The Jos Troubles...

 ..... flared up in mid-January 2010 and resulted in 100's dead and 1000's left homeless.  The violence which ran for between 36 - 48 hours left casualties on both sides of the religious divide and, according to one reputable source, started almost by accident! Federal troops very quickly travelled from Abuja and restored peace by their overwhelming presence.

The beginning of February saw peace restored, although resulting in much difficulty of movement.  One of the TASTE trustees reported travelling through five army check points in a journey of about two miles!

TASTE personnel and Trustees were unharmed during the violence and Tom reported an amazing providence.  When violence started to spread across the city, he gathered his brothers and sister from their family home and took them to his house for safety.  The following day, he received reports that all of the houses in his family's neighbourhood had been burned.   However, on investigation, he discovered that, out of 20 homes, only 2 were left standing.  One of them was his family home and it was completely undamaged. 

TASTE, like all other organisations in the city, was effectively shut down for over two weeks. At a time when we were hoping to get our new rig into operation, our team were confined to their homes.  In addition, we were in the process of purchasing a open-backed lorry to tow the new rig.  However, the dealer who was locating a suitable vehicle, had all of his vehicles burned and it will take him three or four weeks to get replacements.  Without a new vehicle, we will have great difficulty in operating and we pray that the dealer will soon be able to get restocked.