Feed persecuted Christians in Central Asia this winter

28 January 2022

Our family is hungry! Brothers and sisters in Central Asia are desperately poor. Right now, the coldest time of year, things are very hard.

It is especially difficult for those who have left Islam to follow Christ, in this Muslim-majority part of the world. But Barnabas is helping them – and with your support we will continue until the warmer weather comes.

Your gifts will help feed poor Christians, many of them converts from Islam, in Central Asia

Mothers and children abandoned because they love the Lord

Local church leaders have selected the neediest Christian families, mostly converts from Islam. Some are wives abandoned by their husbands when they decided to give their lives to the Lord Jesus. These newly believing women are often left to care for their children without any support from their Muslim relatives. Some converts in ministry have had to flee because of hostility and threats to their lives; Barnabas has been asked to look after them. Others were chosen because they are elderly or disabled, or the family breadwinner is too sick to work or has died.

The ongoing pandemic makes it very difficult to find employment. In one region of Uzbekistan where we have been asked to help, the river has dried up causing crops to fail. This means not only less food, but also less work as seasonal harvesting jobs were not required.

Can you help our brothers and sisters during the bitter Central Asian winter?

Prices vary between supermarket and bazaar, between one country and another, between one region of a country and another, and with varying exchange rates. But typical costs of some food items are:

2 kg mung beans £2.50 ($3.50; €3)
3 litres vegetable oil £4 ($5.50; €5)
10 kg rice £5 ($7; €6)
10 kg flour £5.50 ($7.50; €6.50)

A mixed food parcel costing around £20 ($27; €24) a month will make a huge difference to our faithful brothers and sisters suffering in Central Asia.