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Environmental Missions Prayer Digest
June 2012 |
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Greetings!
This month's Environmental Missions Prayer Digest comes from Eden Vigil's own pages, particularly from a couple doing wildlife conservation and community development, through safari camp management, in Central African Republic. As you'll read, it's been an exciting month for Marlin and Carla, as we'll call them. Eden Vigil provides "sending services" to Marlin and Carla and their home church.
The people of the Western Congo Basin Moist Forests (#6, WWF Global 200) The World Wildlife Fund calls the Western Congo Basin Moist Forests "one of the richest ecoregions in Africa in terms of biodiversity." It is the second largest contiguous rain forest after the Amazon. Local forest populations include the BaAka, BaKa, and BaKola peoples, who are usually referred to as "pygmies."
Link: WWF Global 200 Ecoregion #6
What are Sending Services?
Marlin and Carla are Christian professionals who have gone cross-culturally, but they've taken a "secular" job. The safari company pays their full salary. Nonetheless they want to be involved in Kingdom work including to and through the local church. "Sending Services" allowed Marlin and Carla to approach their home church and receive a commission as missionaries (a term which, derived from Latin, means "sent ones.") Eden Vigil sends out prayer letters, like the one below, for Marlin and Carla and facilitates accountability reports back to their home church, the sending body. If you want to read more about this concept, I've posted an article on the Eden Vigil website entitled: "The Missionary's Daughter is a Civil Engineer: Valuing the Sending Function of the Church"
Link: Sending Services by Eden Vigil |
Poachers Chased Away
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"In this image made from video released by wildlife photographer K. Amman, poachers skin a forest elephant for its meat and tusks in the Bangui forest, Central African Republic, on May 3, 2007." To read more about the Chinese nexus to elephant poaching, click on this MSNBC article here. |
The two groups of "heavily armed" Sudanese and Chadian poachers who have entered CAR have reportedly been chased up to the Northwest and down to the Congo border, in other words, out of the zone where the Marlin and Carla work. The poachers are in fact rebels, who reportedly fund their rebellion selling ivory to Chinese black marketeers. The Central African government took the intrusion seriously, sending armed troops accompanied by the Director of Wildlife himself. Marlin's sense is that the poachers normally just want to "sneak past," and don't grow violent towards the local population unless shot at, threatened, and thwarted. Consequently in the midst of the reports, Marlin felt safe enough to make a two-day trip to camp before returning back to his family in Bangui. Please continue to pray for everyone's safety and for the protection of Central African wildlife.
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Illegal Miners Trouble the Camp
A neighboring town of miners is illegally mining diamonds near an important hunting area for Marlin and his company. Government Eco-guards (an armed anti-poaching unit) has tried to shut down the miners, as has the Ministry of Mining. Marlin and his staff have had repeated meetings in the town. During one meeting (when Marlin was absent), things got so heated that the mayor of the town, a major aggressor, suffered a heart attack. On another occasion, false charges were brought against one of Marlin's guides just so that Marlin would come back to the village.
Listening to Marlin describe this, I was impressed that he seems to be handling it in a godly and wise way. His message to the miners has consistently been, "I don't have the jurisdiction to say 'yes' to your mining; I only have the jurisdiction to inform you that it is illegal." Finally, he was determined to tell them, "I just want peace and I want to be of help to this town. It looks like we won't have peace until all the diamonds are gone. So we are going to pull out of the zone for two months. You will do what you want, but I'm not responsible for your actions."
Unfortunately before any "peace" could be achieved, the town falsely told the President's Office that Marlin's hunting company was just a front for illegal mining operations themselves. Officials came over, searched Marlin's camp, talked to local people, found the accusation to be false, and then turned against the miners themselves, telling them that they are not even allowed to trespass on the mine, let alone work it.
Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers, from the snares they have laid for me. (Ps 141:9).
Marlin comments, "I am more stressed out by this, than I am by the rebels." The rebels don't know him; they aren't pointedly trying to thwart him.
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Colleagues unjustly jailed
 | | You can read an article (and watch BBC-4 video) about Erik Mararv (pictured here), his pilot David Simpson, and his other jailed staff by clicking on MSNBC here. |
Marlin was recommended for his current job by Erik Mararv, a Swede and the owner of the largest hunting concession in eastern CAR. Earlier this Spring, Erik's pilot, a Britisher, was flying near Bakouma and spotted what seemed to be the site of a massacre. Further investigations discovered 13-18 bodies of miners which had been mutilated and murdered in a style to suggest Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). But when he reported the massacre, Erik, David Simpson (the pilot) and thirteen other of Erik's staff were charged themselves with the crime and imprisoned in the capital, Bangui.
Marlin believes that a trial will prove the company innocent, but actually getting to trial is part of the injustice. Of the 300 inmates at the prison which houses Mararv, only a small fraction have actually been convicted of a crime. The rest are "awaiting trial."
Please pray that justice will be done and done quickly, not only for Marlin's western and African colleagues, but also for the victims of this heinous murder. Marlin is also aware that if such a thing can happen to the most successful hunting outfit in CAR, "it can happen to anyone." Please pray for rest for everyone's soul.
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You can mobilize prayer!
Please consider forwarding this letter to three people whom you imagine might want to join you in environmental missions prayer.
And if you know of any people, projects, or issues that you would like to see featured in EMPD in the coming months, please contact us.
Lowell Bliss
Eden Vigil
Links: Contact the editors, Eden Vigil website, Donations to Eden Vigil
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