“According to local sources, three armed men kidnapped him [Rideout], and since then, we haven’t heard about that more,” says Illia Djadi. He serves with Open Doors International as the Senior Analyst for Freedom of Religion and Belief in Africa. “So far, no group has claimed the kidnapping.”

Portrait of a Songhai chief of a village in southwestern Niger. (Photo courtesy of IMB)

But there are ways to make an educated guess. Niger endures rising unrest and Islamic insurgencies. 

“Niger is part of this group of countries [that are] the most affected by Islamic insurgency active in the Sahel or West African region,” says Djadi, who is himself from Niger.  

“That’s the area [Central Sahel] now all analysts and observers agree has become the new epicenter of jihad or terrorism in sub-Saharan Africa, because that’s the only area where we have al-Qaeda affiliate and Islamic State affiliates operating.” 

Authorities believe that Rideout’s kidnappers took him toward western Niger, “the area where an al-Qaeda affiliate is mainly active,” says Djadi.

The U.S. State Department is aware of these events. In a statement to Fox News, a State Department spokesperson said, “It is a top priority for the Trump Administration to look after the safety of every American, and we are seeing efforts from across the U.S. Government to support the recovery and safe return of this U.S. citizen.”

It’s now the business of Christians to pray. Ask God for a miraculous release but also for endurance and faithful witness for Rideout in unimaginable circumstances. Pray for Niger’s security as well. Rideout is one of at least eight foreign nationals kidnapped there this year. 

“We pray for an urgent and safe release. We pray for his family. We pray for the community of missionary and expat [persons] in Niger,” says Djadi. 

Pray also for strength for the Church in Niger, which is deeply affected by Islamic insurgency.

(Photo courtesy of Alek Burley/Unsplash)

“The church in Niger is a tiny minority. It’s only 1 percent of the population. In the western part of the country, hundreds of Christians have been displaced because the predominantly Christian community in that area has been attacked. They got the warning to convert [to Islam] or to go, so they prefer to go,” says Djadi.

“Continue to pray and to pay attention [to] what is happening in Niger, in central Sahel, and particularly also in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Header image: Close-up of a world map highlighting a section of the Sahel region. (Stock photo courtesy of MART PRODUCTION via Pexels)

The resulting flash floods hit the Nigerien capital, Niamey,
displacing up to 75,000 people. CURE
International Vice President of Operations Andy Groop says the Niger River to
burst its banks in sections.

Although their hospital is also in Niamey, it's in the northern
part of the city, and the flooding took place in the southern side of the
river. Groop explains, "There is a low-lying
flat plain area, and many homes, as we understand, have been destroyed and crops
have been overrun by the flood."

The facilities came through without a scratch, but Groop says
that the impact of the disaster has already been felt by some of the staff. "A couple of our staff are displaced
from their homes. It's unclear at this point what level or condition their
homes will be in when they're able to return." 

Groop adds that some of the staff members' children have been
evacuated from their boarding school, run by SIM (Serving In Mission). He
spoke Tuesday morning with the wife of CURE Niger's executive director to get
filled in on the details. (sic) "The Sahel Academy is a
missionary boarding school. There are a couple hundred kids there in
attendance, so we're having to house some of these children. At this point,
their dormitories are closed due to flooding."

Additionally, Niger's government now faces the Sahel region food
crisis, brought on by high market prices and poor harvests, a refugee crisis
triggered by conflict in neighboring Mali, a cholera outbreak, and now devastating floods.

Groop acknowledges that the resources
just aren't there to respond. "It
certainly is an extraordinary challenge for all of us who are seeking to
provide the humanitarian aid and relief to Niger, the poorest country in the
world. It seems to be, at times, a forgotten place."

CURE's hospital in Niger is the only one of its kind in the
entire country, offering specialty surgical care for handicapped children with
a variety of conditions. Some patients
may have a tough time getting to the facility for the help they need. 

Outpatient clinics and follow-up appointment schedules could
be severely disrupted. However, Groop
notes that "Jesus
said, 'Pray the Lord of the Harvest to bring more workers.' It's amazing to me
that the Son of God would offer this advice to His followers and to His
disciples, and yet, the message really
is still the same." Despite the fact that they're not an aid agency,
CURE's team will offer comfort and hope to all they assist.

In the meantime, they'll wait for the floods to recede, take stock
of the damages, and help people, where
possible. The crises are ongoing, so needs
assessments are frequent. "Pray for
the provision of these resources in finance, in time, and in spiritual
strength and comfort as our team there seeks to minister in the Name of
Christ."

Our Featured Links Section has more about CURE Niger.

Josh Korn is part of CURE International Niger's spiritual
development team. He details a key factor behind the assessment. "One
of the big ones is malnutrition. The country of Niger is suffering a food
shortage right now.  That, obviously, has
implications on babies and their mothers."

After Niger, the next worst countries were listed as Afghanistan–which held the lowest spot for two years–Yemen, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Eritrea,
Chad, Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

CURE
has hospitals in both Afghanistan and Niger.
While they have a similar mission, they have a unique focus to each
region. In Niger, CURE's hospital is
the only one of its kind in the entire country, explains Korn. "Our hospital
treats children with disabilities. We do a lot of cleft lip repairs, clubfoot
and we also treat a lot of burn victims."

Located
in the capital city of Niamey, the hospital attracts patients from every region
of the country.  

With
two operating theaters and 24 beds, their annual surgical capacity is approximately
1,000. They typically see over 250 patients per month at their outpatient
clinics. The Hospital has a total staff of 63 including five Expatriates.

In
2011, the team launched a national CURE Clubfoot Worldwide program in Niger
with the ultimate goal of treating every case of clubfoot in Niger. Their team
has already been providing training and support to other healthcare providers
in clubfoot treatment methods and is continuing to plan future trainings as they
expand the program.

Korn says the food crisis plays a role in what they do. Sometimes,
malnourished children don't have the strength to recuperate from a surgery, so
they have to be brought up to a healthy weight first. "We give them their square meals
a day, and unfortunately, that's better than a lot of them have at home, especially
when they come from a village. A lot of times, they don't want to leave the
hospital."

Other times, just getting to the hospital is a hardship. Their team
responds as best they can to the needs with the resources they have. It's all part of their mission to heal
the sick and proclaim the Kingdom of God. "When we're doing a life-changing
operation on a child, that is proclaiming the kingdom of God, and we're trying
to make that as explicit as possible. People here in Niger are very receptive
to hearing about Jesus and about the Gospel."

As the crisis worsens, CURE will continue to work to be part
of the solution and make the environment for being a mother a little less
fearful. Their immediate need? "Pray
specifically that God will send the rains soon. The rainy season in Niger is
supposed to be starting now, and so far, we haven't had any rain. Because of the crops that were so unsuccessful
last year, we're having massive food shortage now. If the rains don't come on
time this year, it'll be an even bigger problem."

We have more details about CURE's programs at our Featured Links
Section.

Already
stricken by a severe food shortage and a prolonged drought, the people are now
dealing with too much rain. Unusually
heavy rains resulted in flooding which has displaced more than 200,000 people.

In Niamey, the River Niger
reached its highest level in more than 80 years.

Before the
floods, drought was blamed for crop failure and livestock deaths. 100,000 of the remaining cattle died in the
flooding. Much-needed crops were swept
away just two months before harvest.

Roads washed out, too, hindering the
delivery of shelter materials, blankets, food, and mosquito netting.   In the aftermath, there are also growing
concerns over the spread of malaria and waterborne diseases.

In the midst of this sits CURE
International, now two years in the country, with a freshly completed hospital
and a budding outreach. Their facility
in Niamey is set to open in October 2010. It will be the only one of its kind
in the country, offering specialty surgical care for children with orthopedic
conditions.

CURE Niger's Leron Lehman says
the disasters haven't physically threatened the building, but their outreach is
affected. "All of the issues surrounding
malnutrition and now the flooding: they all serve to weaken the general health
of the population, the infrastructure; and so, in that sense, we're clearly
directly impacted in a big way because the population we serve is impacted."

It could be argued that this is a
grim backdrop against which to launch a ministry. But Lehman has a different view.
"With such disasters, it's easy to attract a little bit more attention and
therefore some more aid, and some more problems are being addressed. However, it does add pretty significantly
to the challenging environment…which is already challenging, based on the
extreme poverty that's here, lack of health care, lack of resources, and lack
of education."

CURE's focus is
transformation. And healing a child changes
a family. At CURE, parents of children
with disabilities, who are burdened with feelings of guilt and shame, find healing and
hope through God's love. Lehman explains
that comes out in everything the staff undertakes with a patient and the
family. "We're
here, and we're motivated because of our faith; we're using that as our
motivation to come to this country and to live out the system. So when we meet people in their moment of
need, and they understand our motivation, it really gives us an
opportunity." 

The new hospital will also
provide training programs for national doctors and nurses. The
24-bed hospital expects to perform 1,000 surgeries in its first year. There are still a lot of ways you can help. Click here.