03/10/2023 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – One of the places ICC works is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and most Westerners could not point to it on a map.
It is unfortunately an extremely dangerous place; it is war-torn and radical, armed Islamic terrorists, including the terrorist group the ADF, have been trying to take over for years now.
The sea of victims from these terrorist attacks never seems to end.
We have been working quietly in the country for the last couple of years, taking trips with our Africa-based staff, surveying the land, and evaluating victims’ needs. We have asked ourselves: can we be an effective helping hand? Can we work behind that curtain that is so dangerous to get in?
Most recently, one of our U.S.-based staff met with our Africa-based staff and traveled to the DRC. It was an extremely harrowing trip, involving multiple cars and plane rides, police escorts, and numerous exit strategies if we were targeted and attacked by terrorists.
There’s no way we could help all the refugees that came in. We heard stories of Islamic terrorists who would meet with the pastor of a church and threaten to attack Sunday worship if the church did not hand over money. And it’s happening all the time.
These same terrorists will also invade Christian villages around the DRC, shooting indiscriminately to kill everyone. From that, an orphan crisis emerges. Every orphanage we went to was overwhelming. We visited one orphanage that had a capacity of 100, and there were more than 300 orphaned children crammed there, with no place else to live and no one to care for them.
This is the work we do together: it’s life and death work; it’s God’s work, and it’s a work of mercy. And these are the stories of those whom we have rescued and shown God’s love to.
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