Staff members work on producing a radio program at ICDI's sound room in Boali, about 65 miles from the capital. Left to right: Matongo Bienvenu (deejay), Samuel (lead person) and Boniface (technician).

(March 27, 2013 - by Ralph Kurtenbach and Harold Goerzen) A faith-based organization in Central African Republic (CAR) was looted following a coup on Sunday, March 24, that ousted President François Bozizé from office. With the security situation there still uncertain, telephone conversations with the employees at Integrated Community Development International (ICDI) indicate that their fast response and valiant efforts safeguarded some of the agency's equipment, even amid great losses to theft.

Some 90 minutes after fighters of the group, Séléka (Sango for "coalition"), and others began ransacking the ICDI guesthouse and offices in the capital city, Bangui, a staff member, Alexandre Pembi, was alerted at home.

Contacted by the head accountant, Seraphin, Pembi hopped on his moped to see about the emergency. He arrived to find five soldiers and a small crowd of looters helping themselves to the house's contents, with others carrying off the booty. He later related that he challenged them with, "This is a Central African's house. Why are you looting it like this?"

When the fighters hauled a safe into a hallway and began shooting the lock, he said, "There's not anything in it anyway," so they left it. He managed to stop them from stealing a refrigerator and gas stove from the kitchen, even though they made off with a freezer full of food and a tank of bottled gas.

Boniface, ICDI's technical expert, shows off the generator facility provided by Hope Community Church in Cary, N.C. ICDI's low-power shortwave radio station near Boali can cover the entire country of Central African Republic with Christian broadcasts.

"They broke open the storage containers that were inside and took what they wanted and just tromped all over everything else," he said in a telephone call with Indiana-based Jim Hocking, CEO and founder of ICDI. "If I hadn't got there when I did, they would have had time to sift through the house more. But thank God I got there. They didn't touch the air conditioners."

"We also lost all the compressor rebuild parts for our water well-drilling rig, probably around $30,000 worth of parts that we just sent in last month and hadn't been installed yet," said Jay Hocking, who handles the organization's publicity and communications. "That's going to be a major setback for the well-drilling operation since they were counting on getting that compressor going for this well-drilling season, although we do have a functioning compressor that we can use right now."

The rebels also took generators, the radio station's mixing board, speaker systems for The Jesus Film setup, video projectors, all three of the station's computers, iPads, mattresses and even dishes, linens, medicines and personal effects. ICDI, which functions as a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization in CAR, also lost three vehicles. For a time, it looked like the two broadcast shortwave transmitters went missing as well, but the Hockings learned on Wednesday, March 27, that they were left alone.

Workmen make repairs to the antenna of ICDI's radio station.

"The station is not on the air, and it's still dangerous to move around, so we're not asking our employees to return to the station at this time," Jay Hocking said. "We'll be continually evaluating the situation." Asked about security of the ICDI offices (now boarded-up and with caretakers on site), he responded, "Secure is a very relative term. When troops are roaming the streets with guns, I'd give a hesitant yes."

Pembi, an accountant who has worked for several years with ICDI, summed up his pain at the losses with, "My heart hurt."

"We obviously would not have asked him to do something like this [confronting the looters]," added Jay Hocking. "But I think his extreme frustration at the organization being looted- after he's spent years of his life working hard to get it where it was-made him take some rather risky actions."

HCJB Global machinist Stephen Peacock had spent two weeks working on a community development project to install two prototype water well pumps at ICDI's Mercy Care Center in Bangui. His scheduled return to Indiana on Thursday, March 21, took him out of the African country just before the fighting erupted the next day. On Monday morning the ICDI compound in downtown Bangui was looted.

"Although I am so thankful to make it safely back to my family in the U.S., I feel for those 108 ICDI workers who are left in the country," Peacock related. "They became good friends and are a joy to work with. They do important water, agricultural and orphan work for the people of the CAR and it is those innocent villagers in need of help that will suffer the most. Very few villages have contact with the outside world."

Media reports vary in characterizing the number of fighters from the Séléka rebel alliance that invaded Bangui on Sunday, describing them in numbers from hundreds up to thousands. Several armed groups united forces in December to seize towns in CAR's sparsely settled north. Their threat to march on the capital was halted after agreeing to go to peace negotiations with the government.

Rebel soldiers stand guard outside a hotel where Séléka rebel alliance leader Michel Djotodia was due to make a declaration in Bangui, Central African Republic. He announced late Monday that he has dissolved the country's constitution and will stay in power for three years, according to excerpts from the broadcast carried on French radio. (AP Photo)

Troubles had been brewing for months, but a Jan. 11 peace deal would have allowed Bozizé to finish out his term in 2016. However, after it was signed, the rebels later accused the president of reneging on his end of the bargain. Among their demands was for the president to send home South African troops helping prop up the government and to integrate some 2,000 rebel fighters into the military. Bangui was plunged into darkness on Saturday after the invading fighters cut power to much of the capital city.

Bozizé had wielded power in Central African Republic since 2003, about the same year that Jim Hocking had forged a partnership with HCJB Global to support Christian radio broadcasting in CAR. Using Skype, engineers and technicians at the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind., had been fielding questions from ICDI in CAR to troubleshoot transmitter and studio questions.

"By using Skype and email on their end, we were able to step through several tests and solve the problem which had kept ICDI's one transmitter off the air for three months," said Kathy Witkowski of the Technology Center.

Missionary machinist Steve Peacock tests a prototype water well pump at ICDI's Mercy Care Center in downtown Bangui.

In early 2007 HCJB Global engineers Dan Anderson, Curt Bender, Don Hastings and Jeremy Maller assisted ICDI staff in installing two low-power shortwave stations for Radio ICDI near the town of Boali. The government afterwards requested a second frequency for the capital city, which ICDI complied with. Additionally, Jim Hocking's organization drills wells for fresh drinking water, provides orphan care, does agricultural training and HIV/AIDS education, and helps Africans support themselves by starting small businesses.

"ICDI does regular maintenance on about 1,000 water wells throughout the CAR to keep them operating," Peacock added. "Four teams regularly visit the wells, document them and make repairs if necessary, but that program is on hold because of the fighting."

Curt Cole, HCJB Global vice president of international ministries, responded to the news with, "Together, let's take a moment right now and thank God that Stephen Peacock is no longer in the CAR. Let's also be praying for our partner ICDI and the staff there during this challenging time."

Cole, who spent his youth as a son of missionaries in Côte d'Ivoire, said, "Our hearts groan for our brothers and sisters in Africa."

Sources: HCJB Global, ICDI, Associated Press, Reuters