Author: AmerFriendSudan

Director’s Update

The Biden Administration has been struggling to move the devastating conflict in Sudan toward a cease-fire between the Sudan Armed Forces and the RSF and toward a civilian-led political transition.  Efforts are being made to dissuade the UAE from its armed support for the RSF, channeled through a secret base in Chad.  Both Vice President Harris and NSC Advisor Sullivan have made that point at the most senior levels.  Former Congressman Tom Pierrello, who served earlier under President Obama as Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes, has been designated Special Envoy for Sudan, but the scope of his responsibilities is still being worked out.  While there is deep concern at State and the White House about the direction in Sudan, Secretary of State Blinken already has his hands full with Israel/Palestine, Ukraine, Taiwan, and North Korea. As I write, he is making his fourth visit to the continent, but not to its northeast quadrant.

Meanwhile in 2024 AFRECS will be seeking to reinforce financial support for Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo, Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, as he seeks to consolidate church leadership from Port Sudan, rather than a ravaged Khartoum, and to generate support for its few far-flung parishes in different parts of the country.

Dane Smith, Executive Director

Two Messages from the Sudans

• Christmas messages of Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo in Port Sudan and Anglican Communion Secretary-General Anthony Poggo in London: Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan appeals for peace in Christmas message

• January 14 from Bishop Michael Deng Bol of Abyei: “Many refugees and returnees from Sudan are coming into Abyei town on daily basis. Children and elderly people are lacking for food and shelters. Please kindly pray for them. Organizations are doing nothing to help them.” Contact through the Rev. Anderia Lual Arok in Phoenix, Arizona anderialual@yahoo.com.

AFRECS on Your Itinerary?

Please stop by our exhibit and say “Hello” if you will be attending:

• Diocese of Southwestern Virginia annual convention, Roanoke VA Jan. 26-28
• Episcopal Parish Network annual conference, Houston TX, March 7-9
• General Convention of the Episcopal Church, Louisville KY, June 23-28

Who’s Who on the AFRECS Board

A lay preacher in the United Methodist Church, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia, and 2011-12 in served as as Senior Advisor on Darfur for the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan:  Executive Director Dane Smith

A retired lawyer in the homebuilding industry, attends Church of the Ascension in Denver, Colorado, and has served as our President since 2016: President Phil Darrow

Anita Sanborn’s early career focused on community organizing, maternal and child health, and long-term care. As a lay leader in the Episcopal Church in Colorado, she became engaged with the Sudanese refugees arriving in the early 2000s.  Many trips to the Sudans followed and she has been a Board member of AFRECS for several terms, beginning in 2004.  She now resides in Indiana.

Our Treasurer Larry Duffee spent three years as a missionary of The Episcopal Church to the Episcopal Church of Sudan — initially intending to devote only four months helping the Provincial Secretary’s office in Juba develop improved methods of financial management.

A retired Senior Counsel at the international law firm Baker Botts LLP in Washington, DC , and non-resident Fellow at the Baker Institute’s Center for Energy Studies, Rice University, focusing on international and energy matters.  In 1992-94 he opened a law office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and served as outside counsel for the National U.S. Arab Chamber of Commerce for a decade: Steven Miles

Susan E. Bentley retired after serving 23 years as rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Roanoke, Virginia including 14 years as pastor to a “nesting” congregation of South Sudanese who share space with the English-speaking congregation. 

Ellen Davis teaches Bible and practical theology at Duke Divinity School and consults as a theologian in the Anglican Communion, especially East Africa.

Frederick Gilbert has consulted on Africa, especially economic development planning, program management, and evaluation, since he retired from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1994.

Frederick L. Houghton, a retired priest of Eastern Michigan, taught at St. Mary’s Theological School, Odibo, Namibia, and in 2000 spent six weeks at Kakuma refugee camp in Northern Kenya teaching in the Malek Bible School and briefly visiting with Bishop Nathaniel Garang in the Diocese of Bor.

James A. Hubbard is a priest living in Amherst, Virginia who has served Episcopal parishes in Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and New York. He has completed an East-West and a North-South bicycle trek across the U.S. and served as a host during summer sessions at Chatauqua, New York.

The author of How to Talk with your Muslim Neighbor (Forward Movement Publications, 2004), living in Alexandria, Virginia: Rev. Richard J. Jones

Thomas Staal retired in 2019 as Counselor/Senior Advisor after a career with USAID, starting as an Emergency Program Officer in Khartoum in the aftermath of the famine of the mid 80s, then as a Food for Peace officer covering Ethiopia, southern Sudan, Uganda, and Somalia.

The newest member of the AFRECS Board, The Rev. Shirley Smith-Graham, has served in ordained ministry for almost 20 years. After attending the Virginia Theological Seminary, Shirley worked with both The Church of the Epiphany, Washington, DC, as a pastoral presence to homeless persons, and with Historic Christ Church in Alexandria. She has served parishes in both the Diocese of Virginia and Southwest Virginia and joined the Diocese of Virginia staff in 2022 as Interim Minister for Transition. 

Western Equatoria Builds Peace between Zande and Balanda, by Jack Mathias and Leslie Siegmund

Two local groups, Zande and Balanda, had recently experienced devastating mutual violence in Tambura, including the killing of over 200 people, hundreds of injuries, and large loss of property. In response, hundreds gathered during the last week of September 2023 to witness a soccer tournament among six teams and participate in a peace conference facilitated by Bishops Moses Zungo (Maridi), Richard Aquila (Nzara), and the host, Isaac Ephraim Bangisa (Ezo), with co-operation from Ezo County authorities. 

Organizers report greater trust and forgiveness among the people, as well as awareness of the dangers of violence, alcohol, drug abuse, witchcraft.

The gathering saw 12 marriages, 30 confirmations, and the ordination of several deacons and priests; training for Bible study and Mothers’ Union; and reaching out to those lost and traumatized. The conference was supported by the Internal Province of Western Equatoria as well as St. Francis Episcopal Church in Great Falls, Virginia.

The new Bishop Ruati Guesthouse in Ezo was put to good use by participants in the conference. 

Thank You!

AFRECS breathes because individuals like you care about the peacebuilding, educating, and empowering work of the Episcopal Church in the Sudans. Parishes and dioceses are also welcome supporters.  Please act on your concern by contributing here ­­­­­­­­­­­­­or send your check payable to AFRECS, Box 3327, Alexandria VA 22302. We are a 501(c)3 corporation, and your contributions are tax-deductible.

This issue of the E–Blast was compiled by Richard J. Jones and Anita Sanborn.  We welcome your news, comments, or concerns at anitasanborn@gmail.com.

Director’s Update

A bit of good news from South Sudan.  President Salva Kiir has appointed a National Elections Commission, a Political Parties Council, and a National Constitutional Review Commission — all steps toward the 2024 election required by the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on Resolving the Conflict in South Sudan. Meanwhile 1000 “reunified” South Sudanese armed forces have been deployed to Upper Nile to assist with refugees flooding in from Sudan.  These are modest steps – necessary, but far from sufficient to give credibility to the election process.

The political news from Sudan goes from bad to worse.  A trusted expert told me this week that the RSF, a “family-owned transnational entity,” tied to Russia’s Wagner Group, is winning the war, but could not even make a pretense of governing. Further evidence of wanton destruction comes with the November 1 bombing and burning of the Church of the Savior in Omdurman, site of the Shukai Theological Institute and Episcopal church offices.

I have taken heart, however, from the delivery of some relief aid to all the churches in the four divisions of the Diocese of Khartoum – Khartoum, Omdurman West, Omdurman East, and Bahri (North Khartoum).  Much of this assistance has come through the Church Association for Sudan and South Sudan in the UK.  AFRECS is seeking to raise $25,000 from Giving Tuesday, tied to a matching grant of $10,000 to add to that assistance and help the Episcopal Church of South Sudan meet the needs of destitute refugees.

I hope you will contribute!

Dane Smith, Executive Director

The Peacemaking Life of Bishop Paride Taban, by Richard Jones

(Radio Tamazuj photo)

Roman Catholic Bishop of Torit, Paride Taban, died November 1st  leaving a Peace Village as his legacy.  We thank God for his life among us.

After retiring as Roman Catholic Bishop of Torit in 2004, Paride Taban continued to develop his home village of Kuron, in the southeasternmost corner of South Sudan, bordering Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, as Holy Trinity Peace Village.

Born in 1936 in Katire, a sawmill town in the Imatong Mountains of Eastern Equatoria, Taban completed his Roman Catholic education at the Major Seminary in Tore in 1964, the year foreign missionaries were expelled from the southern region of Sudan. While civil war continued, he became a parish priest in Torit. After the 1972 Addis Ababa Peace Agreement, he served parishes in Palotaka and Loa, becoming Auxiliary Bishop of Juba in 1980, consecrated by Pope John Paul II in Kinshasa, Zaire, and in 1983 became the first Bishop of Torit. After serving through two decades of war, Taban escaped to Uganda in 1984, then to Kenya and Central African Republic, returning to South Sudan in 2004 when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the SPLM/SPLA and the Government of the Sudan was being reached in Naivasha, Kenya. That year he retired from the diocese of Torit.  In 2016, when conflict threatened within the government threatened the peace of the independent Republic of South Sudan, Taban was appointed Co-chair of a Steering Committee of National Dialogue.

Remembrances

“I met Paride Taban through the New Sudan Council of Churches [co-founded by Taban with Anglican bishop Nathaniel Garang of Bor in the liberated areas, predecessor of today’s South Sudan Council of Churches]. He was always an unassuming and humble presence, someone who did not seek notoriety but received it because of his immense practical wisdom and inspiring faith. He had, and I don’t say this lightly, a saintly presence.”

• Ross Kane, Assoc. Prof. of Theology, Ethics, and Culture, Virginia Theological Seminary; former volunteer with Young Adult Service Corps

“Bishop Taban and our father, the late Ambassador Angelo Voga, were good friends and the Bishop knew my wife Suzy’s family well. One Sunday morning as we were walking to services at All Saints Cathedral in Juba, a passing car started hooting and pulled over. It was Bishop Taban, also on his way to Mass. He recognized Suzy and wanted to greet her. When he learned I am Suzy’s husband, he jokingly informed me that I owe him, as Suzy’s kinsman, an uncle’s goat. (I regret that was never able to pay that debt.) Although he was a South Sudanese, Bishop Taban was a world citizen who took to heart his calling to serve all God’s people.”

• Larry Duffee, Treasurer of AFRECS, and Suzy Voga Duffee, Secretary of Ma’di Community Association in the U.S.

Anita Sanborn, AFRECS Board Member, interviewed Bishop Paride Taban at the Methodist Guest House in Nairobi, Kenya in 2009 or 2010.

“It was in 1989 that I first heard of Paride Taban. After refusing to allow the Sudan People’s Liberation Army to use the church’s vehicle, he was physically slapped by a general. Later I read his small book written in Jerusalem, where he had gone for healing and meditation and discovered a cooperative peace village called Neve Shalom where Christian, Muslim, and Jewish people lived together in harmony. Taban argued that the liberation movement is for the people and not the people for the movement.  I had the pleasure of hosting one meeting of the bishop with Southern Sudanese community members in Washington, D.C.”

• Kwathi Akol Ajawin, Sudanese African Fellowship, Annandale, Virginia

“What a giant! He spoke truth to power and broadcast the plight of Sudanese during the Second Sudanese Civil War far beyond Sudan’s borders. While figures like Fr. Saturnino Lohure and Barnaba Deng occupy rather iconic places in South Sudanese liberation lore, I believe one cannot talk about the Sudanese Church and its prophetic/public role in conflict mediation without serious consideration of Paride Taban.”

• Christopher Tounsel, University of Washington, Seattle

Public Recognition

2013 – United Nations Sergio Vieira de Mello award, for his involvement leading to an agreement between the government of South Sudan and the David Yau Yau armed Cobra faction signed in May 2014

2018 – United States government Freedom of Worship Award

November 9, 2023 – Opus Foundation million-dollar prize, by Villanova University, Philadelphia, USA, for the work of Holy Trinity Peace Village Kuron

More at:

Award of the Sergio Viera de Mello Peace Prize

Retired Bishop Paride Taban dies

Paride Taban: South Sudan’s ‘warrior for peace’ dies  (2-minute audio interview)

Even the Birds are Gone: Images from a War-Wracked Land

It is now over thirty weeks since war broke out in Khartoum between forces of the government of Sudan and the rival Rapid Support Forces of General Dagalo (Hemedti). Death continues to spread.

Bishop Ismail Gabriel Abudigin writes from of El Obeid in the west:

“In Nyala, South Darfur, there is just one deacon, with his family and a few Christians. Most people fled over the border to Chad. In Geneina, West Darfur, our school has been looted and destroyed.  El Fashir in North Darfur is under government control, and our pastor is still there.

Here in El Obeid we continue to hold a church service on Sundays, but when the fighting within the city is serious we pray under our beds. Government soldiers are in control up to now. Food is available in the city but some of it is very expensive. We have joined with mosques and other local churches, collecting clothes and delivering and distributing items together. There are approximately forty schools here, full of displaced people. Every day you hear about or see someone killed in front of you. “

As government military bases come under attack by the Rapid Support Forces, North Darfur markets like this one in the town of El Fashir are disrupted.

On November 1, an aerial bomb plus fire destroyed the eighty-old Anglican Church of Our Savior in Omdurman, while paramilitary looted diocesan offices, a residence, and three church schools in the compound. Fighting has destroyed most public properties in Khartoum, including a bridge connecting Omdurman to Khartoum North across the Nile. A woman caught in this urban battlefield writes, “The city is devoid of cats and dogs. Even the birds are gone because the air is polluted by the smoke of a city in flames.”

 

Before & After:  Church of Our Savior in Omdurman, (across the Nile from Khartoum) destroyed

Residents in the diocesan compound watched helplessly after a bomb sent flames and smoke from burning wooden benches and roof beams of Church of the Savior roaring into the sky.

Photos courtesy of John Poole.

Details at:  https://www.casss.org.uk

Praying for the Sudans in Palestinian Words

Lord, I am a refugee fleeing to you! I seek refuge in you.

Under the showers of missiles, you are my fortress that will not collapse.

When wicked people look at me, I can almost feel their hands strangling me;

but evil hands cannot reach you. You are my hope in whom I trust.

I take refuge in you daily; you have never failed in shepherding me.

Don’t reject me or forsake me, for I need you! My heart longs for you.

Grey has invaded my hair: every hair tells a story of your touch, which is

full of righteousness as well as kindness.

You have shown us many painful hardships, yet you return and restore our lives.

Despair cannot rule over us as long as our hearts are in your hands:

you restore and comfort us.

I praise you for I am in your hands today.

A Meditation on Psalm 71 by Yohanna Katanacho in ‘Praying through the Psalms’

Source: Church Association for Sudan and South Sudan, UK

Photo from Church Association for Sudan and South Sudan, UK

Thank You!

AFRECS breathes because individuals like you care about the peacebuilding, educating, and empowering work of the Episcopal Church in the Sudans. Parishes and dioceses are also welcome supporters.  Please act on your concern by contributing here ­­­­­­­­­­­­­or send your check payable to AFRECS, Box 3327, Alexandria VA 22302. We are a 501(c)3 corporation, and your contributions are tax-deductible.

This issue of the E–Blast was compiled by Richard J. Jones and Anita Sanborn.  We welcome your news, comments, or concerns at anitasanborn@gmail.com.

Today is the day!

As you open your email account this morning, you will no doubt see a flood of requests for help. We are finding the world in turmoil.  And, those of us with at least some means are asked to join ranks to do what we can.  During the next 24 hours, people around the world will come together to celebrate generosity and to make an impact.

Because of what you do today, in South Sudan you are going to help a refugee fleeing fighting in Sudan get shelter and safety. You will help a young woman in Renk to recover from multiple rapes through trauma healing instruction. You will help a war orphan in a displaced persons camp school near Juba get lunch.  In Sudan where little official aid is getting in, you will fund church-supplied food for Christians in Khartoum and Wad Medani and will help a little girl in the Nuba Mountains go to school in safety.

Over the next few hours, people around the world will come together to celebrate giving back. We have set up a recent bequest as a Match opportunity!  A $10,000 fund against a goal of $25,000. On Giving Tuesday every dollar donated doubles!  $25 becomes $50.  $50 becomes $100.  $75 becomes $150, and so on! And we still need your help!

Giving Tuesday comes but once a year, so partner with us today and help us cross the finish line strong! Let’s keep this rolling, and create some happiness and hope today.

Make your Giving Tuesday gift this morning at our Giving Tuesday campaign page.

Prayer IS Action

God of compassion, you show us your path even in the darkest times. We thank you for all who work to help the helpless, hold out hope to the desolate, and speak for the voiceless in the face of disaster wrought by evildoers.  Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer for our brothers and sisters who risk much to aid others, that their actions may be successful and their words of comfort heard.

More prayers for peace in the Holy Land: https://afedj.org/resources/worship-and-prayer-resources/

We Are People of Prayer 

Who Says “All Things Work Together for Good”?

https://time.com/6322429/bibles-most-misunderstood-verse/

“…At the very moment when we are caught up in the unspeakable groaning of all creation, the Spirit is working in our hearts to bring us in tune with God’s loving and healing purposes. God made humans to share in his work. We are to be people of prayer at the places where the world is in pain. And in the present time this kind of lament is what prayer looks like. When we take up that calling, we are caught up in the love of God; and God is working all things together for good with those who love him.”

— N. T. Wright, former bishop of Durham, England, now at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. (His new book, Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies, will be published in April 2024 by Zondervan.)

Director’s Update

As we go to press, cease-fire talks on Sudan between representatives of the RSF and Sudan Armed Forces are being reconvened by Saudi Arabia and the US in Jeddah. The regional IGAD leader is present, along with an official of OCHA, the UN humanitarian office.

Concurrently former Interim Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok announced the opening of a preparatory three-day session in Addis Ababa aimed at creating a Democratic Civilian Front. The nearly 100 delegates include representatives of the Forces of Freedom & Change, the neighborhood resistance committees, trade unions, women’s organizations, political parties, and religious and traditional leaders.  The session will seek to create preparatory committees for a larger meeting in November.  US Ambassador to Sudan John Godfrey is also present.

The Washington Post has reported that, with normal aid channels blocked in Sudan, diaspora organizations in Baltimore, Washington DC, northern Virginia, and Texas, as well as in Canada, Australia, and the UK are providing much of the very limited assistance now reaching the six million internally displaced, currently the largest such population in the world. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/29/sudan-war-diaspora-aid/

In South Sudan, continued flows of refugees from Sudan, 90% of whom are South Sudanese returnees, have overwhelmed Wanyjok and Nyamlel Dioceses in Northern Bahr al-Ghazal and Renk Diocese in Upper Nile. In Renk late rainy season flooding has destroyed buildings and roads.  Archbishops Moses Deng Bol and Joseph Garang have appealed for funding for medications and non-food items like blankets, plastic sheets, jerry cans and cooking materials.  YOU CAN HELP THROUGH AFRECS!

Dane Smith, Executive Director

Godsend AND Gadfly:  A Word of Appreciation from Episcopal Relief & Development

“AFRECS is a Godsend for organizations like Episcopal Relief & Development ….. Episcopal Relief & Development continues to work with the Episcopal Church of South Sudan’s Development and Rehabilitation Agency (SSUDRA). We have especially been supporting refugees who have arrived in Renk after fleeing violence in Sudan. Some of the most vulnerable had to be airlifted to a more secure area, and SSUDRA led that effort.

…..We rely on organizations like AFRECS to provide focus for those compassionate individuals, organizations, and congregations who want to focus specifically on our partnerships in the Sudans. So, please do tell your stakeholders that Episcopal Relief & Development is committed to our partnership with SSUDRA, and that we will continue to support their efforts to meet the needs of the most vulnerable.”

Sean McConnell, Senior Director, Faith & Community Engagement

AFRECS on the Road

AFRECS will be present at the Virginia Diocesan Convention in Fredericksburg November 2-4 and the Maryland Diocesan Convention November 10-11 at the Claggett Center near Frederick. Please stop by and say hello.

Comings and Goings

Diaspora Pastors and the Church in the Sudans

James Ayuen,  graduate of the three-year diocesan Iona School for Deacons and pastor of the Dinka-speaking St. John’s Sudanese Congregation, Tekwila, in Seattle, Washington,  is praying this month for the peace of Jerusalem and Gaza.

In June 2022 James Ayuen visited Israel and Gaza with the now-retired bishop of Olympia, Gregory Rickels.

Another Iona graduate, Mary Achol Bol Arok, possibly the first South Sudanese woman ordained a priest in the U.S. in the Episcopal Church in 2022, serves in the diocese of Olympia on the staff of provisional Bishop Melissa Skelton.  Rev. Mary Achol Bol Arok is Missioner for Pan-African Ministries in Seattle.

Speaking Swahili as well as English, she keeps in touch with a Kenyan congregation, a Kenyan-Tanzanian-Congolese congregation, and an Equatorian congregation — while assisting at St. John’s Sudanese congregation and working as a Licensed Practical Nurse. Her husband Simon Mabior Dau-Angok, father of their five children, shares news of the Sudanese diaspora at info@bscnmedia.org. 

When Joseph Pager Alaak was ordained by Bishop J. Scott Barker at All Saints Episcopal Church, Omaha, Nebraska on October 5th, the bishop said, “You may be shorter than some of the tall Dinkas we have known, but you have showed humility and perseverance as you moved from Kongor to Kakuma to Omaha. Despite your nickname, you are no “Little Dinka Man” … You will be a giant as you serve as a deacon.” View the video here.

Bishop Andrew Doyle of Texas is in conversation with Bishop Lule James Kenyi of Kajo-Keji Diocese in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan to support Michael Kiju Paul, rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Wharton, Texas to return to serve fulltime at Kajo-Keji Christian College, an affiliate of the Episcopal University of South Sudan.  Originally founded as Canon Benaiah Poggo College, the college offers 4-year degrees in theology, 3-year diplomas in business and primary education, and 1-year layreaders’ certificates in the Bari language.

Thanks to a 20-year companion relationship with the Diocese of Bethlehem in the U.S. and friends in the Netherlands, the college’s buildings in the village of Romogi are well equipped, including a library and solar-powered internet access.

Patricia Kisare,  International Policy Advisor for  the Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s offices in Washington, DC, attended the inauguration of a new worship space and clinic in the Referendum neighborhood of Juba in 2017, where President Salva Kiir was the guest of honor.

Two links show the ceremony and the services now being provided to the community:

Hope Rising in Juba, South Sudan | ELCA – YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ee_IxEM74g>

A new church for a new country – Living Lutheran <https://www.livinglutheran.org/2016/02/new-church-for-new-country/>

A Day in the Life of a Retired Bishop in South Sudan

Retired Bishop Enock Tombe, retired Provincial Secretary, Bishop of Rejaf, and author of an autobiography In Hope & Despair, writes from his home Juba:

“Today 29/9/2023 I have been invited to attend two marriage functions, one community meeting, and a workshop for Central Equatoria Human Rights Commission in regard to preparation for upcoming Elections in December 2024.This list gives you the high demand for my time and hence my inability to fulfill the expectations of those who have invited me. However, as a retired Bishop, I make the choice based on my priorities! In this case, I will attend the Human Rights Workshop given its importance as it relates to election violence and how to hold the violators to account.”

Thank You!

AFRECS breathes because individuals like you care about the peacebuilding, educating, and empowering work of the Episcopal Church in the Sudans. Parishes and dioceses are also welcome supporters.  Please act on your concern by contributing here ­­­­­­­­­­­­­or send your check payable to AFRECS, Box 3327, Alexandria VA 22302. We are a 501(c)3 corporation, and your contributions are tax-deductible.

This issue of the E–Blast was compiled by Richard J. Jones and Anita Sanborn.  We welcome your news, comments, or concerns at anitasanborn@gmail.com.