Story number 1 for 2 Jun 2003

(India)–Topping the news, the ethnic rift widened last week between the majority tribe Dimasa and the Hmars in northeast India. Tribal warfare, triggered by an assassination, led to deadly riots and curfews. In the process, believers feel the squeeze on all sides. Bibles For The World’s Rochunga Pudaite. “The refugees are still coming in from North Cachar into Assam and Mizoram and Manipur. It’s been very, very stressful and difficult to take care of them, because the people are poor. And yet, they come without their clothes, without their houses, without their Bibles.” Pudaite says in talking to church leaders there, the needs were outlined this way: “They need their Bibles. They need them in this hour of crisis. And then, the second thing is food. There’s not enough food for them to go around. And then, the most precious thing that they need is a place to worship. So, we need to build churches. About 20 churches have been destroyed. “