Poverty is not new in Afghanistan, of course. The country was one of the world’s poorest even before it was decimated by nearly 30 years of successive civil conflict. Today, more than 25,000 Afghan women die yearly during pregnancy, childbirth or after delivery. Average life expectancy is 44. One in four children will die before age 5. Seventy percent of the country does not have access to clean water, and half live on less than $1 per day.

Read the entire article HERE and continue to pray for Afghanistan!

I don’t need to know where I’m goin’, I just need to know where I’ve been. – Mater (from the movie “Cars”)

Okay, well… I don’t know if that is always true, but it is a fitting quote for today’s post: the 2009 year in review.  One can learn quite a bit about 2009 in the Sanner household by looking back at the most popular blog posts of the year (as determined by YOU; i.e. the number of times each post was viewed).  Thanks for being a part of our lives and ministry!

1 – “When You Can’t Leave” (Nov. 30) – A video/story about Afghanistan and the conditions that are causing people to leave their homeland in search of a brighter future.

2 – “Sad News” (Feb. 2) – We lost a baby in 2009.  Thanks for loving us through the miscarriage.

3 – “Friday Photos 04.12.2009” (Dec. 4) – Ten months (to the date) after the above post, Kristin gave birth to our second daughter, Emma Irini.

4 – “Pulling Back” – Thank you for praying through our Fall retreat.  The prayers and hard work of that weekend eventually led to our re-framing of our mission and vision statements (see HERE).

5 – “Home Assignment” – We’ve been preparing for our upcoming time in the States (home assignment or furlough): February-March 2010.  We look forward to reconnecting!

6 – “The Nest” – We’ve had a lot of changes in our Nest ministry.  I’m excited about what God has done, is doing, and will do through this ministry!  Thanks for helping make this happen!

Migrants flood into Piraeus

As hundreds of illegal immigrants arrived at the port of Piraeus yesterday on ferries from Lesvos, where they had been detained in a horribly cramped reception center, local authorities in Attica highlighted the problems posed by a burgeoning population of migrants.

The mayor of Piraeus, Panayiotis Fasoulas, said that 50 of the migrants – chiefly mothers and children – would be put up at a hostel.

But it was unclear what would become of some 400 additional migrants. “We cannot allow the ghettoization of Piraeus simply because the state has no overall plan for these people,” Fasoulas said.

Late on Tuesday, Athens Prefect Yiannis Sgouros called on the Interior Ministry to reverse a decision to allow the transfer of about 500 migrants from Lesvos to Athens, saying that the capital had become “a landfill of human misery and cannot absorb any more illegal immigrants.”

In one day, 500 new migrants show up in Athens.  I have no doubt that many of these refugees will end up at our ministry center in the next few weeks!  Please, pray for us! In related news, EU authorities now report that Greece has the most illegal entries in the EU (followed by Italy and Spain).  Here’s a quote from ekathimerini.com:

In fact, Greece’s waters and mountains have become Europe’s primary gateway for illegal immigration: Nearly half of the European Union’s illegal immigrants were detected at the nation’s land or sea borders.

25 new migrants arrive every day on the Greek island of Samos – 25/day on one island!  This statistic overwhelms me.  Pray for these new refugees; and pray for our ministry team.  Please pray that, in the face of so much need, we would rely on God alone!  We have no other hope, no other option!

The key is a little hard to read.  The yellow lines represent the major refugee pathways (e.g. from Afghanistan to Europe).  The planes indicate major resettlement routes (e.g. from S.E. Asia to the USA).  The red & yellow dots stand for ITeams refugee ministry teams (e.g. Athens, Greece!).  The red circles are the primary displacement areas (e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, East Africa).

Also, the numbers.  Refugee producing countries (2007): Palestine (2,971,600); Afghanistan (2,192,100); Iraq (888,700); Myanmar (727,000); Sudan (670,600); D.R. Congo (450,800); Burundi (438,500); Somalia (328,000); Vietnam (305,500); Colombia (335,500).

Any thoughts?