Sudan: Liberty students wer e there

Story taken from an article byTommy Price, which originally appeared in the Virginia-Pilot ofNorfolk.

The drought had allbut destroyed Mossa Mohammed's cattle and goat herds in the mountainsstretching eastfrom the Nile.Mossa and hisfellow Beja tribesmen, traditional meat eaters, had been forced tosubsist on cornand the shells of dom pom nuts.

But Mossa's 14-month-old son, Mossa Mohammed Dea, refused the corn And he could notfeed athismother'sbreast; Zenup Mohammed Hikash no longerproduced milk Thechild developed diarrhea and a chronic cough,

Mossa and Zenup were sure their first-born son was dying So, one day inJune,the shepherd without a flock placedhis wife and son on a donkey — one of the few animals that had survived afterthepastures turned to dust — and headed southeastacrossthedesert toward Derudeb

There, at a camp once used by an Italian road crew, they would find help,according to word that had spread through the mountain villages. "Hawajees" — visitors from the western world — had arrived with food and medicine for the tribesmen,

A sudden desertsandstorm obscured the runway below Cathy Thompson, a volunteer relief worker from Liberty University, watched as the pilot banked the twin-engine Cessna hard between the mountain ranges. Thompson, 25, saw the huts of the Beja tribesmen surrounding the camp,

"TheLordwill arm me," Thompson assured herself, "for the task at hand."

Zenup,her stricken and naked child in her arms, heard the flying machine on itsapproach. She satina makeshifthospital, surrounded by childrenlyingon cots and mats ofwoven palm leavesspread on the dirt floor, Since she had arrived at the hospital three weeks earlier, her son had been receiving dailyfeedingsofeggs, biscuits, and milk,

Two Americans in the camp alsoheard theairplane'sdrone on that sultry African morning SteveCoffey ofNorfolkandhis wife, Beth, had arrived a few days before Mossa and Zenup and their starving child Their mission:to prepare the camp forthe other members ofProject Mercy.

Steve and Beth ran out to greet the new arrivals.

"Finally some women to talk to!" Beth Coffey exclaimed. The weeks alone inthe camp had been plagued by illness and swelling from bug bites

But African missionary work had been a life-long dream, she said. Asa 10-year-old, she had put pictures of impoverished Africanchildrenon herwalland prayed forthem nightly.

And Steve Coffey had had similaraspirations As a 5-yearold on Romper Room, a children's television show, he was asked the familiar question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

His reply, "A missionary."

Project Mercy had begun.

Even when thesunsits low on thehills, theheat staggers Derudeb,Sudan (across page)where Liberty University students mana famine reliefcamp forstarving EthiopiansandSudanese,(Insetpictures leftto right) Mossa and Zenup Mohammed Hikash give theirfrightened baby to Becky Pehrson,anLUProject Mercy nurse Eyes, dark andpensive, show howdeep thescarsofhunger go A youngster dances with delightover his giftoffood andclothes Cathy

Thompson checks a childforsignsofdisease