Help Christians in embattled Nagorno-Karabakh to self-sufficiency through sheep-farming

16 June 2023

Hundreds of isolated Christian families need practical help and hope to survive and maintain a Christian presence in Nagorno-Karabakh

“The families and heads of villages are asking, eagerly waiting and hoping for Barnabas to support them,” wrote one of our project partners in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Brave and long-suffering Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh are cut off from Armenia and struggling to survive. It’s now six months that the Armenian Christian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh has been blockaded by the Azerbaijani military. The Lachin Corridor – the only land access into the region in the mountainous terrain – is controlled by occupying forces.

Our project partners want to help Christian families in 14 villages in the Askeran and Martuni regions. These believers are not only dealing with shortages of food, fuel and medicine, but some are living very close to territory controlled by Azerbaijani soldiers who harass and threaten them.

Since the 2020 war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, they have also had hundreds of hectares of farmland seized from them, cutting off their income and making an already dire situation seem hopeless. Yet, says our project partner, “our will to live in Nagorno-Karabakh is indomitable despite all kinds of provocations.”

Can you help provide sheep to rebuild agricultural income for Christians?

We are so thankful to the Lord that He has already enabled Barnabas Aid to provide 180 tonnes of emergency food and other aid for beleaguered Christians in war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh. We are very grateful for the generosity of our supporters who made this possible.

As well as emergency aid, we are also seeking to help our brothers and sisters in the long term.  Where conditions are suitable for sheep-rearing, Barnabas is giving two or three ewes per family, bought from other farmers within Nagorno-Karabakh. This is what the village heads and village families are so eagerly waiting for.

Barnabas supplied sheep and other livestock in 2022 to boost agriculture and the local economy. Families need continued provision to support themselves – can you help?

God willing, these ewes will boost agriculture and the local economy in the village communities, enabling families to support themselves.

Sheep provide not only meat but also milk which can be made into cheese. Villages, where we supplied sheep in spring 2022, have coped well during these months of blockade.

Please pray for God’s blessing on these new livelihoods for desperate Christian families.

If you can give anything, thank you for providing hope and help to our Christian brothers and sisters who have already lost so much.

Prices have risen steeply in the blockaded enclave.

£143 ($183; €167) could buy one sheep for a family

£20 ($25; €23) could transport three sheep to a family

Related Countries

Armenia