned is ours-Gamboula is within it. Now more than ever we are focussed on helping the nutrition centre with long term nutrition solutions via the nutrition garden.

IRIN Africa | Great Lakes | Central African Republic | CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Children at edge of survival, says UNICEF | Children Health & Nutrition Conflict | News Item

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More disturbing news from CAR

While living in CAR, away from the conflict zone, it is hard to know what is happening in the country. It isn't until I am back home with reliable Internet access that I find out what is happening just to the north of Gamboula. Just goes to show you how poor the infrastructure and information systems really are.

The humanitarian situation appears to be worsening. Read here for more details. A second article by the UN describes the situation as such; “It’s not like any other humanitarian situation I’ve run across,” Catherine Bragg, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, told reporters in New York. (Click on the purple link to read the complete article). The article goes on to point out that the situation in the north has been compounded. "More recently, she added, humanitarian needs have increased due to attacks by the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the south-east and a rise in malnutrition in the south-western part of the country."

Once again I am reminded that hunger results from conflict and conflict results from hunger. And I press on....

Sharing rebels unwanted

The notorious LRA, a disastrous rebel group from Uganda are venturing further into CAR helped by its porous borders and the already stretched military currently occupied in the north of the country.

Read more about it here.

Nearing the end of the journey

After nine busy days in Ohio, meeting people connected with FRB growing projects, I flew to Fort Myers. I had five great days at ECHO that gave me a chance to catch up with NMSI folks, our monthly supper group of friends, and of course ECHO friends and family. I was going from eight in the morning to midnight each day which may help explain why I am still sick. Since leaving CAR I have been nursing a chest infection of some kind and woke up this morning in Minnesota to something akin to the flu. I have never been sick for this long but I haven't traveled this many days in a row either. Needless to say I will need a weekend's worth of sleep when I get home next week.

I will be speaking at a Covenant church in Kimball, Minnesota tomorrow morning and then spend the rest of the day at a lake picnic in Spicer. On Tuesday we will be driving to Molene, Illinois for the FRB annual meeting. These meetings include an ice cream social at the John Deere factory which will be a very cultural experience for me. I fly out Friday morning and will be dropping into Darren's arms later that afternoon and it will take a lot to part us! In all I have four more talks to give in the next six days after which I will be very tired of talking about myself, CAR and the ills of the world.

What has impressed me about all this traveling around is the sincerity and enthusiasm of the different churches and farmers involved in FRB growing projects. It is amazing to see a field of wheat and to think that that field is the reason why we can do what we are doing in the CAR.