“We are persecuted Christians and nobody looks after us.” John Hembrome, from Gaibandha District, Bangladesh, summed up the plight of the Santal Christians.
For years this impoverished community of faithful believers suffered exploitation and injustice from the Muslim-majority Bengalis. Then, on 6 November 2016, the pitiful wooden shacks they called “home” were set alight by police officers, helped by local Muslims.
Barnabas Fund is building new homes for them on safe, church-owned land. We want to start phase 3 of this project, constructing another 50 sturdy one-room homes with brick walls and tin roofs. Each house will have a veranda, and there will be six tube wells with hand pumps, plus twelve toilets. A shared community area will be the place for many daily activities.
Over 5,000 still homeless?
A hundred homes have been completed already (phases 1 and 2), but that is only enough for about 400 people. At least 5,500 lost their homes on that terrible night nearly three years ago.
“This was beyond our imagination, but God knows our urgent need,” said Rev. Soban Kisku, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church, when the first houses were completed.
Help us to help 50 families
Will you make hope a reality once again, through your prayers and giving for phase 3? You can inspire, amaze and build up the faith of our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh, as they see more homes built for them by fellow-Christians faraway.
Be a channel of God’s love to suffering Santal believers
“I don’t know where this money came from, but I bless them who helped me and my children,” said Dijen. He survived being shot in the chest during the police attack and has moved into one of the homes already completed.
Please be a channel of God’s love. Your donation to phase 3 will bring hope and joy to faithful brothers and sisters who have lost everything. We will forward 100% of your gift to Bangladesh.
One gift of just £1,400 ($1,700; €1,550) could provide a complete new home
Five gifts of £30 ($37; €33) could provide a shared tube well with hand pump
Twenty gifts of £10 ($12; €11) could provide a shared toilet
What will you do?
