ADRA's International office, located in Silver Spring, Md., continues to accept monetary donations for its relief efforts in Kenya. Founded by Southern Baptists James and June Young of Ruston, La., the hospital has given hundreds of Southern Baptists and other internationals the opportunity to help Yemenis experience God's love firsthand. Now, a dramatic step into a new level of ministry is being planned, said Gerry Volkart, an associate director of International Mission Board work in North Africa and the Middle East. Now, we want to follow that same pattern and transform the work so it multiplies the love of Christ to the peoples of Yemen. A country of more than 16 million people set on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen is a ruggedly mountainous country bedeviled with conflicts between the government and tribal groups demanding schools, electricity and other services in poor tribal areas.
Tribesmen frequently resort to kidnapping foreigners to press their demands.
Now, God is stirring the hearts of missions strategists to re-evaluate medical ministry in Yemen, Volkart said. A team recently conducted a survey of Yemeni towns and villages to assess what townspeople see as their greatest medical needs. They identified an urgent need for health care that can go to the multitudes of people for whom the trip to a hospital is very difficult. Regional leadership is consulting with individuals and groups in the United States and other countries to interpret data from the survey, Volkart said. Any decision about the future of medical ministries in Yemen will be based on the region's vision for facilitating a church-planting movement among all the people groups of Northern Africa and the Middle East.