Urgent Relief: Burundi

Will you help bring emergency aid to those facing acute food insecurity in Burundi?

Life in Burundi continues to get harder and harder, as food prices have doubled, tripled, and at times even quadrupled. Nearly 1.2 million people in Burundi face high levels of acute food insecurity; mainly rural households that are highly dependent on markets and who derive their income from low-paying jobs and agricultural labor. Tragically, nearly 56 percent of children under the age of five suffer from impaired growth due to malnutrition.

Climate extremes—including severe floods, landslides, storms and droughts—all contribute to this crisis, and an ongoing fuel shortage continues to cripple the country even further. In the midst of this bleak situation, local pastors are seeking to encourage and strengthen their people, but the requests they receive for help are overwhelming, and they often do not have enough resources for their own families

The dire nature of this crisis also calls for intensive discipleship in church unity and collaboration in order to break the cycle of systemic poverty. Multiply global workers on the ground are implementing a Discipling for Development (D4D) program developed by the para-church organization Navigators, using a model of whole-life discipleship to bring transformation all over the world. Through this program, those who might otherwise be tempted to be protective of their own dwindling resources are instead being released into radical generosity. We praise God for stories like that of Pastor Ernest, below, serving together with Multiply’s global worker, Travis Jost.

“Before, I was a mean leader. I used to make rules and regulations for people and other leaders to follow, but I would never share my leadership with anyone. I was struggling with trust, worried that they might overpower me… Then tall Muzungu (Travis) began explaining that our Master empowered others to do his ministry, and therefore I must do the same. At first, I was kind of offended, but as he gave me verse after verse, I became convinced. After the training I returned home and began sharing what I learned with other leaders. As I did so, I knelt down and asked them for forgiveness and told them that from this day forward, one pastor would be in charge of this and another pastor in charge of that—I began delegating leadership. It was amazing! A building project that was taking so much time to complete was finished in only three months! Now people are happy and are serving with joy. They feel appreciated and needed. They no longer feel that I am using them. I can also testify of the joy and peace that I have now, realizing that the church is not mine; it belongs to Jesus.”

Donations to this project will help provide emergency relief supplies for distribution by the local churches, as well as support ongoing leadership development and discipleship in biblical values and practices that will help break the cycle of systemic poverty in Burundi.

Project C0140