Attack of the SIM-Sudan Atar Base 31 Dec 2009

From Jimmy & RoxAnne Cox:

TESTIMONY OF GETACHEW & KELEMWA,
Ethiopian missionaries at Atar. Kelemwa, the wife, was one of Jimmy & RoxAnne’s students years ago when they taught in a Bible school in rural Ethiopia.

It is a great privilege for us to serve as missionaries in the Kingdom of God.

But in the past 44 years of my life – I have never experienced the kind of difficulty that we passed through in the last few days. During our trial we experienced God’s miraculous deliverance from two life threatening dangers.

At 4:30 am last Thursday morning a band of Shilluk tribesmen attacked our SIM compound and the nearby village of Atar. They first lit fire to the dry grass on our roof. When the fire was burning they began shooting into our house. I counted six bullet holes right in the area of our house where we were sleeping. With the burning grass falling in on top of us (it has fallen off the roof and was blocking our doorway as well) and the shooting all around us – both our lives and the lives of our two daughters were in grave danger. But somehow God protected us and brought miraculous deliverance.

We saw two amazing miracles during that night. First, our enemies were watching & waiting for us to try & escape the fire. Somehow God blinded their eyes. They could not see us as we ran through the fire toward the only building that was not burning – our nearby toilet. All four of us escaped without being burned or being hit by bullets. But when the flames came into the toilet area we had to flee the second time to a nearby tent. Again no one saw us. We were able to lie flat on the floor of the tent – unseen to our enemy. By this time our enemies were now looking to see what had happened to us. As they searched all around us, we lay very quietly on the floor of the tent. Here again we saw God performing another miracle. If one our children (or the other three small children from another missionary family) had made the slightest noise, even coughing or crying, we would have been found & killed. But God kept them silent until the enemy went away.

The verse that God had given me this past week was from Gen. 15:1 "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." During all this trial, God was our shield. He shielded us from both the fire and the bullets. He blinded our enemies so they could not see us, and covered the mouths of our children so they did not cry. He delivered not only us but the other two missionary families who were with us even though we were all marked for death. Just like the children of Israel who were thrown into the furnace of fire, not even the hair of our head was burned. Glory to His Name!

TESTIMONY OF YACOB & TIBAREK,
Ethiopian missionaries at Atar. Yacob & Tibarek have had two previous near-death experiences in South Sudan but continue serving faithfully.

First I would like to praise the Lord for His protection & guidance in the past 39 years of my life.

At midnight on Dec. 31, I needed to go out of our house to the nearby toilet shed. When I stepped outside, I could hear strangers moving about our compound. Sensing danger, I came back inside & immediately my wife & I began praying.

At 4:30 am we were suddenly awakened by gun shots being fired into our house. The bullets seemed to be aimed at the closed window, very near the place where we slept. At the same time our thatched roofed house was ablaze. So my wife & I immediately crawled under our bed and began praying, “Jesus, save us.” As the fire burned our roof, the embers began falling in on us we knew we had to get out of our house. But the enemy was outside with their guns! We prayed again. “Lord, make our enemies blind so they cannot see us.”

When we reached our door we could look across our compound & saw the two other (missionary) families standing in their doorway as well. The only place to flee was to the toilet shed. It was built from zinc roofing material & should not burn. We motioned to them & all ran for the toilet at the same time. The mighty hand of our God protected us & we reached safely.

By now the fire had spread to the fence around our compound. Our fence was made of sticks & grass so it was not long before the fire spread to where the toilet shed was. We could feel the heat coming. The only place to go now was into one of the tents that had not burned. All of us rushed from the toilet shed into the tent together. Miraculously, no one saw us.
As we lay on the tent floor, my wife looked up & saw two enemy soldiers coming back to see whether we were dead or alive. If we were alive, they would have killed us. But we claimed the promises of God. “When you pass through the waters I will be with you. When you walk through the fire you will not be burned.” The Lord protected us again and we are still alive to tell the story.

After things settled just a little, the Pastor of our local Sudanese church came to see if we were dead or alive. When he found us, we were without clothes or shoes. He & others from the community stood there crying for us & our loss. That day, the Sudanese people of Atar showed us their great love by giving us their own slippers so our feet so we would not be burned or step on thorns. They led us into the center of the village where we sat on the ground. They gathered around us & cried almost the whole day for our loss & theirs – for the enemy had burned many of their huts also.

Even though I have passed through many challenges in my life and ministry, this present experience was by far the most dangerous. As we look back now, we can see that through all this, God was teaching us that in times of trial, we must depend on Him alone.

TESTIMONY OF UBANDOMA & RUTH, Nigerian missionaries at Atar. Among the first missionaries to set up the base at Atar, the local people love them dearly & have given Ubandoma the name “Thon Deng” (from the Dinka language) which refers to a special bull known for its untiring, hard labor.

The Scripture God gave us when we came to Sudan is Psalm 23: The Lord is my Shepherd.

On Dec 30, about 2:30; my wife started vomiting from some unknown sickness. I gave her medicine but we could not sleep well. Then at about 4: 00 am, we wakened & heard some strangers behind our house. It sounded like they were cocking their guns. Not long after, the shooting started.

When the bullets started flying we don’t even remember how we found ourselves under our bed. Our three children were crying in a nearby room, “Dad! Mom! What is happening?” We called out to them to get under their bed.

It was only then that we realized that the thatched roof above us was on fire. Our roof had plastic under the thatch to keep out rain & bugs. This plastic was suddenly ablaze & the fire spread to all the rooms of our house in seconds. The house filled with smoke. My wife & I crawled to the next room where our children were. Bullets continued flying through our house. By God’s grace, none of us were hit.

I took my wife & children into the kitchen but we could not reach the front door because of the smoke. My computer and our (satellite) phone were lying on the kitchen table. I took the computer & put it on top of my head to protect me from melting plastic that was raining down on us. My wife got to our water supply & tried to spray the water onto the burning grass above us. She was trying to reduce the smoke so we could find the way to our door. Already she had picked up our passports in her hand.

I went to the door with my computer on my head. The melted plastic dripped down on my left hand & arm burning into my skin. I grabbed our youngest daughter, Kezya, & was holding her close to my chest with my right hand. Shielding my little girl I unlocked the door. My wife was right behind me pushing the children out the door. When they were all out, I came out last. The whole house was ablaze by now – even the door. As I closed the door & started to move away, it fell on me, burning my back.

We moved out into the open compound & ducked into a tent. In just a moment or two, that tent caught fire as well. We came out & saw our fellow missionaries rushing toward the zinc toilet so we followed them. I was the last one to reach the toilet as I was protecting them and wanted to make sure they had reached safety.

Long before this attack, I had talked with the local Sudanese people about what to do in times of attack. They told me that in their culture, enemies will never kill women and children – only men. So I realized that once they had finished burning everything, they would come back to look for the men. If I stayed with my wife & children, they could kill us all. So for that reason, I left them. The fence surrounding our compound was not burning yet so I put my head down and plowed through the fence. The river was not far away so I ran there. Two men from our village were already hiding in the tall grass & so I joined them. They assured me that I had done the right thing & that my wife & children would be safe.

After about one hour, when the fighting had died down, I heard people crying (because they thought I had been killed in the attack). I came out of the river grass & met with my children & my wife who were all OK. She was crying because she had not seen me for some time. The local people were comforting her telling her that I must be alive. I had been embarrassed to show myself because I was only wearing the underwear in which I had been sleeping. Getachew, one of the other missionaries, lent me his pants. So everyone was Ok. The Lord had truly been our Shepherd.

I see that what happened to us is not our power but is a miracle of God. We lost everything in the fire. But even though we lost all these things, God gave us our lives. Their guns (they used large caliber shells) were aimed right at my bed where I had been sleeping. It is a miracle of God that we were not all killed. I believe this is because God has something for me to do before calling me home. I have this belief.

SOUTH SUDAN BASE BURNED DOWN DURING ETHNIC UNREST

On New Year's Eve an emergency message was sent out from the Sudanese compound manager at ATAR, one of our SIM bases in South Sudan:

“Enemies attacked at about 4:30 am & fire consumed the compound destroying the housing. All the personal belongings (of SIM missionaries living there) and the satellite phone were destroyed."

ATAR is one of the first SIM-Sudan bases that Jimmy helped set up four years ago. He is pictured below with two of the SIM missionary families (from Nigeria & Ethiopia) & the Sudanese compound manager when the base was first established.

The attack was by another tribe (the Shilluk), not the people of Atar. SIM has had very good relationships in the Atar community. Not long ago the first group of Sudanese adults graduated from our education program there. A permanent Education Center (below) had been constructed last year & a new Teacher's Training Program had just been launched a few months ago.

Three SIM missionary families were living at Atar at the time of the attack along with their 5 young children. They have been evacuated & are receiving counseling & medical attention in Kenya. We praise God their lives were spared & the burns suffered were not severe. As you can imagine, they are all traumatized.

Many of you have "been to" Atar as it is the footage shown in our personal ministry video that we've been using at our speaking engagments. You have "met" the wonderful SIM missionaries through this video & will recall their joyful spirits despite living in extremely challenging conditions. Please pray for these dear ones & do not forget the five precious Nigerian & Ethiopian missionary kids.

Serving In Mission,

Jimmy & RoxAnne

David & Steven Cox

Atar Village and SIM Base Burnt in Southern Sudan (3)

THIRD NEWS RELEASE:
January 1, 2009, 9 p.m. Nairobi, Kenya

Our three SIM Sudan missionary families are now in Nairobi and resting at the guesthouse. Two from the Ubandoma family are being seen by doctors for burns. Everyone is praising the Lord for their lives.

The Lord will show us what blessings and meanings will come from this trouble. Continue to pray!

Chris Crowder, SIM Sudan Director

Atar Village and SIM Base Burnt in Southern Sudan (2)

Second News Release
January 1, 2010

As of 10:25 a.m. the evacuation of the SIM base missionaries is underway. Our partner, AIMAIR, is at the Atar village and is extracting six adults and five children from the SIM base that was burnt the morning of December 31, 2009. The government of South Sudan military deployed reinforcements and the landing strip has been declared safe.

The three families lost everything. Donations can be received at SD # 82490.

Please continue to pray for their safe arrival to Nairobi, Kenya.

Sincerely,
Chris Crowder
SIM Sudan Director

Atar Village and SIM Base Burnt in Southern Sudan

At 11:35 on December 31, 2009 our SIM Sudan leadership team was notified that the SIM Sudan Atar station was burnt as well as the Sudan Interior Church and half the village of Atar during ethnic unrest. All our missionaries are coming out as soon as possible. A contingent of Sudan People’s Liberation Army soldiers and the county commissioner are with them.

Abraham, the Sudanese Atar compound manager, phoned to report that “enemies attacked and at about 4:30 am and that fire consumed the compound destroying the housing. All the personal belongings and the satellite phone were destroyed. The brick school building has not been burnt.

Nigerian SIM missionary, Ubandoma, had what sounds like second degree burns on his back and hand. His wife, Ruth, Antoro and Liskebe have small blisters. The County Commissioner immediately came, lent his satellite phone and is waiting at the airstrip with the SIM Sudan team of missionaries.”

The crisis management team has organized an AIMAIR Caravan to fly to Lokichoggio in northwest Kenya. At dawn tomorrow the plane is expected to leave Loki and arrive at Atar around 8 am. The people being evacuated are Yacob Aga and Tibarkek Wondimu, Ubandoma and Ruth Nadab and their children (Antoro, 8, Keshiya 5, Liskebe 3), Getachew Abo and Kelemwa Tihahu Debieneh and their two girls (Kalkidan, 7 and Wongel, 8). Burn care – if needed--will be referred to Kijabe, outside of Nairobi in Kenya and Nancy Congdon (Member Care Manager) can offer care.

Atar Chewi, in Jonglei State, is the site of the SIM Sudan Basic Education Learning Center. It was started four years ago and we have good relationships with the community. The Primary School teacher training was initiated in September of 2009 but all students were away from the school for the Christmas holidays. The BELC building was not damaged in the attack but more than half the village was burned. We have no news on the suffering or problems in the wider area at this time.

Sincerely,
Chris Crowder
SIM Sudan Director