Jos Crisis Follow-up

It has been ten days since the violence erupted in Jos. The city is quiet but tense and rumors still abound. A relief agency has registered 28,000 "internally-displaced persons," people who have lost their homes or been forced to move because of the violence. Barb, Luke and I have spend the past several days at the retreat center in Miango, since SIM requested all the missionaries at Evangel to leave. Today and tomorrow are a major religious holiday commemorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael, and large rallies are expected, including one on the polo field next to Evangel.

The first few days were especially tension-producing for us. Part of the stress of these situations is trying to deal with conflicting information, rumors, and recommendations. Where is the fighting, which way is it moving, are police forces getting control, what roads are safe to use?

It's hard to decide how cautious to be. It's not good either to be rushing from your home at every sign of unrest, nor to be over-confident to the point that you don't leave until it's too late to move on the streets. I felt guilty about leaving Evangel for a safer site; the situation didn't seem so bad to me a few hours after it began, but we got instructions to leave immediately, so we all did. That left the Nigerian medical staff to cover the hospital, and they were at more risk than we were.

Being on the security committee, I was constantly in touch with others, monitoring the situation and making decisions with the other members. One night was especially hard, as things had been quiet for a day or two, but there were rumors of serious trouble ahead. Some of us were connected by Internet, others by radio, and I was pretty tense after hours of trying to assess how serious the threat was, who might be affected, and what we ought to do about it.

Someone compared this crisis to what it was like after a big earthquake, and I think that's a good example that you in California will understand. It's hard to find out what's happening, you don't know whether there might be major aftershocks that will affect you, and a truck passing or any little vibration can make you jump. For me, it's sounds like gunshots or sirens that make my heart jump. These days in Miango have helped all of us relax.