Samaritan's Purse specializes in meeting critical needs for victims of war, disaster, famine, and epidemics in the world's most troubled regions. We match resources to needs, personnel to situations, capabilities to opportunities. We often work through ministry partners already on the scene of a crisis.

Heiban Bible College in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan was bombed on February 1. Eight bombs were dropped on that Wednesday afternoon (local time). Two landed in the compound and destroyed two buildings.

“We have been working for years in Sudan,” Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham said. “Today our Bible school in Heiban in the Nuba Mountains was bombed by the Sudanese Air Force. No one was killed or hurt, but buildings were destroyed. Please pray for the safety of believers, and that God would intervene.”

Franklin Graham's releases a statement on the bombing.

Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, condemns the attack.

According to eyewitness accounts, the bombing required a sustained effort with at least four flyover passes. It was just the latest attack in South Kordofan State, where the Bible college is located. Since early August, at least four churches built by Samaritan's Purse have been destroyed by bombing or burning, including Angolo Church on January 10.


Angolo Church, located in the Nuba Mountains, was bombed on January 10 by the government of Sudan.

The violence is gravely affecting the people of South Kordofan. No access into the area for food, medicine, or other necessities has been allowed since June. Some 310,000 are displaced and in near famine condition, and 1.2 million are war affected.

“We are deeply concerned for the welfare and lives of the people of South Kordofan, and we condemn the bombing of churches and Christian facilities,” Graham said.

Wednesday was the first day of school for this year at the Bible College, and the campus was full of students, teachers, and teacher's families. It was a miracle that no one was injured. The bombs ignited grass fires inside and outside the campus.


Franklin Graham met with the students when he spoke at the first graduation ceremony at Heiban Bible College.

Samaritan's Purse supported the Bible college since it was founded in 2007. We constructed classrooms, dormitories, kitchens, a dining room, and housing for teachers. In 2010, Franklin Graham spoke at the graduation ceremony for the first class of 36 students.

For more than a decade, Samaritan’s Purse provided aid to the people of Nuba through agricultural, educational, and clean water projects. Our support for Christians in the region included construction of 168 churches.

Across the border in the newly independent nation of South Sudan, Samaritan’s Purse began working in Yida refugee camp in early August 2011 after hearing reports of thousands of displaced people stranded without access to food, shelter, and clean water. The refugees have come from the Nuba Mountains, where they were subjected to aerial bombardments and ground attacks from their own government.

A total of 28,500 individuals have been registered in Yida camp, where we are helping with food, clean water, therapeutic feeding for malnourished children, and other aid.