Your prayers answered!

Day of Prayer 2024

Your prayers answered!

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Your prayers make a real difference across the world. As we gather for the BMS World Mission Day of Prayer on 4 February 2024, take a look at how your prayers from last year have been answered!

You prayed: We give thanks for the safe space that BMS partner All4Aid provides on the Greek island of Lesbos. We pray that as well as practical support, centre users will experience a deep sense of God’s love.

We give thanks to God for how you gave so generously to our Safe Haven appeal to support refugees in Lesbos, Greece. In the most recent issue of Engage, the BMS magazine, we shared about how your support has provided women like Bibi* with food, hygiene items and a warm place to rest and make friends. Our partners in Lesbos, All4Aid, remain determined to provide a safe space for women like Bibi and to share the love of Jesus with everyone who uses the centre. With the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza and unrest in Eritrea, Afghanistan, and Sudan, the work of our partner All4Aid could not be more vital right now. Your support will continue to help refugees rebuild their lives and encounter the love of God as we begin this new year.

A woman using a washing machine at a refugee welcome centre in Lesbos, Greece. The woman has her back to the camera and is wearing a grey headscarf and a cream coat.
You’ve helped provide a safe haven for refugee women on Lesbos to wash their clothes.

You prayed: Almost one in three women have experienced gender-based violence. We pray for those who are in this fight and who will not allow women who have been abused to be forgotten. We pray for justice and dignity for all women and girls.

A Ugandan woman in a blue and white stripy top with a white collar stands in front of an office. She is smiling to the camera.
Amazing Valerie from JLH is helping to bring justice to children in Uganda.

Our partner in Uganda, Justice, Livelihoods and Health (JLH) help to protect young girls from child marriages. They raise awareness of gender injustice and train cultural and religious leaders in the Kasese and Gulu districts of Uganda. One of the girls they work with is a young 14-year-old mother. She and her baby have found a new home where their needs are being met. They have also received sponsorship from good Samaritans in their village to continue her secondary school education. God has answered your prayers, and women in Uganda and across the world are now being treated with the dignity that they deserve.

You prayed: Please pray that we would uphold creation stewardship across all our work, and invest in projects from Uganda to Afghanistan that are combatting food fragility and loss of soil fertility.

Your prayers for God’s creation have made great strides in both protecting our planet and helping those in need. Not only have you helped farmers in Uganda grow bountiful crops in the face of climate change, but you’ve also helped bring a buzzing beehive to the highlands of Afghanistan! BMS worker Ruby* hopes that the beehive will help the community orchard she works on thrive, and bring abundant, healthy food to the local community. Life is still incredibly hard under the de facto leadership of Afghanistan, but we pray that these bees will be a symbol of hope for many.

Bees crawling out of a blue beehive in Afghanistan.
A buzzing beehive in the highlands of Afghanistan!

You prayed: Many women are becoming disciples in North Africa. We pray for BMS partner BigLife to identify four women to be sent to mentor and disciple women there coming to faith in Christ.

A woman in a blue patterned sari worshipping in church. Four other women are in front of her also worshipping.
Women praising God in Kolkata!

Over the last year, several men and women in North Africa have expressed an interest in seeking the Lord. One person gave their life to Jesus and was baptised. God continues to grow the Church in North Africa, especially amongst university students. One student has even started a home group, and he is rejoicing in the Lord, because God has opened so many doors for sharing the gospel in 2023.

In India, a man from a Hindu background has recently become a believer. When he heard the gospel for the first time, he repented of his sins and decided to follow Jesus. His life changed completely, and he was baptised on Christmas Day. Praise God for his salvation! Your generous giving and prayers will help Christians mentor and support these new believers as they begin their journey of faith.

You prayed: BMS has the privilege of telling stories of both joy and difficulty around the world. We pray that BMS would do this sensitively and wisely, honouring those who have trusted us with their life stories.

Over the last year, the BMS Communications Team have worked hard to tell stories sensitively and to honour the people who have entrusted us with their stories. God has even given us opportunities to share how we use stories with the people that BMS works with. Our Days of Plenty appeal featured Barbara, a farmer from Gulu in Uganda. When a BMS filming team visited her, they showed her and her family how they had used her photo in a previous edition of Engage magazine – she and her children were delighted! We are always learning how to improve how we tell stories ethically, and we continue to ask God to guide us in this area of our work.

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Three Ugandan children smile as they look at photos of themselves in a magazine. A third person, out of shot is holding the magazine for them.
Barbara’s children loved reading about themselves in Engage!
What’s more inspiring than abundantly answered prayer?!

If you’re keen to pray with us next Sunday, 4 February, on the BMS Day of Prayer, you can find all the resources you need to run your service right here. We can’t wait to see how God moves through your prayers in 2024!

*Names changed for security reasons.
Words by Chris Manktelow and Laura Durrant.

Help save lives in Ukraine this Christmas

2022: a BMS year in review

2022:

a BMS year in review

As we stood on the threshold of 2022 and looked forward, it’s doubtful many in the BMS World Mission community could have predicted what was to come in the year ahead. From war in Europe and a cost of living crisis, to incredible hope triumphing over struggle in the achievements of BMS partners and supporters – this is 2022, our year in review.

Hope in the darkest times

As we look back at 2022, one event looms especially large in our hearts and minds: the war in Ukraine. The shocking events of the Russian invasion in February soon unravelled into months of violence and bloodshed, resulting in a refugee crisis affecting millions. In the midst of it all, BMS supporters came together to raise an astounding total of more than £1.6 million.

That money went to help families like Lili’s, who fled Ukraine after surviving for more than a month in the basement of their home. Thanks to you, Lili and her children found shelter, practical support and a warm welcome in a church-turned-refugee centre in Poland. Watch her story below to learn more about the difference you made.

Download the video

Standing firm in crisis

The war in Ukraine had an impact that reached far beyond Europe’s borders. Shockwaves were felt across the world, especially in countries that had previously relied on Ukraine as the breadbasket of Europe. As global prices skyrocketed, it was the most vulnerable families who were hit the hardest. Thanks to you, they weren’t forgotten.

You supported families like Julie’s who fled Syria for the safety of Lebanon, but who experienced the impact of war all over again through an economic crisis that left them utterly devastated. As a result of your support, Julie’s been attending an education centre where she can make up for lost years – and where she finally feels safe and loved.

Photo of Julie with her family
A BMS-supported Church Learning Centre in Lebanon has given Syrian refugees like Julie (right) and her family renewed hope in 2022.

Good news from Good Land

Soumy* thought he’d have to leave Nepal to have a good life. Your support for the BMS Harvest appeal for 2022 persuaded him otherwise. The appeal, named Good Land, was based on the idea that flourishing can be found in Soumy’s home village of Ghusel, with the right opportunities and support. You brought that support in the form of veterinary training, child-centred education and clean water practices, as well as providing breeding goats to the community. The results have been so encouraging – check out a video shot on the ground in Ghusel to see them for yourselves!

Download the video

Your prayers bringing justice

Your faithful support and prayers this year have helped embed crucial gender justice and creation stewardship principles across all our work. In November, you prayed for our gender justice champions, which we shared on our Facebook and Twitter pages during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign. These dedicated individuals are working hard to see God’s justice reign throughout BMS-supported work.

And just before that, you prayed along with our Creation Stewardship Co-ordinator Laura-Lee Lovering ahead of COP27, trusting that the Lord would be at work among world leaders making big decisions about the future of the planet. Your support and prayers for these areas are so crucial to making God’s vision of justice real across the world – so thank you for praying with us!

Two women pastors from Bangladesh smile at the camera, along with a man and a woman
BMS workers Pete and Lou celebrate with Nandita and Jyoti!

Celebrating and making history in Bangladesh!

At the end of the year, our partner the Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha (BBCS) celebrated the 225th anniversary of BMS founder William Carey’s arrival in Bengal. Thousands of people came together to celebrate BBCS’ rich history, and to anticipate an exciting future, as with the celebration came the ordination of BBCS’ first two female pastors!

Praise God for Pastors Nandita Sharkar and Jyoti Ratner! Please pray for them as they take their first steps in their ministries this year.

Praying for Afghanistan

Afghanistan is another nation that has really been on our hearts this year. We shared an update on the changes there during a period of relative stability over the summer, and many of you gave generously to our Afghanistan Christmas appeal to help farmers feed their families. However, you may have seen the recent news about more tragic restrictions on women’s rights and their ability to access work and education.

There is so little hope left in Afghanistan – especially for Afghan women – so we ask that you continue to pray for this nation. Please pray for wisdom, open hearts and for a resolution to this situation that is hurting those who have already been hurt the most.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for the difference you’ve made across the world in 2022. Without your generous giving, faithful prayers, dedicated volunteering and hearty support, none of the work mentioned above would have been possible! You can be sure that with your support in 2023, you’ll reach people in need, help build strong communities and see even more people come to Christ this year.

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*Name changed for security purposes.
Words by Hannah Watson and Laura Durrant.

Your Harvest legacy

Your Harvest legacy

The gifts you gave are still bearing fruit

Do you ever wonder what happens when BMS World Mission appeals wind down for another year? In this week’s story, you get to find out. We take you back over five previous much-loved Harvest appeals, and learn how your generosity is still bearing fruit in the lives you touched, even years into the future. From Nepal to Afghanistan and Thailand to Chad, here’s the difference you made.

2015: My Father’s House

In 2015, we shared with you the story of Ramu, a man who was paralysed in a terrible truck accident. Like countless others in Nepal, this hardworking father was told that his life was over when the accident shattered his spine. But, thanks to the incredible work of BMS occupational therapist Megan Barker, and your generous support, Ramu has gone on to live a full life that’s been characterised by hope, enabling his young family to flourish alongside him.

A Nepali family stand in front of their home.
Your support helped give Diyu and her family hope in the face of tragedy.
Picture of Alan & Megan Barker
Megan and her husband Alan work to make sure vulnerable families in Nepal get the support they need.

In 2022, Megan Barker was able to revisit Ramu’s family and share with us an encouraging update. The My Father’s House feature video was narrated by Ramu’s daughter Diya, who was then ten years old. Seven years on, Ramu’s children are still doing well at school and the family has saved enough money to buy a scooter, improving their ability to travel. They’ve also invested money in developing their home a lot more since the appeal was filmed, including creating better access to the property. “Ramu and his wife are both fit and well, and are very smiley,” says Megan. “The family are doing well.”

2017: Wonderfully Made

Back in 2017, we introduced you to Adventure Man, Captain Kindness and Mr Determined – aka Tada, Natalie and Phil from Hope Home, a BMS-supported home for children with disabilities in Thailand. Phil is settled with his foster family, and we chatted to mission worker Judy Cook to get an update on how Natalie and Tada are doing.

A Thai girl sat on a climbing frame
Thank you for supporting Natalie through our Wonderfully Made appeal in 2017!

“Natalie is continuing to do well at her special school and loves learning there. Her foster family is amazing and love her dearly, as do we all at Hope Home. On the days when Natalie comes to Hope Home, she loves to come and read to the children as they receive their physiotherapy treatment. She’s so caring!

“Tada is as active, inquisitive and fun-loving as ever. He loves to sing all songs, but especially children’s worship songs and his choice of DVD to watch is Bible stories – his favourite is Elijah! He is now able to slot into a lot more official therapy support at a regional centre, so his speech and general behaviours and development are slowly improving.”

2018: Life’s First Cry

The heartbreak of women in Afghanistan losing their babies to preventable illnesses moved many of you in 2018. The Life’s First Cry feature video took us through the snow-covered mountains of Afghanistan’s central highlands and into the homes of women like Andisha (pictured), who lost her first 11 babies to ill health. A year and a half after filming, we went back to visit Andisha, her husband Mohammed, her daughter Roya and the son she gave birth to after receiving safe birthing classes through your support. Roya, “who is kind of naughty!” explains Andisha, was just about to start school, and Navid, “who is very calm”, was just a toddler. As with any other kids, they were both enjoying playing with their toys and having fun.

A photo of a mother in Afghanistan with her daughter and son

Since helping Andisha’s family in 2018, you’ve also played a part in transforming her community through your ongoing support of BMS work in Afghanistan, bringing sanitary latrines, literacy skills and nutrition courses to her village. So much has changed in Afghanistan since our visit to Andisha’s family, but we know that one thing certainly hasn’t: the commitment and care that BMS supporters feel for the people of this beautiful but often troubled nation. You’ll have another chance to support BMS work in Afghanistan this Christmas, so make sure you’re subscribed to the BMS weekly email update so you don’t miss out.

2020: Operation: Chad

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, you showed incredible support for the amazing staff members at Guinebor II Hospital (G2) in Chad. Now that Covid-19 is less of a threat in Chad, the staff have been able to focus their energies on other crucial medical issues facing the community: namely, malaria and malnutrition.

A man and a woman in scrubs and masks
Brian and Jackie Chilvers have pioneered malnutrition and nursing work at G2 since joining Team Chad in 2021.
A man conducting surgery in Chad.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, you raised over £300,000 for G2 Hospital in Chad.

“The biggest health concern that our neighbours expressed was worry about malaria… some of the things we heard were really heartbreaking, about how many children people have lost,” says Jackie Chilvers, who has joined the G2 team, along with her husband Brain, since Operation: Chad premiered. Fortunately, they’ve been able to help pioneer an education programme to help people understand how to prevent malaria and where medical support for those who contract it is available – whether that be at G2 or through pre-established government programmes. Jackie’s also come alongside BMS worker Mel Spears to set up a malnutrition clinic, to help dangerously ill children get back on track, and enable families to get the right help for their children.

2021: I Will Stand

Last year’s Harvest appeal marked a first for BMS, using animation to tell the stories of courageous Christians whose faces we couldn’t share. Though we couldn’t show their photos, we knew that God had counted every hair on their heads and was using their witness in powerful ways to spread his amazing gospel. You stood with believers like Z as she reached out to communities in North Africa who were yet to hear the good news of Jesus. And we’re so pleased to report that Z is still standing strong a year later, able to continue her ministry thanks to your giving and prayers.

A woman typing on a keyboard.
Z is committed to boldly sharing her faith, despite the risks.
An illustration of a woman sat a desk.
Z's daughters loved seeing their mum's story come to life.

“She said that she was well, is enjoying her role and is passionate about why she is doing it,” explains BMS Overseas Team Leader Sarah Mhamdi, who visited Z earlier this year. “She’s seeking ways to reach more people and to be able to answer more of their questions and help people grow in their faith. Please continue to pray for her own birth family that they will come to share her faith. She continues to be thankful for our prayers and support.” Supporters weren’t the only ones who enjoyed the colourful illustrations used to capture Z’s testimony. Z’s own little girls loved seeing their mum come to life through animation, and felt very proud that she had shared her story!

You’ve done such amazing things by supporting BMS Harvest appeals in the past – why not continue your streak by supporting Good Land, our Harvest appeal for 2022? Over the years, you’ve helped communities in desperate need all over the world, and this year you can help the people of Ghusel, Nepal, transform their village. They dream of good-quality education for their children, of clean water that’s accessible to the whole community, of training to help make sure their livestock stay healthy. Will you help their dreams become reality? Give now to help transform the village of Ghusel today!

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Words by Hannah Watson, Editor of Engage magazine and Laura Durrant.

Afghanistan Winter appeal

Afghanistan Winter appeal

Freezing snow. Arid ground. A long dark Afghan winter.

How will Fazal* feed his family?

Freehand pen drawing of a basket with carrots, snow and berries

Fazal is desperate for any way to help feed his family. The only vegetables he has been able to grow are a few small potatoes, nowhere near enough to feed a family of ten, and certainly not enough to make sure his young children grow up healthy and strong.

Fazal’s neighbour Ruby* is a BMS Agricultural Specialist and has been working in the mountains of Afghanistan for nearly three years. Almost every family she works with shares the same story: a desperate desire to provide for their families however they can. Unemployment rates have skyrocketed following the Taliban takeover in 2021, intense droughts and natural disasters have had disastrous effects on much of the country and inflation rates have risen astronomically, making it harder than ever to get by. And so many aid workers haven’t been able to return to help them. Which is why Ruby is asking you to give to help the people she works with this winter.

How you can help
  • £16 could provide one farmer with the tools and seeds to start growing a kitchen garden full of healthy, nutritious food for their children.
  • £42 could cover the cost for one farmer to have agricultural training at the BMS-supported community orchard, to help them get the best out of their crops and make sure their families don’t go hungry.
  • £97 could pay for one polytunnel and help Ruby train farmers like Fazal to protect their crops and produce a bountiful harvest.

“You know as well as I do the pain the people of Afghanistan have experienced over the last few years. It breaks my heart to see families like Fazal’s struggling when all they want is to give their families a good life. Which is why I’m asking you whether you can give.” – Ruby




Pouring water over the roots of a small tree
Fazal is determined to do whatever it takes to feed his family this winter. But he needs your help to do it.

How to give

  • Use the giving form on this page
  • Call the BMS donation line on 01235 517641, Monday to Friday, between 10 am and 4 pm
  • Send a cheque made payable to BMS World Mission with a note that this is for the Afghanistan Christmas appeal
  • Give regularly and provide support in the longer term through BMS’ work across the world
Give regularly

Your gift will give agricultural support and training to farmers like Fazal living in rural Afghanistan. If our appeal target is exceeded, additional funds will support urgent work in the world’s most marginalised countries, based on where the need is greatest.

Appeal update January 2023:

In response to the Afghanistan government’s ban on Afghan women working for NGOs, and with our full support, BMS World Mission’s partner, alongside most international and local aid groups, has paused operations to stand in solidarity with their female staff.

Your gift will continue to make a difference through our partner’s projects in Afghanistan, which will resume as soon as is practicable. But as they work with other NGOs to lobby the government to reverse this decision, will you also join us in praying for wisdom, open-hearts and a resolution to a situation that hurts those who have already been hurt the most.

Why not share the BMS Afghanistan Christmas appeal with your church?

*All names changed for security purposes

An update from Afghanistan

What’s changed?

An update from Afghanistan

Praying for this

The past year has held a multitude of tragedies and challenges for the nation of Afghanistan.

The global cost of living crisis, a dramatic change in government, natural disasters, all on top of an already fragile nation have led to much change in the lives of ordinary people. We spoke to BMS World Mission worker Ruby* about some of the differences she’s seen to life in the country over the last year – and some of the things that have stayed the same, thanks to the constant faithful prayers of BMS supporters.

What has changed?

The hustle and bustle…

Whether due to the cost of living crisis or the new political reality in Afghanistan, when Ruby arrived back in the country, the first thing she noticed was that there was much less traffic in the capital city. “It was much, much quieter. A lot fewer people on the streets generally milling around,” she says. “It was a normal busy city that was just chaotic traffic-wise before… but when we came back, it took us not a long time at all to flow through everything.” But despite there being fewer people on the streets, Ruby knows there are still so many communities which need her help – it’s why she committed to returning to work there despite the challenges.

A photo of a street in Afghanistan.

The clothing…

The change in government means that women in Afghanistan now have to be much more careful with the clothes they wear. “We have to wear more layers now than we ever used to,” Ruby says. “We used to be able to just wear long dresses with trousers on… but now we’re having to wear full length jackets or wraps over our heads down to our feet.”

Ruby is used to wearing culturally appropriate clothing, but wearing more layers doesn’t make it easy for her in her work on agriculture projects. But she knows that if the communities she works with can do it, then she can too.

Access to work…

When the Taliban first took over, one of our partner’s main priorities was making sure it was safe for women at the organisation to go back to work. Thankfully, female staff members have been able to return to their jobs, but it’s not been an easy process. “When we arrived, we had to go and ask for permission to work; especially me because I work with men rather than women, which is very unusual,” explains Ruby.

Women have to carry paperwork with them at all times to prove they’re allowed to work, and even then, some authorities won’t let women go to work at all. All of this further reinforces for Ruby and her team just how crucial it is to keep working with and empowering women where they can, despite the challenging context.

A photo of women walking in Afghanistan.

The need…

“Prices are a lot more expensive. Some things have doubled in price,” says Ruby. “There are a lot more beggars on the street now than there ever was, so obviously poverty is on the rise.” We’re all experiencing challenges as the cost of living crisis goes on, but countries like Afghanistan, where people were already struggling, will be feeling the strain the most.

What hasn't changed?

Our partner’s commitment to helping those in need…

“All [my female colleagues] have come back [to work] – and they love their work and they love the fact they are helping people,” shares Ruby. Despite the challenges Afghanistan is facing right now, BMS and our partner have not given up hope of reaching people there. We’re working as hard as we can to get as much of our work back up and running, and even expanding, so we can make sure we can reach people in desperate need.

A photo of a man working a field in Afghanistan.

The commitment of BMS supporters to praying for Afghanistan…

BMS supporters have been lifting Afghanistan up in prayer so faithfully over the last year, and your prayers really have opened doors for BMS work to begin again. Thank you so much for your dedication and faithfulness – please do keep praying for this nation.

“Please pray for peace, mainly within people,” says Ruby. “I think there’s so much stress and so much uncertainty, people need to have peace within themselves, that they’re doing what they can. And pray for the new government, to be able to actually help its people.”

The opportunity to help…

You can keep supporting BMS work in Afghanistan through prayer, but also by giving regularly as a 24:7 Partner. Your monthly gifts can help Ruby in her agricultural work with vulnerable families struggling to feed their children, and make sure we can keep reaching people in need in Afghanistan. We’re also planning further opportunities for you to step in and help later on this year, so watch this space.

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*Names changed.
Words by Laura Durrant.

Pray for refugees this World Refugee Week

Q&A:

Pray for refugees this World Refugee Week

Praying for this

As we commemorate World Refugee Week this week, we sat down with BMS World Mission-supported worker Will Cumbia to learn more about his crucial work supporting refugees at BMS’ partner the European Baptist Federation (EBF).

What drew you to your work with migrants and migration issues?

My heart broke watching the 2015-16 refugee crisis in Europe and I wanted to help in some way. I have always had a heart for hospitality and was the one in a room who wanted to make sure no-one was left out. I wanted to be part of that tangible welcome for those who had been pushed out of their homes or who were displaced for other reasons. Once I found out about the good work of Baptists across Europe and the Middle East who were extending welcome, I knew I had to come and support the work!

What is the best thing about your job?

I love how my job is extremely cross-cultural and allows me to interact with people from dozens of countries and different cultural backgrounds. I am constantly astounded by the breadth of diversity of the Church and yet how God’s consistent character is woven into that diversity. I love that I get to witness God’s Kingdom breaking through in such unique and unexpected places.

A man in a beanie
Will works with BMS partner the European Baptist Federation as Coordinator for Migration Issues.

What is the hardest thing about your job?

I am constantly faced with the reality that the number of displaced people continues to grow and not decrease. I have had the privilege of walking alongside many refugees and hearing their stories and it is crippling some days to realise that their reality is the reality of millions around the world. My work often feels like throwing a cup of water on a forest fire.

A man and a woman washing up
BMS World Mission supporters raised an unprecedented £1.6 million to support a Europe-wide Baptist response for refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. Image: © Chris Hoskins/BMS World Mission

How has your faith informed your work?

This line of work is challenging and seemingly endless. I have to trust that, despite the harsh realities, God is good and he is still at work. Without this hope that comes from my faith, the pain and darkness would be all consuming. My prayer is that I will be able to, in a small way, shine light and hope into these dark spaces.

How has your work informed your faith?

Reading the Bible alongside refugees completely changed my whole understanding of faith and of Scripture. The Old Testament in particular came alive in a new way for me as I saw that Scripture consistently told the story of people displaced, cast out and persecuted, and God walking in solidarity with them. It also shifted my concept of home and what it means for Christians to abide in Christ and Christ in us. I no longer see church as just a place to gather and worship, but as home; a space where we invite all in to experience God’s abiding love.

Helle Liht, Assisstant General Secretary at EBF, shares a message for World Refugee Day

Download the video

How have you seen God at work during the last six months?

The first few days after the war broke out in Ukraine were some of the most stressful of my life. Yet, I have never felt more hopeful as I witnessed the monumental movement of Baptists around the world who rapidly came together to respond. To see such a massive show of solidarity, I can only attribute it to God’s Spirit moving in a powerful way. And of course, experiencing the faith of Ukrainian Baptists in the face of unimaginable hardships is further testament to the fortitude of God’s grace. Despite our flaws as Baptists, I’ve never been more proud and thankful that this is the family God has called me to work alongside.

Collage, a woman putting some clothes into a washing machine; a man and woman with their two daughters and son
Alongside Ukraine, BMS work this year has supported people fleeing Syria and Afghanistan, the two most represented countries in asylum claims.

As we commemorate World Refugee Week this week, what is your hope and prayer for the future?

My hope and prayer is that the Church would mobilise to be a force of welcome and hospitality for people on the move. Practically, this looks like preparing our churches to welcome the stranger well, but it also means advocacy at all government levels, financially supporting organisations working in refugee camps, and praying deeply for the needs of displaced people. I believe that the Church has an incredible witnessing opportunity to mirror the hospitality that God extends to us, through a robust and co-ordinated welcome of displaced peoples.

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A BMS year in review

The difference you made in 2021

A BMS year in review

Join us for a year in review, exploring all God did amidst the challenges of 2021. Rejoice in what he’s achieved through you and your part in the BMS World Mission family.

You raised your voices

At the beginning of the year, you stood with us as we petitioned for equitable access to the Covid-19 vaccine across the world. We’re so grateful to everyone who added their names to the petition (over 3,000 of you!) for joining us with our colleagues at The People’s Vaccine Alliance and the Baptist World Alliance in raising awareness of this crucial justice issue.

Campaign for a covid-free world

You subscribed

Engage, the BMS magazine, was packed full of stories you made possible in 2021! We celebrated Engage’s fiftieth issue in 2021, and got to share stories of how you’re saving lives from a disease the world forgot in Chad, of people coming to faith in Thailand and of bringing justice to people wrongly imprisoned in Uganda. If you want to hear stories like these, make sure you subscribe to Engage!

You gave

BMS supporters have been incredibly generous this year – and your giving has made an amazing difference. Whether you helped raise over £47,000 to help feed vulnerable families in Uganda, Afghanistan or Peru, or were part of the amazing response that raised over £287,000 to help those at risk of Covid-19 in Nepal at the 2021 Baptist Assembly, you can be certain that your gifts have changed and saved lives this year. Thank you!

You prayed

A man walking past a mural
Photo taken in 2020.

While we had much cause for joy this year, we also experienced much sorrow. As the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August, you prayed for the safe evacuation of BMS mission workers, and for local people to stay safe in the country. While we’re pleased that some of our partner’s work has been able to continue, we ask that you continue to pray for this nation, and for peace and stability to be seen there.

Engage magazine cover
BMS stories you loved this year!

Love your neighbour: Lessons from Kosovo – five ways you can love your neighbour

Are you willing? – BMS workers Paul and Sarah Brown reflect on ten years in Thailand

The hospital, the miracle and the impossible secret – bringing people to faith in Chad

Food for thought – you’re helping feed school children in Nepal

They are not alone – coming to Christ in the face of persecution in India

You took a stand

You took a stand with your brothers and sisters across the world by sharing the BMS I Will Stand Harvest appeal in your churches. Thanks to your support, you helped raise over £139,000 to help provide Bibles for people who’ve never heard the gospel before, give Bible training to new believers, and support church planters as they share the Word of God.

I Will Stand

Thank you!

You’ve done all this and more in 2021 – thank you so much for being part of the BMS family this year. We can’t wait to see how God moves through all of you in 2022! Why not share this story with your church, so they can see what they’ve been part of this year?

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Words by Laura Durrant.

A Q&A brings news from a much-changed, muted Afghanistan

“My hope is that God will turn this around:”

A Q&A brings news from a much-changed, muted Afghanistan

Praying for this

Lament. That’s what comes to mind for many of us when we think about the recent takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. We lament for what this nation has lost, but also pray for its future, that God’s comfort and light might be seen there in unprecedented ways. To get to the heart of what we can be praying for, we spoke to Mary*, a BMS World Mission worker who served in Afghanistan until the recent evacuations, about how life has changed in Afghanistan, and her hopes for the nation.

Afghanistan has obviously been very much on everyone's hearts over the last few months. Could you tell me a bit about what things were like before the evacuations?

Leading up to the evacuation, we realised that things were starting to go faster than we’d hoped in the Taliban’s favour. Our concern was to make sure that the work being done by BMS’ partner could carry on. And our concern was for the people that we work with, those who don’t have foreign passports and so couldn’t get out the country, as we knew that we would be able to.
We started to notice [in our area of the country] that the women were less visible on the streets. The ones that were on the streets were more covered up. The women are very covered up anyway, but the colours were more muted. It was summer, usually you see a few more bright colours. The men started to grow beards. And there was a real atmosphere of fear and hopelessness. It was very hard to know what to say to people because it became obvious that it was likely that the Taliban would take over a large part of the country, you don’t want to give platitudes or say I understand because, as foreigners, we don’t.

How did it feel seeing all those changes?

I think sadness, of feeling that there were limits. Not knowing what we could do, wanting to help, and knowing that help was limited. We always think we want to do something, that there’s some sort of physical action. Actually, all we could do was pray and try to encourage and to listen. But for our friends who were struggling for food and for money and living in a society they hadn’t really chosen, that was forced on them, that’s just very sad. Very heavy.

What are you hearing from colleagues in Afghanistan about the current situation?

People have said that there is some kind of normality, certainly for the men and for the children. The men are back at work, the children are back at school. A lot of the women are still at home. But it’s a very uneasy normality. People are waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting to see what actually happens. We’ve heard what the [new Government of Afghanistan] have said about allowing women to do various jobs and so on. But this happened last time. There are people who remember when the Taliban were in power before. We need to see what they actually do rather than what they say they’re going to do.

Doves flying over barbed wire
Photo taken in 2019.

You’ve spoken before about how Afghanistan has almost always been in between two foreign powers, could you maybe expand a little bit on that and why that might have led to the situation we're seeing today?

When there was a Russian empire and a British Empire, the Brits were involved in India, the Russians wanted to be, so there were three Anglo-Afghan Wars [at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century] because Britain wanted to be ruling Afghanistan to prevent the Russians getting to India. So, you feel that the Afghan people are collateral damage really to that.
And then obviously after 9/11, the US and allies were involved in Afghanistan. It hasn’t all been bad for the Afghan people, there have been some positive results of having foreign influence.

A man walking past a mural
Photo taken in 2020.

What would your hope be for Afghanistan?

My hope is that people will remember from this past 20 years that life can be different and that they will keep working to that. That in the day to day, the women will be more respected than they seem to be under the [current Afghan Government], that they will be treated more fairly, and that people will be able to use the skills and the knowledge that they’ve acquired to be able to prepare for a better Afghanistan. It feels like a lot has slipped back. But I don’t think this past 20 years have been wasted at all. I think they’ve been building the people up. They’ve shown them a different way. I think with the influence of the internet, there is that link with the outside world and there is a link with something that’s very different. My hope is that God will turn this around. Because I don’t know anybody else who can. And for that we desperately need people to pray and to keep praying for Afghanistan.

Afghan flags
Photo taken in 2018.

What can people be praying for?

There are many things. We’re told to pray for those who are in government and a few of us on our team felt really convicted to pray for the Taliban. Praying for the people, our colleagues that we’ve left behind, people who have been working to help others to serve their countrymen, for them to be able to continue. For the men, most of them have been able to go back to work, but it’s basically under [government] control and the [Afghan Government] are the bosses now in most places. Pray that that work will be able to continue and that the women will find ways of being able to help as well. Please pray for the women. Pray that they will not completely lose heart, but that God will be their comfort and that in all of this people will turn to God. To the real God as their only source of hope.

Keep Afghanistan in your prayers

Please do use the prayer points given by Mary above to guide your prayers for Afghanistan. Please do pray for BMS and the ministries we support in Afghanistan, that God will grant wisdom on those who are navigating how best to we can support this nation.

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*Name changed.
Interview by Laura Durrant

Pray for Afghanistan

Pray for Afghanistan

Join us in prayer for Taliban-governed Afghanistan

All BMS World Mission workers in Afghanistan have now left the country.

The Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan in a ten-day advance following the withdrawal of US and other foreign troops in June and July. We have evacuated all BMS workers in Afghanistan from the country. Please continue to pray for our Afghan partner at this time, as we actively explore how we can respond and meet the needs of people in Afghanistan.

BMS World Mission has worked in Afghanistan since 1997, partnering with organisations that serve the people of Afghanistan through training and capacity strengthening. Areas of work include community development, mental health support, agricultural training and palliative care.

map of Afghanistan

Please pray:

  • For wisdom for NGOs and charitable bodies working within Afghanistan, as they seek to support the communities they work with through this incredibly difficult time
  • For BMS workers who have left the country, and seek to continue their vital work remotely
  • For BMS’ commitment to the nation of Afghanistan, and for discussions taking place as to how best to shape an ongoing response to an ever-changing situation
  • For strength for people in Afghanistan now feeling under threat and worrying for their futures, and for protection for those who feel forced to leave the country or to move their families to a safer region
  • For lasting peace and stability to be found in the nation of Afghanistan
Download the prayer points

The families you helped feed

The families you helped feed

News from this year's spring appeal

If you gave to the BMS World Mission Feeding Families appeal, you’ve blessed the lives of countless people. BMS workers Genesis Acaye, Laura-Lee Lovering and Ruby* share the latest on how your donations have made a difference.

“I am so grateful for you,” writes Genesis. “Thank you for giving to help some of the world’s most marginalised people. Your gift is supporting families like Simon’s, who I’ve been working with here in northern Uganda.” Genesis is responding to an email we sent, asking what difference the donations to the BMS Feeding Families spring appeal have made to his work. His reply, as ever, is filled with joy at the progress of the crops lovingly cultivated by farmers he’s been supporting, and excitement for the next batch of seedlings to arrive. In the email, he tells us the story of Simon, one of the youth leaders of Pajja Baptist Church in Gulu, Uganda – and we’re hooked.

A Ugandan couple called Simon and Ketty, pictured by their house in Gulu, northern Uganda.
Simon and Ketty hoped to build a safer home for their three-year-old daughter.

Simon had long dreamt of building a house with a tin roof for his family. In his neighbourhood, it would be one of a kind. Houses in Gulu typically have grass-thatched roofs which, though beautiful and practical, are very vulnerable to wildfires. A tin roof would keep Simon, his wife Ketty and their daughter, Lakareber Faith, safe throughout the year, and especially during the dry season.

Through your incredible support of the BMS Feeding Families appeal, you raised over £39,079.97 (at the time of writing!) to help intrepid women and men like Simon to provide for their loved ones in the harshest of circumstances. In fact, more than 500 UK Christians responded to the letter we sent out, describing how raising a healthy harvest has become more and more challenging for daily wage farmers worldwide due to erratic weather patterns and the changing climate. And through BMS agricultural training that you helped fund in Uganda, Simon learnt how to grow a wide range of crops to provide for his family, protect the environment, and make his dream a reality.

“Equipped with new farming knowledge and through a lot of hard work, Simon grew and sold cabbage, soybeans and corn, and over time he raised enough money to buy iron sheets for his dream roof,” says Genesis. Simon, Ketty and Lakareber Faith have now moved into their new home. They are now better protected from erratic weather and wildfires, and they’ve inspired the rest of the village as to what is possible with the right support and skills.

“First and foremost, I want to thank the churches in UK for their support to us here in form of seeds, trainings and encouragement,” says Simon. “The trainings and support have changed me and the way I farm now… We trust God and believe that our lives will keep on improving. We will keep praying for you and pray for us too so that we can work hard and change our lives.”

Two Ugandan men laugh together in a field of crops.
"Over time [Simon] raised enough money to buy iron sheets for his dream roof,” says Genesis.

“Sometimes when you give a gift to support the work of BMS, you may not know the whole community impact. It might look small and you may not know who you are supporting. But I want to tell you that your support is actually very big. You may think your gift is only enough to help a few people — but those people will go on to help others. And so, person by person, your support is causing magnificent transformation around the world.” — BMS worker and agriculturalist, Genesis Acaye

But food shortages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis extended beyond Uganda – and so does the help that you’ve so generously given. The £39,000 total has also gone towards providing training for 40 river pastors in Peru on creation stewardship and living well. Knowledge dissemination is the key to large-scale change in the region that has been described as ‘the lungs of the Earth’.  So, radio shows that your support has funded will also reach communities for an 80-mile stretch along the Amazon River. “Thank you so much for your support,” says Laura-Lee Lovering, BMS environmental scientist in Peru. “You are helping us continue working with local pastors and leaders, encouraging and equipping them to recognise the natural resources God has provided to them through the rainforest (such as food, water and medicine), and their important role as stewards of God’s good creation.”

A lady in a dark top stands against a background in the Amazon jungle.
Laura-Lee Lovering loves training pastors in Peru in creation stewardship.
A hand planting a sapling in Afghanistan.
Very little fruit is ordinarily able to grow in this area of Afghanistan.

Likewise, your giving has made a difference in the rural mountains of Afghanistan, where the winter snow melt can mean the difference between having enough to eat in the spring, or utter despair. Needless to say, there’s no supermarket to pop to for supplies when times are hard. “Thank you so much for giving so generously to the Feeding Families appeal,” says BMS mission worker and agricultural expert Ruby. Ruby is creating a ‘food forest’, with apple, pear, plum and walnut trees, and it’s already attracted the attention of families in the surrounding villages, coming to ask about how to look after fruit trees, feed and prune them. “Very little, if any, fruit is grown in this area,” explains Ruby. “So with the food forest we hope to teach people about healthy eating, as well as helping the environment by planting much-needed trees.”

Your support for the Feeding Families appeal in Afghanistan means that:

• The team will be able to run five training sessions, each for 25 local farmers, focusing on caring for fruit trees and sharing basic techniques to help the trees flourish, like composting, mulching and water management.

• Farmers will receive ‘how to’ booklets to help them grow more nutritious food.

• In the long term, families in remote villages will improve their diet and health, and have increased income through selling their excess fruit.

Thank you for supporting BMS’ Feeding Families appeal, helping precious people to adapt and thrive in a hugely difficult year. Genesis says it all, writing: “Sometimes when you give a gift to support the work of BMS, you may not know the whole community impact. It might look small and you may not know who you are supporting. But I want to tell you that your support is actually very big. You may think your gift is only enough to help a few people – but those people will go on to help others. And so, person by person, your support is causing magnificent transformation around the world. May God bless you abundantly for your gift and your prayers.”

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*Ruby’s name changed to protect identity

Words by Hannah Watson,
Editor of Engage, the BMS World Mission magazine.

Missing Afghanistan: When the time comes to say goodbye

Missing Afghanistan:

When the time comes to say goodbye

Praying for this

Pioneering programmes, new personnel, exciting news. These are the stories you usually hear from BMS World Mission. Today, BMS worker Rory* reflects on leaving a much loved nation after two decades, and what it’s like to say goodbye.

Of things we know we’ll miss about Afghanistan, and the culture, and the way things are done… it’s the people. Friends. And I think that slightly more random way of doing things, maybe. You don’t realise how flexible or reactive you’ve become until you come back somewhere, where, if I want to go and see my brother, he’s got to get his diary out and tell me when, three weeks from now, they’re next free. Whereas if your brother came to see you in Afghanistan, you literally drop everything and make some soup. And they stay with you for as long as they want. I think [we’ll miss] that level of open generosity and flexibility and willingness to stop what you’re doing because of people.

BMS worker in Afghanistan, saying goodbye

When it comes to new projects… you have this vision, and you know ‘this is something God’s put in my heart to do’… and you do plant a few things, and not everything comes up. Sometimes, you just have to let go and step back, and just let things either grow or kind of fade away – and say, ‘what God wills will continue’, and trust that. Because there is a lot of what we do, even with the best intentions, that is really driven by our own human ambition or ego or experience. God works in partnership with us as we try and achieve things – and God is very adaptable and flexible – he’s not depending on us to get things right, otherwise it would all fail.

When tough things happen… you don’t know whether what feels to you like a bad thing is actually from the hand of God, or whether it’s something God is allowing to happen for a purpose of bringing about good, or teaching you. It’s like Joseph when he was in prison, saying: ‘Other people meant it for bad, but God intended it for good’.

In terms of moments of joy, where things were made possible… there’s been a lot. Catherine*, my wife, has been part of trying to set up a mental health project, in the kind of context of mountain villages that you see in Life’s First Cry.

BMS worker in Afghanistan, saying goodbye

She wanted to get this really professional team from a major city to work with our little village team, and between them, they’ve come up with their own idea of what rural mental health outreach looks like. That synergy between these two teams that we’ve been working with for a long time, developing them, has meant they have been able to get together during this Covid year, in the absence of [many of us being with them] on the ground. Encouraged and enabled by us, they’re creating a new thing to meet serious, huge needs, of drug addiction, youth suicide and depression and just hopelessness. All these sorts of things afflict families in ultra-poor parts of the world anywhere, but particularly Afghanistan, with the violence overlay from the conflict on top of it. So that’s been a real positive, even coming out of this year. I was not so much surprised, but just impressed and glad that the local leadership stepped up, took charge, and took responsibility for some really tough decisions during the last year.

BMS worker in Afghanistan, saying goodbye

Some of the standouts for me have been… making the film of Life’s First Cry. That was super fun. But also, the way we just turned up in village after village and got these true stories from people without any priming, just hearing genuine stuff where people’s lives and children had been saved. That was just such a tribute to the village team in what they’d been able to achieve, with willing helpers in the villages to help teach the material.
Another one was a drought recovery programme, bringing decent wheat into places where they had to eat their seed reserves over the winter, and they didn’t have anything to replant. Being able to see people’s livelihoods coming back and them actually having surplus crops again – that was really good.

As today’s story illustrates, while the right time may come for our workers to leave a country, they never truly say goodbye. Rory and Catherine are confident that the team they’ve left behind in Afghanistan will continue where they’ve left off, but there is still much need there. They’ve asked us to go on praying for Afghanistan, for its people, and for the friends they’ve left behind:

  • Pray for peace, and for people to be able to live at peace with each other. Pray for some level of actual justice and reconciliation to go on.
  • Pray for rain and snow at the right time, and people not to suffer the extra hit of a famine and then loss of food.
  • And keep praying for the people who get named in the news, but for all the unknown people as well who are trying to do some good.
BMS worker in Afghanistan, saying goodbye
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Words by Hannah Watson, Editor of Engage, the BMS World Mission Magazine.
*Names changed.

Top Stories of 2020

You've done amazing things this year:

Top Stories of 2020

Well. It’s been a year. While we’ve all faced serious challenges in 2020, we don’t want to overlook all the incredible work God has done. Check out the top BMS World Mission stories of 2020 to see how God has been at work across the world this year – and how he’s used you to make a difference!

1. Pictures from the frontline: An oasis of healing

God’s light is shining in the Chadian desert thanks to the BMS-supported Guinebor II hospital, and we’ve so loved sharing stories of its staff and patients with you this year. Take a look behind the scenes of our Operation: Chad appeal and meet the people whose lives you’ve transformed.

Take a look behind the scenes

2. Surviving lockdown: tips from Afghanistan

Our workers in Afghanistan are no strangers to lockdowns, which is why we turned to them when the UK went into lockdown earlier this year. It’s humbling to remember that this is the norm for many people in Afghanistan, so as you enjoy checking out their tips, please continue to pray for people living in this fragile nation.

Read the story

3. The accidental pastor

Pastor Humberto holds up the keys he was handed to an empty church. He is wearing a blue t-shirt. Behind him is the green door of the church, and the blue and white painted wall.

Everyone loves a love story! And we loved sharing the story of how Pastor Humberto’s life was transformed through looking after the keys to the church in his village – and how it saved his marriage.

What happens next?

All these stories are just the smallest example of the impact your giving has had around the globe in 2020. Thank you so much for your faithful support of BMS work during this challenging year! If you want to continue to change lives in 2021, and in years to come, why not sign up to give to BMS regularly as a 24:7 Partner? Find out more right here.

Make more stories like these possible Sign up to become a 24:7 Partner!

4. Sahel surgeons: The most dramatic day

A man and a woman outside a hut in the desert.

Have you met Andrea and Mark Hotchkin? Because they are amazing. Seriously. Earlier this year, they were thrown into action when 23 injured fighters arrived at their hospital in northern Chad without warning. Stitching up bullet wounds, mending fractures, and donating units of their own blood – no task is too small for these medical heroes!

Meet the Hotchkins

5. Picking up glass: the human stories behind the Beirut blast

Hot food is handed out to people who have lost their homes due the blast in Beirut

Hearts broke across the world after the tragic explosion that rocked Beirut in August. Thank you to all the amazing BMS supporters who gave to the BMS Beirut appeal to help with the immediate relief effort. Take a look at this story to hear from the resilient people affected by the blast – and how they’re beginning to rebuild.

Read the story
Even more powerful stories from 2020

Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for BMS this year! Share this story with your friends and family, so they can see the amazing things you’ve achieved!

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Words by Laura Durrant.

Growing vegetables to transform lives

Saraab’s Garden

Growing vegetables to transform lives

What’s the connection between a carrot and a life transformed?

Spending time in the garden has been a lifesaver for many of us this year. And Saraab* is no different. In his garden, he grows carrots, pumpkins, cucumbers… the sort of things you would plant in your vegetable patch in the UK. Except Saraab isn’t in the UK – his village is in the rural mountains of Afghanistan, where resources are scarce, and the threat of the Taliban never goes away. You wouldn’t think growing vegetables could transform a life. But for Saraab, that’s exactly what’s happened.

“Children were malnourished. We are an impoverished people.” Saraab and his family live in a small village high in the mountains of Afghanistan. The temperature can drop as low as -40 degrees in the winter. Women tend the fires in their one-room houses built into the mountainside, while the men shovel snow off the roofs to stop it melting through. There’s no Tesco to pop down to where you can buy whatever food you need. No classes in school to teach you the basic food groups and how to eat a balanced diet. Here, you just have to do what you must to keep yourself and your family alive.

An Afghan man stands in his garden.
Saraab has often struggled to get food on the table to feed his family.

And this doesn’t just apply to putting enough food on the table. Many of you will remember our 2018 Harvest appeal, Life’s First Cry, teaching safe birthing practices to Afghan families who kept losing babies, and last year’s Christmas appeal, bringing clean water to rural villages in the Afghan mountains where the water wasn’t safe to drink. Saraab and the people in his village lived with these same hardships. But thanks to BMS World Mission supporters, that’s all changed.

Our people are deprived. And your help can change our lives.

Thanks to your support, Saraab doesn’t have to worry any longer about how he’s going to feed his six children. BMS’ partner works in rural mountain villages in Afghanistan to give people access to maternal health classes, information on clean water and sanitation – and to equip people to confidently grow their own food. “We didn’t know anything about vegetables or what they all were,” Saraab says. “But now we know about them and their importance to our bodies, and we all want to eat vegetables.” Thanks to you, Saraab has been able to grow a flourishing crop of healthy food, and make sure that his family never goes without. He knows how to feed his children well, to make sure they grow up strong and healthy, to keep them from dying from malnutrition like so many children in the village before them. All of this has been made possible through your faithful support – and that’s not everything!

An Afghan man tends his garden.
Saraab grows things like carrots, pumpkins and cucumbers in his garden – like many of us back in the UK!

We’d love to keep you updated about what we’re doing. If you are already receiving updates from us then we will continue to communicate with you in the ways you’ve asked us to, but if you’d like to hear from us, or to change your mind, email supporterservices@bmsworldmission.org or phone 01235 517638. We will never sell your data and we promise to keep your details safe and secure – for more information read our privacy policy. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator.

BMS worker Ruby* will soon be heading back to the mountains to help teach the women in the villages how to tend the land themselves. Traditionally, it would be the man’s role to pass on any agricultural knowledge from his time on the project, with the women learning through second-hand teaching from their husbands and brothers. But amongst all the other responsibilities of work, asking men to share knowledge this way just wasn’t effective. “They had varying results, depending on if the husband or brother took any of the information in or were just too busy to actually learn,” says Ruby. But with Ruby joining the team, she’ll be able to teach the women directly and empower them to grow their own food for their families – an unusual, but joyful sight for rural Afghanistan!

Gardens in Afghanistan
BMS worker Ruby will be empowering women in Afghanistan by teaching them to grow their own food to provide for their families.

“Growing your own food is good because you can actually feed your family, no matter what’s happening around you,” says Ruby. And that’s exactly the case for Saraab – no matter what comes, he’ll be able to keep his family healthy and well. There are so many more villages to reach with the good news that they can grow vegetables, get access clean water, keep their mums and babies safe – and you can help us do that. “Our people are deprived,” says Saraab. “And your help can change our lives.”

*Names changed.
Words by Laura Durrant.

Covid-19: Thank you for saving lives

Covid-19:

Thank you for saving lives

You have helped more than 36,000 people in 24 countries across the globe. And you’re making a difference right now.

Yemen. Afghanistan. Chad. Nigeria. South Sudan. Bangladesh. Ghana. Mozambique. These are some of the least developed countries in the world. These are some of the places where your gifts to the BMS World Mission Coronavirus appeal are making a huge difference.

Coronavirus global response: you helped more than 36,000 people

You are part of a global effort to respond to the Coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19 continues to threaten livelihoods, push people further into poverty, and disproportionately impact our world’s most vulnerable communities. While the pandemic rages on, BMS will continue to respond. And we can only do that because of you.

Key facts: your response so far
  • You’ve helped more than 36,000 people in 24 countries across four continents
  • You donated more than £288,000 to the global Baptist response
  • You enabled BMS to give 30 relief grants so far, in our most complex and wide-reaching relief effort ever

How you have made a difference

  • You’ve provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline workers, given emergency food supplies, provided soap and handwashing guidance, helped to build a satellite Coronavirus hospital, provided phone credit to pastors to reach their congregations, counselled patients and frontline workers… and more! And you’re still helping right now in some of the world’s most fragile communities

Right now, you’re part of co-ordinated responses in Lebanon, Greece, Turkey, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Yemen, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Chad. You’re providing food parcels, hygiene supplies, face masks and medical support. You’re standing with refugee communities and displaced people who lack the basic resources they need to survive this pandemic. And you’re also helping people in South America get back on their feet by providing small grants and training for people to re-start and strengthen businesses.

The food parcel you provided for Mashura was an absolute lifeline for her whole family.

Mashura lives with her husband and three children in a small one-room house in the Satkhira District of Bangladesh. This is her story, in her own words.

“Before this pandemic, our family was doing well. I used to support my family by raising cattle and chicken. Recently, we are in a crisis of food scarcity due to this Covid-19 pandemic. Earnings are completely cut-off due to the lockdown.

“I had to sell everything because of the Coronavirus outbreak. My husband lost his work and there was not enough food for everyone. We needed help so much and we were waiting for help from someone. We prayed to God to help us.

“When this situation was going on, we heard about the [BMS-supported] project providing food items for many people in need. Thanks to the infinite grace of God, I was also included in the list of food distribution. In such a situation, after receiving this food package, my family’s food needs have been met. There is no need to go to the market with risk. Me and my family have benefited a lot.

“I would like to thank the concerned donors for their help with food during this pandemic.”

A Bangladeshi woman receives aid from BMS' Coronavirus appeal
Thanks to your support Mashura was able to feed her family.
You've provided so much across the world in response to the coronavirus pandemic

By sacrificially supporting BMS in this time of global crisis, you have partnered with Baptist organisations across the world to help where it was and is needed most.

Some of the things you made possible this year include:

  • Providing food and soap for 1,200 people in Uganda, who were not only facing the threat of Coronavirus but were also affected by flash floods.
  • Empowering 8,770 children and teachers in Mozambique to help stop the spread of Covid-19 through the provision of soap and handwashing lessons.
  • Ensuring medical workers in Nepal and Chad had the PPE and face masks they needed to tackle Coronavirus in their hospitals.
  • Providing 2,604 people in Peru with vital food parcels.
  • And so much more!
Coronavirus response in Bangladesh
From Bangladesh to Peru, Uganda to the Philippines, you've made a huge difference across the world by supporting our Coronavirus appeal.

Thank you for saving lives across the world during this pandemic. And thank you for enabling us to continue responding to the needs our partners are sharing with us. You really are still making a difference.

Read in-depth stories of the way your gifts to the BMS Coronavirus appeal saved lives in Afghanistan and empowered women in Mozambique on pages 8 to 11 of Engage, Issue 48.

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Epidemic of fear

Epidemic of fear:

winning Afghanistan's mental health battle with Coronavirus

Praying for this

Reducing fear. Stopping panic spirals. And spreading positive messages that are so effective they’ve been adopted by the Government. You’ve enabled heroic Afghan mental health professionals to serve on the frontlines of the Coronavirus pandemic — and save lives.

You left your family, your home and your country in search of a better, safer life and work in Iran. Now, out of nowhere, a deadly virus has gripped your new hometown, and you find yourself with hundreds of other young men, fleeing back to Afghanistan in fear for your life. You’re shoved in the back of a pick-up truck, pressed against the other young men who are fleeing with you. Breathing their breath. You think by leaving you can escape the virus, but you’re actually bringing it with you. There’s nowhere left to run.

Earlier this year, thousands of Afghan migrants fled back across the border from Iran, trying to escape an early epicentre of the Covid-19 Coronavirus. Many of them ended up in camps in the west of the country. The overcrowded conditions and lack of good sanitation were the perfect place for the very virus they ran from to spread. And misinformation working its way across social media meant that people diagnosed with Coronavirus believed they’d been given a death sentence.

Quote: "People killed themselves because they felt so hopeless"

“People killed themselves because they felt so hopeless,” says BMS World Mission doctor Catherine*, who heads up our partner’s mental health work in Afghanistan. “People believed it was an instant death sentence. And in a lot of those cases, they were young people, who I’m pretty sure wouldn’t have died.”

Others fled the Covid-19 wards they were held in, terrified. They hadn’t seen a doctor. They hadn’t been fed. They weren’t able to contact their families. So they ran — but they couldn’t escape their panic or their diagnosis. They spread it further.

Even the expert medical workers trying to help weren’t immune to the virus, or to the fast-spreading despair. “We had an incident where one of the frontline medics himself tested positive,” says Catherine. “The police came in the middle of the night to take him away, and he then became suicidal in the unit.”

Quote: “The police came in the middle of the night to take him away, and he then became suicidal in the unit”

In the midst of all this stress and anxiety, you were there to help. You gave to BMS’ Coronavirus appeal, enabling us to respond to the urgent request for support we received from our partner in Afghanistan. The BMS-supported team of amazing Afghan mental health professionals was poised and ready to restructure their work in order to provide life-saving support during the pandemic. You gave them the funding they needed to step in and make a difference when it mattered most.

In the first few weeks of the crisis, you helped to provide full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline medical workers in the west of Afghanistan, as well as for the mental health team. You also helped us train these medics in psychological health — how to look after their patients’ mental wellbeing as well as treating their physical sickness — preventing the panic spiral that caused some people to tragically end their lives. You enabled mental health professionals to go and counsel people struggling with depression and anxiety in Covid wards, too.

Thanks to your support, people on the cusp of suicide were given hope. People like the frontline medic considering ending his life. “Our counsellor was able to put on PPE and go and talk to him face-to-face for a few hours,” says Catherine. “They talked him down from it really.”

Your response to Coronavirus in Afghanistan: key facts

  • £17,000 given to support vital mental health work during the pandemic
  • PPE provided to protect frontline medics and mental health workers
  • Suicide attempts prevented and panic reduced in Covid wards and communities
  • Telephone and face-to-face counselling provided for Coronavirus patients and their families, and for frontline medics
  • TV programmes, billboards and printed materials created and distributed to spread positive messages about how to cope with the stress of Coronavirus

A message from one of the frontline mental health workers YOU supported: “You did a valuable work by supporting the people of Afghanistan. You helped hundreds of people to come back from disaster to their normal life. You contributed greatly to our work reducing the panic of families.”

In the UK, medical workers have rightly been praised for their heroism, risking their lives to serve people suffering with this highly infectious virus. But in Afghanistan, some frontline workers have found themselves ostracised by their families and communities, who are terrified of contracting Coronavirus. You’ve helped counsellors and psychologists reach out to and support these medical workers through telephone counselling. The mental health team has also been providing telephone support to patients and their families, distributing credit so that people are able to phone their hotline for help.

After realising that doctors were struggling to break the news of a positive Coronavirus diagnosis to patients in a helpful way, the BMS-supported mental health team also took over the news-breaking service in hospitals in their city. They gave patients facts about the recovery rate from Coronavirus to help stop them spiralling into panic, and reminded people of the mental tools they already have to cope with trauma. Because men and women in Afghanistan are much-better equipped to cope with stress than many of us in the West — having lived with insecurity and conflict for most of their lives. In the face of this new, invisible enemy, people needed to be reminded of the strength and mental skills they already possess to get through times of crisis.

Quote: “It’s easy to get sucked into focusing on the UK, but it’s really good to lift your eyes to the world”

That’s why, in addition to individual support, the mental health team created billboards and printed materials to spread positive messages about how to cope with the stress of Coronavirus, as well as encouraging good hygiene practices. The billboards told people that they should speak to trusted friends and family members about how they are feeling. That feeling sad and scared and angry is normal in times of crisis. That taking time to relax is good for reducing stress. That it’s important to try and keep a normal schedule. And that it’s good to encourage your children to speak about their worries and to be creative. These messages were adopted by the Afghan Government and are now being promoted across the country. They’re helping people realise it’s okay to feel how they feel. And they’re helping to reduce dangerous behaviours that result from panic — like people fleeing Covid wards.

All this has been possible, in part, thanks to you. “It’s easy to get sucked into focusing on the UK, but it’s really good to lift your eyes to the world,” says Catherine, who believes the speed at which BMS supporters responded to help those in need was instrumental in making a difference.

“The work we were able to do with your support has really helped our relationship with the Government of Afghanistan who are very, very positive about us. It gives us the power to do even more in the future.”

Thank you for standing with the people of Afghanistan during the Coronavirus pandemic — providing vital mental health support to save lives in one of the most fragile places in the world.

Words: Sarah Stone
Illustrations: Joshua Mutton

Praying for Afghanistan? Click Here
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Discover the impact your gifts to the BMS Coronavirus appeal made across the globe

Cover of Engage featuring a medical worker wearing a mask

A version of this article first appeared in Engage, the BMS World Mission magazine. Read more about the impact your gift to the Coronavirus appeal is having by ordering your free copy of the Coronavirus issue of Engage today!

Inside, you’ll also find out how your church can save lives in Chad this harvest, and see the stunning winning entries from our first-ever mission worker photo competition!

Already signed up? Share Engage with your church and show them what a huge impact we can have in the world when we partner in God’s mission.

What we achieved this year, together

BMS World Mission Coronavirus appeal:

What you achieved this year

Back in March of this year, BMS World Mission launched our Coronavirus appeal, and thousands of UK Christians responded generously to the urgent need. In a world thrown into chaos by a virus whose unpredictable course left many feeling shaken and confused, it was hard to know where to help first. Saving lives required decisive action, which you knew as well as we did. And so, with your help, we stepped in to make a difference everywhere we could…

From Peru to Nepal, Afghanistan to Mozambique, your donations reached right around the globe, directly helping people in 14 countries across four continents. That amounted to over 28,000 people whose lives were sustained, protected and transformed through a heartfelt response from generous UK Christians. Whether it was picking up the phone, posting in a cheque, starting a fundraiser, or donating through our website, those simple actions have raised over £230,000, an absolutely amazing total that will have a long-lasting and life-saving effect for so many around the world.

Coronavirus hasn’t just endangered the health of those who contracted it, but countrywide lockdowns have also threatened to destroy the livelihoods of many people around the world who rely on subsistence farming or daily wage labour to survive. In such a large-scale crisis, your gifts were able to stretch far and wide because BMS was at the forefront of co-ordinating the global Baptist response to the Covid-19 Coronavirus.

By working with the Baptist World Alliance Forum for Aid and Development (BFAD), we ensured that your gifts delivered a multi-faceted response, whether that was supporting the making of over 31,000 masks in Mozambique, responding to the mental health crisis caused by Covid-19 in Afghanistan, providing emergency food rations to those trapped in desperate hunger due to lockdown in Sri Lanka, or getting PPE to hospitals in Nepal and Chad.

Want to hear in-depth stories about how you changed lives?

Sign up to get the next issue of Engage, and receive our special ‘Coronavirus heroes’ issue. Hear from people like Gloria, who went from losing everything to being part of the team sewing over 30,000 face masks for a hospital in Mozambique!

This co-ordinated response meant that we handed out more relief grants in 2020 than ever before, and that you were able to help people who hadn’t received aid from anyone else. People like Athilatchumi. Her livelihood collapsed during Sri Lanka’s strict lockdown when her daughter’s job in a local factory was put on pause, and her husband couldn’t sell the produce he caught from his work as a fisherman. As she told our partner in Sri Lanka, “We haven’t received such support from anyone else during this crisis”.

What might have happened to Athilatchumi, her husband and five children without your intervention doesn’t bear thinking about. But luckily, we don’t have to. Athilatchumi and 28,000 others are safe and well thanks to your giving, whether they be workers who lost jobs, people going through mental health crises, those who needed ongoing medical treatment — or drastic intervention after contracting Coronavirus — or key workers who needed protection and support.

Thank you for supporting our Coronavirus appeal

Download the video and share with your church

By choosing to give to the BMS Coronavirus appeal, you’ve played a crucial part in saving thousands of lives across the world. Thank you for standing with your neighbours wherever they are found, and making a difference in this time of crisis.

Spread the word!

We at BMS are convinced that this is such good news – for people around the world who experienced God’s love in action through your witness, and for those of you in the UK who gave. We’d love for you to share this Coronavirus appeal update with your church. Why not download the Coronavirus thank you video and keyworker thank you video on this page to play in your service and truly thank your congregation for all they did — whether you’re meeting online, or in person.

Liking this? Click here!
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Words by Hannah Watson.
Videos by Joshua Mutton and Laura Durrant.

Surviving lockdown: tips from Afghanistan

Surviving lockdown:

tips from Afghanistan

After weeks of uncertainty and limited human contact, you might be struggling to cope with lockdown. But here’s the good news – this too shall pass. In the meantime, we caught up with some lockdown pros to get their top tips for surviving (and maybe even thriving) in isolation.

If you’re a foreigner living in Afghanistan, being on lockdown isn’t wholly unusual. In fact, it’s often scheduled in. Big political rally happening? Stay at home. Elections? No-one is leaving their compounds. At other times, it comes out of the blue, when violence erupts unexpectedly and being an expat on the street is just asking for trouble.

I spent 12 months living in Afghanistan, and I saw just how seriously BMS World Mission’s partner in the country takes the security of its whole team. As an extrovert adapting to a new life with many more restrictions, I learnt a lot from my teammates who are adept at living through times of lockdown. I thought you might like to learn from them too, so I got back in touch and asked them for their advice for you.

Lockdown survival tips

1. Spend time with God

BMS worker Rose* has years of experience living through lockdowns – though up until now they’d all been in Afghanistan, rather than England. This is the first time she has had such a plethora of ways to keep in touch and internet resources at her fingertips. “I used to spend lockdowns carefully conserving phone or hand-held radio battery power because of limited electricity, which meant keeping communication short and essential!” says Rose.

With fewer distractions in previous lockdowns, prioritising time with God may have been easier for Rose than it is for us. But that’s still her top tip. “Use the down-time and peace (assuming that is possible) to really seek God and spend time with him,” she says. “That’s a good investment, though it takes self-discipline.”

New to structured prayer times? Why not start with the BMS Prayer Guide?

2. Board games. All the board games.

Development expert Tim* has just one top tip – but it’s a good one! If you’re blessed to be isolating with other people, grab a board game or a pack of cards and enjoy each other’s company while keeping your mind active with a bit of strategy and competition. If you’re on your own — there’s lots of games you can play with family and friends over a video call! (The number of times I lost obscure board games to Tim suggests that he definitely practices what he preaches when it comes to this tip… )

There’s loads of online games you can play with friends virtually in this season. A couple of personal favourites include the word game Taboo and team strategy game Codenames!

3. Seek balance and space

After more than a decade living in Afghanistan, Catherine* (who heads up BMS’ mental health work in the country) has learned that balance is key to keeping family harmony and happiness during prolonged times of isolation. “We’re managing to enjoy being together, and getting enough time without people to be happy, by balancing planned and spontaneous activities like special food, TV, looking at old pictures and that sort of thing.” She also suggests having some meals apart, with each family member making and having their meal when they want, so that they sometimes have the freedom to be alone and eat in peace.

Catherine is also benefitting from the perks of empowering her teenage children — if you also have teenagers perhaps you can follow suit and put your feet up! “I would highly recommend putting kids in charge of all food arrangements — I’ve just got to task shift the actual grocery shopping to them too and my life will be easy… !”

We think our Afghan houses look normal, and then we come back to the UK and realise they don't.
Sometimes, it snows. A lot.

Pray for Afghanistan

Reports this week warned that a third of Afghanistan’s population, including 7.3 million children, are now at risk of food shortages. On top of that, the country’s health system is ill-equipped to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, and people are very afraid. Please pray with us for the people of Afghanistan as they face yet another threat, after decades of insecurity and war.

Right now, we’re providing mental health support for patients infected with Coronavirus in Afghanistan, as well as for their families and the medical staff treating them. This is crucial to helping to stop the spread of the virus. You can help patients with Covid-19 in the country by giving to the BMS Coronavirus appeal.

The BMS World Mission Coronavirus appeal logo on a black background with a white cross and pink and purple tiles.

4. Take it day by day, and hour by hour

Green-fingered BMS worker Ruby* thinks it’s important not to be too hard on yourself — this is a difficult time, and it’s okay to feel overwhelmed. Her advice? “Break your day down into sections. I usually use the hour marker for my time and I only focus on that hour, not all that I need to do in the days ahead.

“I have a very low concentration ability unless I’m doing something practical so, mix things up if you are the same. Mix computer work for an hour with a puzzle or some gardening.”

We're very thankful for outside space during extended lockdowns – and so are the kids.
Our team tries to make the most of the Afghan sunshine, running off solar power where we can.

5. Make it fun!

To distract her young children from the potential dangers outside, mum-of-two Jenny* finds ways to make lockdowns fun. And it’s not just the children who benefit — as her former next-door neighbour, I can confirm that the adults also very much enjoyed this approach to lockdown!

Planning to cook a pizza? Why not make it a pizza party?! Going to make a pie? Let’s call it a pie down and make it a bit of a competition! Renaming things and making mealtimes exciting can make days in lockdown memorable rather than monotonous. “Plan something fun,” says Jenny. “Do a craft project, bake and decorate a cake, get out the paddling pool and have water fight in the garden.” And if it’s all getting too much? “A little extra screen time isn’t the end of the world — watch a film” (with snacks, of course).

Here’s a simple cake recipe you can make if you can get the ingredients locally. 

Thankfully, we're able to get most things we need for the kitchen – so we're fully equipped for pie downs and pizza parties.
It's great when your fire doubles up as a stove. Boiling water is always on hand for a cuppa when lockdown gets a bit too much.

6. Treasure the simple things

Mary* finds it helpful to take pleasure in the little things — not having to set an alarm clock, sitting in the garden without her headscarf (perhaps not such a treat in the UK), playing her music just a little bit louder than she normally would. “Have a pyjama day!” she says. “Start the crochet or knitting that’s been in the bag since last summer, watch the DVD you’ve been saving, cook that thing you’ve been putting off because it takes too long… ”

Enjoying the beauty that’s around us and taking time to notice the simple things that bring us joy are great ways to pass this time in lockdown.

7. Remember that this isn’t forever

It’s horrible not knowing when this will all be over. This is not an easy time for anyone. It’s heartbreaking not being able to see loved ones, reading reports of rising death tolls, and maybe even losing people we love to Coronavirus. And while we grieve, and while we try to make the most of this time, it’s important to remember that life won’t always be like this.

“Remember that it really won’t go on forever. Life does not look like this forevermore… ” says Rose. And Ruby agrees. “‘This too shall pass.’ We will get through this and what’s more I pray we are stronger on the other side.”

I hope these tips help you as you continue staying home for the time being. And if nothing else, that they give you an insight into the lives of some of the people you support when you give to and pray for BMS. When they’re not on lockdown (and actually a lot of the time when they are on lockdown) they’re working incredibly hard too! I’ve seen it first-hand! Show them some love today by liking this story.

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Want to find out about the life-transforming work you’re supporting in Afghanistan? Read some of our Afghanistan stories today!

Words by Jessica*

*All names changed for security reasons

From 2009-2019: The lives you’ve transformed

From 2009-2019:

The lives you’ve transformed

Supporting this

God’s done incredible things through your support over the past ten years. Join us as we look back on the last decade of BMS World Mission work, to revisit some of the wonderful people whose lives you’ve changed forever.

2009: Bringing the light of God to France

Two pages from a magazine next to a pen pot on a table.

Back in 2009, Engage magazine looked a little different! Way back in Issue 4 of Engage, we caught up with BMS workers John and Sue Wilson, serving in France, who introduced us to four people who had come to Christ through your support!

2010: Fighting drug addiction in Thailand

A man in front of a sign.
Our 2010 Harvest appeal video, Redemption, introduced us to Deekley, who was fighting his opium addiction to help his family.

We visited our partners the Thai Karen Baptist Convention back in 2010, to meet some people you helped raise out of addiction. Your generous gifts were used to buy medicine for recovering addicts, as well as fertiliser which helped give addicts and their families a way to grow food and fight poverty.

2011: Planting seeds of faith in Peru

A man stands in a field.
Your support helped Peruvian flood victims replant their crops in 2011.

You came with us to Peru in 2011, and we showed you the village of Yucay where 350 people lost their homes and 400 farming families lost their crops after devastating flooding. But your support for these families allowed us to provide seeds for them to plant and rebuild their lives.

2012: Celebrating the undefeated

A magazine and a leaflet on a table with a cup of coffee.

In 2012, Engage got a makeover, and we celebrated the excellence of Paralympians, along with the rest of the UK, with the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Our Undefeated resource shed light on some of the global injustices facing people with disabilities across the world. Your support also helped three Haitian athletes compete in the Paralympics!

2013: Lifting up North Korea in prayer

A country that lays heavy on many of our hearts is North Korea, one of the toughest places in the world to be a Christian. We know how much our supporters want to see release and revival in this closed nation, which is why in 2013 you joined us in prayer for North Korea as part of our Project Cyrus initiative.

Feeling nostalgic?

We’re looking for pre-2012 editions of Engage for our archives! Do you have any? We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch by emailing ldurrant@bmsworldmission.org to let us know which issues you have.

Two hands and the words Project Cyrus! Pray for North Korea.

2014: Standing with women across the world

A woman in profile and the words: "Dignity. Taking a stand against gender based violence."

The 2010s was a decade where the struggles of women across the world were brought to the fore, which is why we launched our Dignity resource in 2014, to campaign against gender-based violence (GBV). Your support enabled us to equip and educate leaders and congregations across the world to handle the harmful impacts of GBV.

2015: Sending relief to Nepal

A house in ruins surrounded by rubble.
BMS supporters responded incredibly after the devastating earthquakes that struck Nepal in 2015.

Two devastating earthquakes struck Nepal in April and May of 2015, killing over 8,000 people and directly impacting over 8 million others. You gave over £650,000 – the biggest relief response of the decade! Thanks to your generous giving, you provided trauma victims with necessary counselling, and rebuilt schools destroyed by the earthquakes.

2016: Stepping out in faith in India

A man talks among a crowd.
BMS worker Benjamin Francis is bringing the light of Christ to some of the least evangelised communities in India.

In 2016, you gave to the incredible work of BMS evangelist Ben Francis, planting churches in some of the least evangelised communities in India. Ben’s team and many other Christians living in these parts of India are faced with horrific persecution from religious extremist groups, but your support made it possible for them to continue to step out in faith.

2017: Sharing art from Syria

Children's drawings.

Another tragedy facing the world this decade was the Syrian refugee crisis. In a newly designed issue of Engage magazine in 2017, we showed you some artwork created by Syrian refugee children you supported in Lebanon. Their work might reveal the trauma they faced in their home country, but your support showed them how much UK Christians care about their future, by getting them back into school.

2018: New life in Afghanistan

A woman holding her baby.
Taban, featured in Life's First Cry, and her young daughter, Chehrah. Thanks to you, Taban didn't have to worry about losing Chehrah in childbirth.

We couldn’t talk about 2018 without mentioning Life’s First Cry. With an award-nominated feature video, we introduced you to Andisha, Taban and Laalah: three mothers from Afghanistan, all of whom have had to watch their children die in childbirth. You enabled them to learn safe birthing practices and now they all have children who are thriving.

2019: Chosen by God in Uganda

A boy holds a yellow balloon.
Innocent has Down Syndrome. Your support means that he is growing up knowing that he is loved by God.

And last but not least, in 2019 we introduced you to Innocent, the God-given boy of Gulu, Uganda. Innocent has Down Syndrome, and his mother was told to abandon him when he was young. But she knew that he was special, and now, thanks to your support, he’s able to attend a group with other children with Down Syndrome, where he can feel loved, accepted. He knows he has a part in God’s plan.

We can’t wait to see what God has in store over the next ten years, and beyond! If you want to be part of God’s work, please give to BMS work. This is your chance to make a lasting change across the world.

Want to support God's work? Click here!
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Words by Laura Durrant.

Life’s First Cry: The Reunion

Life's First Cry:

The reunion

Supporting this

They captured our hearts as they shared the story of losing their first 11 babies to sickness in Afghanistan’s mountains. Eighteen months on, we thought you’d like to know how Andisha, Mohammad and their two beautiful children are getting on.

Navid is sleeping in his cot when we walk into the room. But he soon wakes up and, bleary-eyed, clings to his mother as he looks around at the unexpected visitors who have rudely interrupted his nap. Roya, his older sister, is nervous to meet us. She’s worried we’ve come to give her an injection… it’s apparently common to tell your children that if they’re not good the foreigners will come and give them a shot. But slowly she’s coaxed into the room. No-one is going to get jabbed with a needle today.

A year and a half after filming Life’s First Cry, we have driven the long and bumpy road back to see how Roya and Navid are doing, and to tell their parents the impact their story has made – £186,000 raised in our Harvest appeal to help more women and men like them in Afghanistan, as well as thousands of other people around the world.

A father holds his daughter and a mother holds her son.
When we first met Andisha and Mohammed, the sorrow of losing so many babies weighed heavily on them.

Little Roya is dressed in bright blue and wears the same apprehensive expression she had the last time a bunch of foreigners turned up in her house. She’s taller now and appears shy, watching us from behind her mother’s elbow, inquisitive when she thinks no-one is looking. She smiles as I roll her the toy car I found on the window sill, and even poses, hands on hips, for the camera as we’re leaving. She’s due to start school next year.

Navid isn’t a baby anymore. He’s got a real little-boy-face and big dark eyes. Like his sister, he is adorable. He wraps his hand around the cord of the microphone we have clipped onto his mother, and I worry he might snap it with his small fingers. But he doesn’t. His sister looks across at him with love as his mum talks to us about her life now, about her family’s life.

Andisha smiles more than I remember. Her children – now six and two – are still healthy and happy. She doesn’t need to fear that she will suddenly lose them, like she did the first 11 children she gave birth to. These babies survived. They’re growing. They have the hope of happy, full lives.

Life's First Cry:
The stats

£186,000
raised

19,726
People watched Life’s First Cry

377
Churches donated

A family stand in a doorway.
Now eighteen months on, the little family is flourishing. Navid is a toddler, and Roya starts school next year.

I ask her how it feels to know that, because of her story, more women and men in Afghanistan are getting the lessons that saved her children.

“I’m very happy,” she says. “I am happy that now I have children, and they’re still here and they’re healthy. And I think it’s great that more people can see this and learn, and that their children can also be healthy too! So thank you.”

What are Roya and Navid like, I wonder, now they’re getting a bit older. “My daughter is kind of naughty,” Andisha admits, laughing. “My son is very calm. They like to play, they like to play with toys and have fun.”

A mother holding her son.
Thanks to your support, Andisha and other mothers like her don't have to worry about losing their children.

Mohammad is out working when we visit, and I am sorry to miss him. But, a few days later, as we are travelling to another remote village far from his, I spot him walking along the dusty road with three donkeys laden with goods to sell. I can’t believe it is Roya and Navid’s dad, here, in the middle of nowhere. What are the chances? He chats with the local team like they’re old friends, smiling and laughing and joking. They’ve made such a difference in his life – first helping to save his children, and then bringing clean water, sanitary latrines, literacy skills and nutrition courses to his village. You’ve helped to change not just Mohammad and Andisha’s lives. You’ve brought flourishing to their whole community.

We are thrilled that Andisha, Mohammad, Roya and Navid are doing so well, and we hope you are too! Thank you for praying for them and for supporting BMS work through Life’s First Cry, so that more children in these beautiful, incredibly remote mountains, can live – like they were born to.

More people in Afghanistan need your help

You’ve already saved lives in Afghanistan. But there are more people that need your help.

By supporting this appeal, you can make a real difference to people living in rural villages without access to clean water. Your incredible response to Life’s First Cry showed us that you’ve got a real heart to help the people of Afghanistan, so please watch the video above and please donate today.

Save lives today Donate now
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Saving lives this Christmas

This winter, families in Afghanistan will be able to drink water without risking death for the very first time.

Supporting this

BMS World Mission photographer Alex Baker takes us behind the scenes of our Christmas appeal. We’re bringing clean water to Afghanistan, and we urgently need your support.

In January 2018, a team from BMS World Mission travelled to the snowy mountains of Afghanistan. They were there to see the difference that BMS’ winter appeal will make in the lives of remote communities, as clean, fresh water is piped into the heart of Afghan villages. Alex was part of that team. These are his photographs.

A village chief in a blue outfit stands in a shelter protecting a new water tap from the elements.
"They were incredibly proud of the well. They were very keen to show us that they were not only using it, but looking after it too."

“What was really clever was that the village had built this greenhouse around the well. It meant that the water would flow freely, despite it being -40 degrees outside. It really is a great example of local knowledge and expertise.”

An Afghan girl in a white headscarf looks towards the camera in her village.
“People didn’t directly share with me about their children getting sick and dying, but I heard stories."

“I already thought that the work was good – that it really helps. Providing people with good drinkable water is such a step forward.

But being there in person, I saw how something that was meant to be very functional and practical made a difference to the village’s interaction on a society level. It was giving them this point where different generations could mix and interact.”

Children in Afghanistan are dying from waterborne diseases, like typhoid and cholera.

Dirty water is a death sentence in Afghanistan.

Could you give to save lives?

Any amount you give really can make a difference.

Save lives today Click here
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“It becomes this meeting point. It’s really cold outside, but the minute you walk into the greenhouse, you feel like you’re in some kind of lovely spa. There’s fresh, clean spring water. And it’s really nice and warm in there.”

A boy in blue drinks water from a WASH project built by BMS World Mission in Afghanistan, surrounded by other children.

“Sometimes projects like this are purely functional — but the fact that so much thought was put into making this a warm, inviting space? The architect in me was impressed by that. It was a genuine gift to the village on every level.”

Afghan women wearing black headscarves gather around a tap, filling up jerry cans with fresh, clean water.
"You aren't just building a tap. You're bringing life. Life not just as a physical thing, but as a social thing, too.”

Give the gift of water this Christmas. You can get clean water to families in Afghanistan, so they don’t have to stagger through driving snow to get to a river teeming with disease.

You can provide the materials for villages to help build their own wells, empowered every step of the way by BMS World Mission-supported workers.

Save lives today Click here
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What’s more, you can hand people ownership of their well, so they can choose the best spot for this new source of life and community. Please continue to pray for Afghanistan. And give if you can — any amount makes a difference.

Words and interview by Hannah Watson, Editor of Engage, the BMS World Mission magazine.