Background

Safe Harbor International has responded to the spiritual and physical needs of the West Nile people through church plants, a hospital, school, and other development initiatives throughout the past decade.  As a result of the love and commitment shown to the people of Midigo, a door for the gospel of Jesus Christ has been opened in a community consisting of approximately 90% Muslim followers.  As relief has transitioned to development, Safe Harbor has witnessed the fruit of long-term commitment to the people of Midigo.

Midigo Hospital in 2009

Operating Theater

In 2009, the Lord provided the hospital with an operating theater, which was a critical health service input for the people of Midigo.  Of particular note, several pregnant women, who would normally have died of obstetric complications, were offered life saving surgeries.

Maternal / Child Health

Due to the alarming rates of child and maternal mortality, Midigo Hospital adopted a strategy of channeling more funding to improve child and maternal survival.  Even when resources have been scarce to meet all of the needs of the sick, children and pregnant women have been offered access critical services for free.  Additionally, for the first time in history, Midigo Hospital was able to secure a constant supply of safe blood from the local blood bank, which contributes significantly to saving the lives of children under five.

Reflecting upon 2009, Safe Harbor recognizes God’s mighty hand demonstrated through Midigo Hospital’s successes during this past year (Year to December 1):

• 2,750 outpatients per month (average)
• 146 inpatients per month (average)
• 2,436 antenatal visits
• 954 admitted to the maternity ward
• 630 baby deliveries (Up from 88 per year in 2000)
• 34 emergency C Sections
• Over 100 children were transfused and survived (Typically, 50% of those referred for blood transfusion die before arriving to the next facility)
• 10,989 child immunizations (Still below the target population of 29,670 < 1 year old children)
• 32 blind people were able to see again from cataract surgeries
• 275 gynecological and general surgery emergency procedures
• 0 deaths from surgery complications

Calvary Chapel Midigo in 2009

The efforts of Calvary Chapel Midigo (CCM), through teaching, discipleship, and outreach, are yielding much fruit in a region of the world that has been characterized by rebel warfare and Muslim influence.  Throughout the past year, God has remained faithful to His children and continues to reach the hearts of Muslims living in every tribe in North West Uganda and beyond.  A few of the highlights of CCM this past year include:

• In 2009, CCM experienced 30% church growth, with many young people coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
• Hundreds of high school youth received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in 2009 through discipleship camps and other outreaches.
• In 2009, Calvary Chapel Yumbe was planted and the gospel is being preached to many people who have never heard the message of Jesus Christ.  Currently, the church includes 30 to 40 disciples, most of whom are youth.
• Over 500 youth and 200 pastors were trained at CCM

Future Direction

During the latest leadership visit to Midigo in November of 2009, the community elders and district government authorities were particularly enthusiastic to receive President and CEO, Sandy Otsuji.  During these meetings, the continued support offered to Safe Harbor-Midigo was overwhelming.  Some of the poignant statements concerning Safe Harbor came from Yumbe district’s Vice Chairman (second in command), including: “[Safe Harbor is] the only NGO that has worked in Yumbe and is well-known by the people”, “Dr. [Emuku] has been influential to the people”, and “This transit has become your home for our people”.  Sandy Otsuji responded with, “We see that God has done wonderful things.  And we know that there is more to be done”.

In the midst of successes, we acknowledge that there is much work to be accomplished in both scale and scope of ministry and development.  In addressing gaps, several exciting opportunities for expansion have emerged, and are being considered for implementation during 2010 and beyond.  Please join us in prayer as we formulate strategies and continue to seek both operational and expansionary funding.

Over 40 church leaders met in a small room in Vietnam for a three day pastor’s conference in the wake of two devastating typhoons that destroyed all of their homes and crops.  God gave Safe Harbor the opportunity to minister through His Word to pastors who were suffering and who would be returning to congregations that had also lost most of their possessions.  By God’s grace, the time was filled with joy, worship, prayer and standing in awe of our sovereign Lord.  These pastors shared of the extreme persecution they faced over the last few years and prayed for each other and the persecuted church throughout the world.

Through God’s provision, Safe Harbor was able to deliver relief facilitated through the local church in Vietnam.  Our persecuted brothers and sisters were able to meet some of the needs of other Christians, unbelievers, and even those who persecuted the church severely for over a decade.  Bridges were built as the Lord used typhoon relief to soften the hearts of those persecuting the church.  Many of the pastors said that the relief enabled the Christians to meet with government leaders, for the first time, without being interrogated, beaten, or imprisoned.

However, less than one month after the pastor’s conference, Safe Harbor was notified by our Vietnamese contact that 10 church leaders had been arrested and thrown in jail for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ during an open air Christmas service.  Several of the church leaders arrested had recently attended Safe Harbor’s three-day pastor’s conference.  One of the church leaders, who was just released from prison after serving a 2 year sentence, shared how they would be forced to perform hard labor for 8-10 hours a day, 7 days a week.  If caught sharing about Christ, they were beaten and/or refused food and drink.

Prior to departing the conference, the pastors asked that we pray for them, knowing that they were to face severe persecution upon their return home.  The pastors performed the Christmas service in public knowing that there was a high risk of being arrested…

…400 hundred people attended the Christmas service.

Days later, after a call to prayer was sent out both in the United States and Vietnam, the church leaders were released from prison.

During the conference, the pastors asked us to pray for the church in Vietnam in the midst of looming persecution.  We have included some direct quotes describing their lives over the last few years.  Please hold our Vietnamese brethren up in prayer.

One Pastor said,

• God called me as a Christian and it changed my life…the people saw the change in my life and 140 people converted to Christianity…I began pastoring house churches…and the government arrested me.
• They beat me…they put a gun in my face…and said the beating was because I was following the American religion.
• Since 2008, there are over 75 people coming to church again…regardless of how they might be persecuted.
• …please pray for us because we are still meeting and we think we will be arrested when we go back home.

Another pastor said,

• In 2002, there were many people coming to know Christ…and they burned down our houses.  We moved to another province and started a church.
• We had ten people at the new church and they tore down the house and beat the believers.
• In 2005 they beat one of the Christians in our group so brutally that 15 days later he died.
• Authorities try to force the new converts to give up their faith and if they refuse…they are told that they will no longer receive any government aid.
• Please pray that God gives us wisdom in conducting ministry.

Another pastor said,

• Once, an entire communist family accepted Christ…the authorities arrested me and tortured me with electricity for 40 days…I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore.
• For many days they would not let him eat or drink anything
• Just recently I taught my 90 year old mother what it was to be saved by faith alone.
• She called me one night at 1:00am and asked me to baptize her immediately…she said that she didn’t need anything material…she was satisfied with Christ alone.  One month later she went home to be with the Lord.

Another pastor said,

• They have beat me with rods and hammers.
• They say, “Why don’t you cry and ask your God to help you.”
• They follow me everywhere I go to scare the families we evangelize.  They even have tied new converts to trees so that the ants will come and bite them…please pray for us.

Another pastor said,

• I was in prison from 2005 until  2007 for being a Christian
• They beat us in prison because we used the bible to answer their questions.

While Charity and Cindy have undergone considerable trials this past year, they continue to remain faithful to their call to serve the people of Nyinbuli, Sudan.  Due to the insecurities associated with their work in Nyinbuli, we are thankful to be transferring the care of Charity and Cindy into the hands of International Aid Services, who is strategically located to provide the necessary protective covering.  Safe Harbor remains faithful in prayer and will offer continued support as needs arise.  Please pray for Charity and Cindy as they transition into the care of IAS, and that their work would continue to bear much fruit in the face of persecution.

For more information on International Aid Services, go to: www.ias.nu.

Safe Harbor Medical Clinic: Uganda from Eddie Roman on Vimeo.

Please pray for the Team as they continue to work with Nyingong, and help her understand the seriousness of her behavior and illness.

{Nyingong was brought to the compound over 2 years ago, nearly dead, and she was diagnosed as diabetic.  Her family can not care for her, and so she has been “unofficially” adopted by the staff and lives with them.  She is currently enrolled in school, and has professed Jesus as her Savior.  Please continue to pray for her, as she has had so many life changes in the past few years. }

Charity and I are currently on holiday but I wanted to update you on the recent changes.  Our last week in the village was very intense with the local government officials as they were demanding quite a bit and once again trying to take more of the clinic land.  At one point they even tried to take the clinic well (which e let the community use) and the latrine we built. 

They finally gave us the four new corners to our property and demanded we fence it. However, when I started to put in the poles they threw a fit because they had not envisioned a straight line.  Due to time and meetings there was no way to settle it all before we had to leave.  Poor Charity was called into meetings even the morning we were packing to leave where she was told it would be done their way when she returned.

As I cried out to God He kept reminding me of Psalm 37.  This is the same Psalm He told me to memorize three years ago which has helped us through so much.  Since we have been out our local government officials have once again changed. 

We have had so many different officials in the time we have been here but this time they brought back ones we had in the past.  One of them had come and visited us recently and couldn’t believe we were still in the village since he had experienced a place where the people were much easier to work with. 

We are praying he will have learned and will be easier to work with. They were making progress on the airstrip when we left and have continued to work although at a slower pace than we had hoped.  We pray it will be finished when we return so that we can use the airplane we bring in to ferry the food from World Food Program to those who worked.

In the meantime we are enjoying our time away.  Currently, I am looking at the sun peaking through the rain clouds illuminating the beautiful Austrian Alps.  Pray for God to renew us in our time here.

My wife Elizabeth talked about purity and we had a study on how Joseph was able to overcome temptation.  There was godly sorrow as many cried out to God in repentance and pledging allegiance to follow Christ by His strength. 

The counseling lines were long as many opened up. Praise be to God for the working of His Spirit!!!  We taught about having a quiet time and all 200 participants spent time on their own reading Gods word, meditating and praying. 

It was great seeing the whole church compound filled with people each talking to God in their own language.  The workshops were great and we showed movies at night, which were very enriching.

We had a former Muslim believer called Yusuf give his very moving testimony of surviving death several times from family members and the physical persecution he had to go through.  We had an altar call and 10 youth walked forward to be prayed over for their salvation.  The next morning as I completed the bible exposition another 20 came forward for prayer.

A total of 40 youth have acknowledged Christ as Lord and Savior for the first time.  I rejoice that so many lives have been touched and transformed.  The counseling sessions have been packed with mostly youth asking various questions and asking for prayer.

Please continue to pray that the new believers will be strengthened to grow in the grace of God and thank you for standing in the gap in prayer.