Responding to Great Need

Today, along with several of our Canadian Baptist colleagues, we met with representatives of our two partner denominations and the Sharing Way to discuss our emergency aid response to the present refugee crisis in Kenya.

We were able to receive tallies from pastors and churches housing people from across Kenya, the number of people affected by the violence is staggering: between our two partner denominations we are looking at over 96,000 refugees. Although the Red Cross is doing a very good job overseeing the temporary refugee camps, churches and individuals are housing thousands of uncounted people. As of today, we have identified churches in Kibera and Mathare Valley slums, and churches in Kwale and Mombassa, on the coast, as desperately needing urgent help. Canadian Baptist Ministries and its partners will be immediately reaching out to these communities and will be in cooperation with the Red Cross as they organize relief in other areas of the country. Canadian Baptist Ministries has released funds for emergency aid relief, but many churches and individuals are beginning to send more into CBM to help with the costs of rebuilding peoples lives.