Instead, the authorities told them: “You are Christians and your God shall take care of your family! The government is not responsible of your families!”
Our Open Doors teams knew we needed to do something. So, last week, Open Doors local partners were able to provide sacks of rice to these families—but even this wasn’t easy.
To avoid a large gathering and prying eyes, Open Doors partners asked a representative from each of the 18 families to meet at a church member’s house and collect their emergency food aid. Open Doors partners immediately started the distribution when they arrived at the site.
But just 15 minutes later, local authorities, including the tribal leader, the town head for Religious Affairs, two police officers, and some other official staff appeared. They demanded that the Open Doors partners stop the distribution and asked them of where the help was coming from.
One of our partners, Pastor Foom*, bravely faced the authorities. “Our church donated these sacks of rice to help them in this difficult time,” he told them. “Since you could not provide food for them and discriminated against them from receiving aid because they are Christians, our church decided to help them. Why are you stopping us from helping them?”
One of the officers answered, “Because they are Christians and they are rich! There’s no need to help them.”