About 600 homes in 17 villages of Goma, Congo, were destroyed after Mount Nyiragongo erupted the evening of May 22.

Pastor Safari Munyakazi, president of the Community of Free Baptist Churches in Congo, was home when the volcano erupted.

“The whole city of Goma was surprised,” Munyakazi says. People fled their homes, taking only a few belongings or none at all. “Everyone was running,” he says.

In the flight, hundreds of children became separated from their parents, since some parents had been shopping at markets or working when the eruption happened. When the parents returned home, their children had already fled.

More than 170 children are still missing.

At Lisa Center Orphanage, a partnering ministry of Regular Baptist International, eight children ran away in fear when the volcano erupted.

“By the grace of God, six of them were found,” says Moboko Fidele, president of Bibleway Baptist Churches of Congo, which operates the orphanage. Two of the children are sill missing: Salomo, age 8, and Ortance, age 5.

Pastor Moboko Fidele (center) helps sift through rubble in the aftermath of the Mount Nyiragongo eruption.

“We, however, believe that God will help us through your prayer in order for them to be found,” Fidele says.

Fidele also reports that Bibleway Baptist Churches of Congo lost churches and church members’ homes to the lava. “Please stand with us in prayer,” he says.

The Community of Free Baptist Churches in Congo also has churches in Goma and Nyiragongo. “One is located in the area which was seriously affected, but glory to God the church was spared by the lava,” Munyakazi says.

Unfortunately, 122 families from his churches lost their homes and belongings. Munyakazi wants to help these families purchase food and necessities but needs financial help to do so. He asks for prayer and financial aid.

With financial aid, he is hoping to purchase food necessities such as rice, flour, beans, and oil, as well as non-food essentials, like pots and pans, plates, tarps, blankets, and soap.

He trusts that God will answer these families’ cries of distress.

Donate online, by phone, or by check to help Pastor Safari Munyakazi purchase food and necessities for his churches’ families. Mark your gift “compassion fund.”