We are in the process of putting together a team of police officers and chaplains to return to Sudan March 27 - April 10, 2010. I am raising $2000 which will provide for the rest of the need for this trip and a start towards the need for our next trip. My goal is to be able to take teams into Southern Sudan once a quarter for up to two weeks at a time.
Our team will be working with Sudanese Police Officers and Command Staff in Juba, Southern Sudan. Our training will involve child protection programs, ethics, officer safety, mangement training, and community policing techniques. We also plan to take the team to Nyimbuli also in Southern Sudan where Safe Harbor has an ongoing work providing medical and food relief to surviving victims of the ongoing Genocide in Darfur.
You can read more and participate in helping us by going to our website at: http://policeoutreach.hqters.com/
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Killers Sentenced in Khartoum, Sudan
Our team arrived in Khartoum in 2008 shortly after the murder of Mr. Granville and his driver. Some have asked if these men were really the killers since they were tortured. We do know that our FBI had agents working directly with the Sudanese Police when we arrived and that they did have some leads. Our hope is that they did sentence the right men.
The story is an example of why we covet the prayers of many when we travel in Sudan attempting to make a differnce and assist in helping the surviving victims of the continued genocide one man, woman, and child at a time. Visit our website to participate with us at http://policeoutreach.hqters.com/.
Sudanese to hang over US killing
The four men said their confessions had been obtained through torture. A Sudanese court has upheld a death sentence against four Islamists who shot dead a US envoy on 1 January 2008.
John Granville, 33, and his Sudanese driver Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama were killed as they returned from a New Year's Eve party in Khartoum. Mr Granville's mother had earlier asked for the death sentence to be passed. Under Sudan's Islamic law, the family of a murder victim can either request the death penalty for those convicted, forgive them or ask for compensation.
A death sentence was originally passed in June but some members of Mr Abbas' family then pardoned the killers, reports the AFP news agency. The four have always protested their innocence, saying their videotaped confessions were extracted under torture.
Mr Granville was shot five times while travelling in his car. After the sentence was read out, defendant Mohaned Osman shouted: "This sentence is not credible," and said the US had murdered Muslims, according to Reuters news agency. In a letter read out to the Khartoum North court on Sunday, Mr Granville's mother formally demanded the death penalty in order to "safeguard the lives of others from those who killed her beloved son". There was no option of life imprisonment.
The FBI had sent agents to help investigate the murder of Mr Granville, who worked for the US Agency for International Development. The incident shocked many people, including the small Western community in Khartoum. The Sudanese capital had previously been considered one of the safest in Africa. The BBC's James Copnall in Khartoum says there have been some concerns that the incident could prove damaging for the already fragile relationship between Sudan and the US. The Sudanese authorities condemned the attack immediately, and seem to have made resolving the case a priority, our reporter says.
Reprinted from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8302410.stm
The story is an example of why we covet the prayers of many when we travel in Sudan attempting to make a differnce and assist in helping the surviving victims of the continued genocide one man, woman, and child at a time. Visit our website to participate with us at http://policeoutreach.hqters.com/.
Sudanese to hang over US killing
The four men said their confessions had been obtained through torture. A Sudanese court has upheld a death sentence against four Islamists who shot dead a US envoy on 1 January 2008.
John Granville, 33, and his Sudanese driver Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama were killed as they returned from a New Year's Eve party in Khartoum. Mr Granville's mother had earlier asked for the death sentence to be passed. Under Sudan's Islamic law, the family of a murder victim can either request the death penalty for those convicted, forgive them or ask for compensation.
A death sentence was originally passed in June but some members of Mr Abbas' family then pardoned the killers, reports the AFP news agency. The four have always protested their innocence, saying their videotaped confessions were extracted under torture.
Mr Granville was shot five times while travelling in his car. After the sentence was read out, defendant Mohaned Osman shouted: "This sentence is not credible," and said the US had murdered Muslims, according to Reuters news agency. In a letter read out to the Khartoum North court on Sunday, Mr Granville's mother formally demanded the death penalty in order to "safeguard the lives of others from those who killed her beloved son". There was no option of life imprisonment.
The FBI had sent agents to help investigate the murder of Mr Granville, who worked for the US Agency for International Development. The incident shocked many people, including the small Western community in Khartoum. The Sudanese capital had previously been considered one of the safest in Africa. The BBC's James Copnall in Khartoum says there have been some concerns that the incident could prove damaging for the already fragile relationship between Sudan and the US. The Sudanese authorities condemned the attack immediately, and seem to have made resolving the case a priority, our reporter says.
Reprinted from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8302410.stm
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
An Open Door to Southern Sudan through Nairobi Kenya!
I am excited to share some new developments that have a direct connection on our continued goal to train the police in Southern Sudan beginning primarily in Juba. The door is still open to not only provide training in areas such as ethics, officer safety, community policing and child protection but also to start a Police Chaplaincy program as well. Many of you know that this has been a time of waiting for increased financial support to once again begin making trips back into Sudan. With a difficult economy in the U.S. it has been hard for many non-profit organizations to raise funds. However, know that we are remaining patient knowing that the Lord will provide in His timing.
With current events in Sudan over the past several months it has become increasingly more difficult to enter Northern Sudan as an NGO (Non Governmental Organization). Because of safety concerns Safe Harbor made the decision not to maintain an office in Khartoum. The President of Sudan has kicked out several NGO’s accusing them of being spies for those outside of Sudan who would like to have him removed for crimes against the people of Sudan in Darfur.
Safe Harbor recently made the decision to maintain their office in Nairobi, Kenya and I was asked to consider including our outreach to Kenyan police officers and authorities. Two goals are being developed out of this request. The first is to prepare for the day that we can have Christian Kenyan Police Officers, Pastors, and Chaplains join our teams to reach the Sudanese Police Officers in Juba and surrounding areas in Southern Sudan. Kenya as a nation has always been supportive of the South and would like to see them become successful in their quest to succeed from Northern Sudan. The second goal is to renew my previous contacts with the Christian Police Association of Kenya. I had the honor of being the keynote speaker at the University of Nairobi to assist in the launching of this organization in 1995. It would be exciting to see the development of an indigenous African outreach into Sudan through the help of Kenya.
The financial connection mentioned earlier is the fact that it is much easier to find reasonable airfare from the U.S. into Nairobi. With just a few additional financial supporters we would be close to having the ability to make routine trips into Nairobi to launch this new approach to not only reaching officers and their families in Kenya but in Sudan as well. We have always been able to enter Southern Sudan from Kenya without having to deal with the authorities in the North. More details will follow but please for now begin to pray that the basics could be put into place to start this unique work.
My passion has always been to reach those in places of authority with the Gospel through extended friendship followed by a sustained local effort for growth. The opportunities that this unique outreach allows flow far from simply reaching those in authority. In the past we have seen permission given to us to enhance other types of outreach such as helping those in and around Darfur in Sudan. In 2007 our team was allowed housing within the United Nations base in Northern Darfur because of our law enforcement connections. It would have never been allowed otherwise. In many third world countries the connections between law enforcement, government, and the military are almost seamless when certain people are your friends. Many times this provides for opportunities to process “red tape” that normally can take weeks to months to accomplish.
Did you know that only 3% of missionaries on the field today are working with unreached people groups? Can you imagine the excitement I had to be part of a team in 2006 that walked into a large group of Arab Muslims near Darfur who had never heard the claims of the person of Jesus Christ? We had walked eleven miles in 120 degree heat where we heard these people were gathered after fleeing the genocide in Darfur. The conditions were horrible and yet the men still sat on the straw mats they had carried and served us tea! I just have to repeat that...they served us tea! With the exception of the leader of their group who had seen the British in the 1950’s the rest of the men, women, and children had never seen a white person or heard about Christianity! This is just how desolate and isolated some parts of Sudan can be and you allowed us to be their with your support in finances, prayer, and encouragement. I will never forget the words of their leader before we left. “Even if you are never able to return to us with medical supplies we will never forget your coming to us today!”
There are 16,000 people groups in the world today and 6,000 of these groups are unreached. That equals one third of our world’s population! I am hoping to begin setting up this new strategy of outreach with a small team traveling to Nairobi within the next six months.
I love a quote from William Wilberforce while drained of energy was once again attempting to overthrow slavery in England said, “Having seen all of this you can choose to look the other way, but you can never say again I did not know.”
Will you in faith be part of going or sending and above all praying?
With current events in Sudan over the past several months it has become increasingly more difficult to enter Northern Sudan as an NGO (Non Governmental Organization). Because of safety concerns Safe Harbor made the decision not to maintain an office in Khartoum. The President of Sudan has kicked out several NGO’s accusing them of being spies for those outside of Sudan who would like to have him removed for crimes against the people of Sudan in Darfur.
Safe Harbor recently made the decision to maintain their office in Nairobi, Kenya and I was asked to consider including our outreach to Kenyan police officers and authorities. Two goals are being developed out of this request. The first is to prepare for the day that we can have Christian Kenyan Police Officers, Pastors, and Chaplains join our teams to reach the Sudanese Police Officers in Juba and surrounding areas in Southern Sudan. Kenya as a nation has always been supportive of the South and would like to see them become successful in their quest to succeed from Northern Sudan. The second goal is to renew my previous contacts with the Christian Police Association of Kenya. I had the honor of being the keynote speaker at the University of Nairobi to assist in the launching of this organization in 1995. It would be exciting to see the development of an indigenous African outreach into Sudan through the help of Kenya.
The financial connection mentioned earlier is the fact that it is much easier to find reasonable airfare from the U.S. into Nairobi. With just a few additional financial supporters we would be close to having the ability to make routine trips into Nairobi to launch this new approach to not only reaching officers and their families in Kenya but in Sudan as well. We have always been able to enter Southern Sudan from Kenya without having to deal with the authorities in the North. More details will follow but please for now begin to pray that the basics could be put into place to start this unique work.
My passion has always been to reach those in places of authority with the Gospel through extended friendship followed by a sustained local effort for growth. The opportunities that this unique outreach allows flow far from simply reaching those in authority. In the past we have seen permission given to us to enhance other types of outreach such as helping those in and around Darfur in Sudan. In 2007 our team was allowed housing within the United Nations base in Northern Darfur because of our law enforcement connections. It would have never been allowed otherwise. In many third world countries the connections between law enforcement, government, and the military are almost seamless when certain people are your friends. Many times this provides for opportunities to process “red tape” that normally can take weeks to months to accomplish.
Did you know that only 3% of missionaries on the field today are working with unreached people groups? Can you imagine the excitement I had to be part of a team in 2006 that walked into a large group of Arab Muslims near Darfur who had never heard the claims of the person of Jesus Christ? We had walked eleven miles in 120 degree heat where we heard these people were gathered after fleeing the genocide in Darfur. The conditions were horrible and yet the men still sat on the straw mats they had carried and served us tea! I just have to repeat that...they served us tea! With the exception of the leader of their group who had seen the British in the 1950’s the rest of the men, women, and children had never seen a white person or heard about Christianity! This is just how desolate and isolated some parts of Sudan can be and you allowed us to be their with your support in finances, prayer, and encouragement. I will never forget the words of their leader before we left. “Even if you are never able to return to us with medical supplies we will never forget your coming to us today!”
There are 16,000 people groups in the world today and 6,000 of these groups are unreached. That equals one third of our world’s population! I am hoping to begin setting up this new strategy of outreach with a small team traveling to Nairobi within the next six months.
I love a quote from William Wilberforce while drained of energy was once again attempting to overthrow slavery in England said, “Having seen all of this you can choose to look the other way, but you can never say again I did not know.”
Will you in faith be part of going or sending and above all praying?
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Preparation through Networking
I have found myself busy the last several months following up on great contacts received through social media connections. To give you some highlights of those contacts I have to tell you about a tremendous couple in Seattle, Washington. Joe and Heidi both battle with cancer and yet they still find time to help others. Joe volunteers his time on weekends to design and host websites for people who volunteer their time to help others...such as helping children and their parents in Darfur, Sudan. Thanks to Joe www.policeoutreach.hqters.com is now up and running!
Then there is Chuck Paris who I met through Linkedin. Thanks to Chuck our website is now featured on his site at www.LeaderCoaches.com. I am very excited about how that connection might lead to getting the word out more effectively on the needs in Sudan.
Finding people interested in helping us by giving financially or becoming team members or helping spread the word to others encourages us to move forward in our plans to return to Sudan .
I want to comment in future BLOG postings about the specifics of what we can do through police consulting and assisting with humanitarian aid work throughout Sudan. My dream is to be able to travel with small teams up to four times a year to begin the long term process of establishing a work that runs without our frequent presence. The work involves giving the Sudanese people a passion to carry on the work we help establish.
There is much work to be done and although it is still very dangerous on the ground in Sudan I want to go as often as possible. Establishing our continued presence now will help tremendously when the region becomes more stable. I wish you could have been with me to see the difference between 2006 and 2007 in Juba. Southern Sudan is rebuilding and the Sudanese are proud of what they are doing to establish freedom from an abusive government and the ability to practice any religious expression they choose.
The people of Sudan have suffered greatly and there hope and future are their children. I am looking forward to holding those children again. Making children laugh is worth the airfare all by itself. Children have not been laughing in Sudan for a very long time. There is much need for more of it and I am looking forward to holding many children again to look into their eyes...to see the hope for the future.
Then there is Chuck Paris who I met through Linkedin. Thanks to Chuck our website is now featured on his site at www.LeaderCoaches.com. I am very excited about how that connection might lead to getting the word out more effectively on the needs in Sudan.
Finding people interested in helping us by giving financially or becoming team members or helping spread the word to others encourages us to move forward in our plans to return to Sudan .
I want to comment in future BLOG postings about the specifics of what we can do through police consulting and assisting with humanitarian aid work throughout Sudan. My dream is to be able to travel with small teams up to four times a year to begin the long term process of establishing a work that runs without our frequent presence. The work involves giving the Sudanese people a passion to carry on the work we help establish.
There is much work to be done and although it is still very dangerous on the ground in Sudan I want to go as often as possible. Establishing our continued presence now will help tremendously when the region becomes more stable. I wish you could have been with me to see the difference between 2006 and 2007 in Juba. Southern Sudan is rebuilding and the Sudanese are proud of what they are doing to establish freedom from an abusive government and the ability to practice any religious expression they choose.
The people of Sudan have suffered greatly and there hope and future are their children. I am looking forward to holding those children again. Making children laugh is worth the airfare all by itself. Children have not been laughing in Sudan for a very long time. There is much need for more of it and I am looking forward to holding many children again to look into their eyes...to see the hope for the future.
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