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Today on Christian World News –
New fighting in Southern Sudan. Is dictator Omar Bashir carrying out ethnic cleansing?
And –
Japan's nuclear crisis. How Christian churches are helping refugees cope with their loss.
And –
One man's mission to fight disease-carrying mosquitoes. How his clever invention is saving
lives worldwide.
War, ethnic cleansing, and a looming humanitarian crisis in Sudan. Hello, everyone, I'm Wendy
Griffith. George Thomas is on assignment.
In the border region between North and South Sudan, dictator Omar Bashir's forces are waging
war against Christians and black Africans.
My office was burned down and the cyber café and also the cathedral was burned. The Church
of Christ was burned as well and my house was fired and my chaplain escaped through
a window and he was arrested later and tortured and my people are scattered. My staff are
scattered all over and it really is very terrible.
That is Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and as you just heard his church and
home have been destroyed and his flock scattered.
It's happening in the town of Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains. It's an oil-rich area of northern
Sudan. This week North Sudan's aircraft and ground troops attacked the city. Dozens are
dead and some 60,000 have fled their homes.
Elnail says the north wants to grab the oil and destroy the religious and ethnic populations
there.
: The Arabs they're dominating the power and they don't want Christians. They want Sharia
law which is not for the Christians and because most of the Christians are black. That's why
they target them.
Bishop Andudu says the fighting is keeping humanitarian agencies from bringing food and
water to those displaced by the fighting. He's calling on the U.S. and the international
community to stop the attacks so aid can get to the victims.
And joining us now from our Washington, D.C. bureau is Jonathan Hutson of the Enough Project.
It monitors the situation in Sudan to alert the world of the atrocities by the regime
in Khartoum.
And, Jonathan, apart from some newspaper reports, we're not hearing much about these new attacks.
Tell us what's been happening in Kadugli this week.
Well, the Sudan armed forces have been using Russian-made Antonov planes to bomb civilians
there. And it's very clear as Bishop Andudu—he goes by his first name—as he said, the government
in Khartoum has a radical perspective on the Islamic faith. But they're also willing to
bomb Muslims as they have done in Darfur. Now they're bombing Christians and Animists
and trying to stamp out the Nuba people in Kadugli, the capital of this oil-producing
border region between North and South Sudan.
Tens of thousands have been displaced and are without food, water or adequate medical.
And armed men are searching house to house, killing anyone who appears to be Nuban or
who might disagree with them politically.
And according to the bishop's comments, Omar Bashir's regime is targeting Christians and
black Africans. Why?
Well, the bishop has told me that some Muslims and Arabs view him as inferior because he's
black and a Christian. But he also chairs the interfaith and ecumenical outreach committee
for the state of South Kordafan on behalf of the Anglican church.
And he says, you know, here in the Nuba Mountains Muslims and Christians inter-marry. So they're
showing how to live together peaceably if they were just left alone by this radical
regime in Khartoum.
But armed men were searching house to house, calling his name. And he could be in a mass
grave in Kadugli right now if he were not here in the United States, having left before
the violence began, to seek medical treatment in Denver.
He brings a powerful message of peace and reconciliation, saying that although the Khartoum
regime is pursuing a policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide, it is possible that one day
Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Animists could learn to live together in peace as they have
before in the Nuba Mountains.
Jonathan, you've worked with the Enough Project that's trying to prevent more atrocities like
this from taking place in Darfur. What should the world community do to stop this?
What you could do right now yourself is pick up the phone, call the White House, 202-456-1111.
We're asking that the U.S. provide air defense capabilities to the government of Sudan to
protect civilians from a government that's bombing its own people.
Jonathan, such a serious situation there. We appreciate you so much joining us today.
Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Thank you.
And we've put together some links to groups that are working in Sudan. You can find them
on our website, cwnews.org. You can also find a number to the White House.
We're turning now to Japan where the situation remains perilous months after the earthquake
and tsunami unleashed a nuclear crisis.
More than 90,000 residents have been evacuated from the danger zone. For some, the reality
of never returning home is starting to sink in. As Lucille Talusan tells us, in the midst
of their fear and sadness, Christians are there to help.
Despite the danger of deadly radiation, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant still
come to work.
And for at least seven men, it's a daily test of their faith in God's divine power to protect
them from harm.
Akira Sato is their pastor.
(Voice of Interpreter). Some go there bravely but they are also fearful. But they have faith
in God and our church is supporting them with prayer.
American missionary used to teach English at the church. It's just a few miles away
from the plant. He knows one plant worker who ran away in fear and found refuge at the
church-run shelter with his family.
There, he came to Christ and decided to go back to the plant.
I used to teach his wife and his daughter in my English classes. So I've been praying
for the family for quite a while. He evacuated and in the time that he was with the church,
he became a Christian and felt that God was telling him to go back and share this message
with his co-workers.
Many members of the community evacuated along with the church to the outskirts of Tokyo.
This group of refugees channel their despair and anger into their drums. Yokoyama is the
leader of the group. He says the drums are therapy.
(Voice of Interpreter). Everything I had, my business, my house, I built with my own
hands. My family and I had to leave everything behind. When I am at home I begin to panic
but when I am playing, I have happiness even for a short while.
Scott hopes that one day the men will play the drums not as an act of defiance, but as
an act of worship.
And my vision lifelong is to see this used in praise of God.
While Pastor Sato's church moved far away from their community, many evacuees stayed
near their homes. Despite the danger, they hope someday they will return.
This city is 50 kilometers away from the nuclear power plant and has the third highest level
of radiation. As a matter of fact, the children here are not allowed to play outside because
of the danger of being exposed to too much radiation. But their parents, the families
here, choose not to leave the place because this is home to them.
Here, a Christian church is helping some 2,500 refugees by giving "life starter kits." Each
kit includes basic needs like kitchenware, appliances and even some furnishings.
Pastor Toyomi Sanga of Grace Community Service, says the kits bring hope to the evacuees.
(Voice of Interpreter). We met a mother and her daughter and both are single moms. They
contemplated on committing suicide together. But when we met them, they said they realized
God is alive. As we meet the needs of the refugees and pray for them, they ask why we
do this. And we tell them the Bible says we need to love in action.
Though a heavy cloud hangs over the Japanese people, Christian churches continue to provide
hope.
Lucille Talusan, CBN News, Fukushima, Japan.
Coming up on Christian World News –
Chinese immigrants risking their lives in search of a better life and finding out that
a hope in Christ is really the greatest treasure of all.
Every year Chinese immigrants travel to the U.S. to fulfill their dreams of freedom, money
and a new life.
Yet when they reach America's shores many find something far more valuable than riches.
It's Wednesday morning at the Church of Grace to the Fujanese where hundreds of Chinese
gather to worship the Lord.
But this is not China; it's New York City.
This day, many have traveled from Boston, Philadelphia, and as far away as Ohio and
Tennessee to hear the gospel in their own southern dialect, Fujanese.
Many of these worshipers are illegal immigrants. They paid human traffickers as much as $80,000
to get them from China to New York.
It's a long, dangerous journey that includes hiding in cargo containers, risking imprisonment,
or being thrown overboard.
Amazingly, most have no difficulty paying the money, which is regarded as an investment.
Families and relatives pool their money together with hopes for big payoffs in the future.
It's estimated that about 30,000 illegal Chinese immigrants enter the U.S. each year.
Many Chinese arrive here in New York City's Chinatown as Buddhists or with no religion
at all. But it's often here, working in the shops or the restaurants, that they hear about
Jesus, sometimes for the very first time.
Yoyo Zo came to America 12 years ago and now runs a Chinese take-out in Brooklyn with her
husband. She said in China, God felt distant, but here she feels closer to God.
(Voice of Interpreter). This church has helped me understand more about the Bible and gave
me classes that I can take to increase my faith.
Bao Ping helped start the Church of Grace to the Fujanese some 30 years ago. He says
many congregants face visa battles and an unsure future in America. But, he adds, the
church's goal is to simply preach Jesus.
(Voice of Interpreter). When you come here, one thing we can do, you need to know about
Jesus. We can help you pray to the Lord, whether you are going to court or not, because God
is in control, not us.
And you have this hope. So once you have hope, they know that everything that happens to
them, they can kneel down and pray.
Pastor Eliyah Shira says the Chinese church population in New York is exploding. They've
seen more than 10,000 people in the past ten years. And last year alone, more than 500
Chinese believers were baptized. He says this kind of growth brings big challenges.
How can you follow up their faith? You know, giving birth relatively easier, but to grow
their spiritual strength is a lot of prayer.
The church provides discipleship classes for those interested in salvation, baptism and
other disciplines. And as you can see, the classes are packed.
Yoyo says she's thankful every day to be in America, but is hoping her husband, who is
not yet a believer, will soon come to know Christ as well.
(Voice of Interpreter). I'm praying for him and also for my children. I used to think
that bringing people to Christ is easy, but it's not. But I believe that one day he will
become a believer.
That bacteria in that mosquito was a gift from God to man to control mosquitoes.
Up next –
A scientist's mission to fight mosquitoes. How he's saving tens of thousands of lives
with his invention.
Welcome back.
Mosquito stings can lead to deadly diseases like malaria. And that sickness kills nearly
a million people every year, many of them children.
Efrem Graham recently traveled to Savannah, Georgia to meet a scientist with an invention
that's saving some of those lives, one family at a time.
From carriage rides to Spanish moss hanging from the trees, Savannah's southern charm
inspires the music of Thomas Kollars.
A classically trained musician, Kollars is also the lead scientist at Mev Labs.
You can see they are becoming adults and this is only after a day.
He started the company with a mission to fight deadly, mosquito-borne illnesses in developing
countries.
It became his passion after watching a five-year-old die in Thailand.
His mom was holding his hand. The boy was in coma from dengue fever. His little sister
was crying. And…sorry, it's a little bit…I don't care how many times I tell this story,
when you see a kid dying, it does something to you.
It led to twelve years of testing ways to reduce the mosquito population, which would
ultimately mean fewer cases of malaria.
And it's no accident that Dr. Kollars chose the picturesque Savannah, Georgia area as
home base for his business, because beyond all this beauty, this is also the perfect
breeding ground for mosquitoes.
This is a CDC (Centers for Disease Control) mosquito light trap.
Even the backyard of Mev Labs is a test kitchen.
I don't give up, I don't give up.
Persistence led Dr. Kollars to a bio pesticide called bacillus thuringiensis israelensis
or BTI.
An Israeli scientist first discovered it in the 1940s to kill larvae before they hatched.
That bacteria in that mosquito was a gift from God to man to control mosquitoes.
Kollars then discovered how to get BTI to kill actual mosquitoes, while also killing
larvae in infested waters.
And after what he calls a miracle meeting on an airplane...
We're in the warehouse.
Kollars joined forces with William "Rocky" Parker, the CEO of MIT Holdings, a Savannah-based
company now helping to package his discovery into a bright plastic flower that attracts
mosquitoes to the bait that kills them.
The completed product is called "the provector."
We want to take this thing worldwide. We want to go global. We want to be able to help every
single person out there. We don't need a single person to be dying from malaria.
There are about 250 mosquitoes inside this cage. That's the amount you'd find in a home
in Kisumu, Kenya in just five minutes. And those females are out for blood so they can
produce eggs.
Here right now, on my arm, these are a painful annoyance. But in that village in Kenya it
could be deadly. A child dies there from malaria, every 70 seconds.
Trust me. Malaria is bad. It's no fun.
Malaria nearly killed Emmanuel Clottey. He was just eight years old.
Even as I talk about it now and recall my illness with malaria, I can still feel the
heat on my body as if I am having it right now.
In the Kibera slum of Nairobi, more than 70 percent of residents have been affected by
malaria. Clottey and Dr. Kollars traveled there to set up a community provector project,
and to teach mothers how to use it.
Over time, the mosquito population will go down.
This is now one of more than one hundred provector community projects in more than 30 countries.
Researchers, like the World Health Organization, are studying the results.
We are now getting ready to take this product into Nigeria.
It's now Walt Byrd's mission to take the provector to the world. He's MIT Holdings' missions
director.
God instilled that in me, that passion, that vision, to help get the provector out. So
here we are now ready to get it out.
Back at Mev Labs, Dr. Kollars plays his favorite tune and it means even more today: "God Bless
the Child."
I'm so blessed that God let me know what I am supposed to be doing. He said to me, "Because
of what you've done, because of your invention, tens of thousands of children will hear about
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And while the work has not been easy, it has been worth it.
Efrem Graham, CBN News, Savannah, Georgia.
Thanks, Efrem. And for more great stories about the work of the church around the globe,
visit our website, cwnews.org.
We'll be right
back.
Welcome back.
Children in Cambodia are getting involved with a CBN WorldReach TV program. It's called
the "Super Kids Club." WorldReach staff put letter boxes outside of churches in the region.
They encourage children to write to the Super Kids Club.
CBN staff members respond to those letters and there are now 82 boxes set up throughout
the region. Each letter is read and prayed over by the CBN staff.
More than a year ago the Haiti earthquake took more than 100,000 lives. Hard to believe.
It also maimed thousands of people, shattering their ability to lead a normal life.
But as Stan Jeter reports, some of the victims have turned tragedy into inspiration.
Emmanuel is the goalie for this unusual soccer team in Port au Prince, Haiti. Each player
lost a limb during the earthquake over a year ago. They are among an estimated 60,000 earthquake
amputees.
(Voice of Interpreter). I was a victim of the January 12th earthquake. I was in the
house with my family, seven of us. The earthquake hit. Five people died. I and my sister survived.
For four days, everyone thought Emmanuel was dead. No one saw him buried under the fallen
concrete of his own house. In desperation he tried committing suicide but failed.
Emmanuel's testimony is while he was trapped underneath his house for four days after the
earthquake he called upon God. And he said, "God, if you let me live, I'll come out of
here and I'll go to church and I'll serve you."
Rescuers amputated Emmanuel's arm to free him from his concrete tomb. Now he lives alone
in this small tent while he finishes high school. And joining the amputee soccer team
has made a big difference in his recovery.
(Voice of Interpreter). Even though I lost my entire family I feel different, better
now and I am comfortable with the team. There were 69 people trying out for the team and
I am one of the 15 that made it. I am grateful for the team.
The team meets for practice every Saturday morning. And although each member lost at
least one limb to the quake, they all gained something as well: a personal faith in Jesus
Christ.
And after they came to Christ they decided they wanted to continue to play soccer because
some of them are professional soccer players, or were professional soccer players before
the earthquake. But they didn't give up. They didn't sit in their tents and feel sorry for
themselves.
Far from feeling sorry for themselves, these amputees encourage others. They often share
the platform with Joel Trimble at his public evangelistic meetings. He says the way Haitians
are responding points to a big change in the country's spiritual climate.
The revival in Haiti is a direct result of the disaster since the earthquake. It brought
a spirit of repentance on the land immediately. Even the first night the Haitians were going
up and down the street calling upon the name of Jesus and asking God to forgive their sins.
Now, thanks to Trimble's weekly television program "The Good News" or "La Bonne Nouvelle,"
the story of the amputee soccer team is bringing hope to the many people of Haiti who are still
trying to rebuild their lives.
Stan Jeter, CBN News.
Thanks, Stan. Turning tragedy into inspiration. What a blessing for all of us to see that.
Well, thanks for joining us this week. Until next week, good-bye and God bless you.