Author: AmerFriendSudan

Photo: Hilary Garang Deng, a retired Archbishop in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, shares with AFRECS leaders (L to R) Steven Miles, Anita Sanborn, and Dane Smith an artistic creation he made while visiting the General Convention in Louisville.

In the congested bazaar of the Louisville General Convention, a lanky African in a black suit and purple shirt attracted browsing visitors June 24-26 while he sat drawing with oil pastel crayons.  Hilary Garang Deng,  head of the art department at the University of Juba and retired bishop of Malakal in South Sudan, embraced old friends and invited strangers to pray for peace in their own hearts and for healing of the war-ravaged Sudans.

AFRECS Board Member Steven Miles said he was moved by Archbishop Hilary’s work as it expressed, in Steven’s words, “a re-creation, a spiritual expression of our Risen Lord as expressed by the empty Cross and the dazzling sunrise in the background.”

Bright Stars, the first men’s basketball team to represent South Sudan in the Olympic Games, reached the semifinals in Villeneuve-d’Ascq before being defeated by Serbia 96-85 in a hotly contested game August 3, 2024. Expectations for the team were high after it lost a pre-Olympics game on July 20 in London by a single point – 101-100 – to the United States team led by LeBron James. AFRECS Board member Steve Miles noted that most of the players for South Sudan were descendants of South Sudanese refugees to the US or Australia.  “Several had outstanding collegiate basketball careers in the US or played with NBA teams,” he commented, “but were ultimately released from those NBA teams, sometimes for reasons that sound (as described in the ESPN article) rather capricious.” An ESPN reporter predicted, “There probably will be a movie made about the South Sudan basketball team someday.”

LINK: South Sudan Coach Accuses Refs of Bias in Olympic Loss to Serbia

The AFRECS team at the 81st Episcopal Convention in Louisville in June was honored by the presence of artist and retired Archbishop Hilary Garang Deng of Malakal.  A magnetic figure, he greeted and prayed with South Sudanese and American friends,while sketching vibrant oil pastel works.

Inconclusive Sudan talks were set up for Geneva August 14, arranged by the US with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE as co-sponsors. The SAF did not show up. A new round was scheduled in Cairo August 26, but failed to materialize. One positive development: the SAF has now agreed that humanitarian assistance can enter Darfur via Adre, a key site it had previously ruled out.

The Famine Review Committee, a UN-related body for measuring food crises, has declared parts of North Darfur to be in famine, especially the ZamZam displacement camp housing 500,000 just south of El Fasher.  Famine is also projected for other parts of Darfur, Gezira State, and Kordofan unless humanitarian access improves.  One estimate projects that as many as 2.5 million could die from starvation. Pray for the Sudanese and urge maximum US efforts to save them.

Biographies

Russell Randle, Esq., Convener, Russ Randle is a Principal at Miles & Stockbridge PC in Washington, DC. He served on the AFRECS Board of Directors from 2008 to 2017.  He is an honorary canon of St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Renk, South Sudan. He has worked with the Episcopal Church of Sudan and the Episcopal Church of South Sudan since 1997 in advocacy to The Episcopal Church, including adoption of multiple General Convention and Executive Council resolutions. He has collaborated with the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations in presenting concerns about human rights, religious persecution, peace, and development to Congress and U.S. Government agencies on a pro bono basis.

Buck Blanchard is the former Mission and Outreach Director for the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church in Colorado. He also served for a time as a member of the staff of the Global Partnerships Team of The Episcopal Church. He has travelled to South Sudan extensively, beginning in 2008, and has visited more than a dozen dioceses there.

Brian D’Silva has over 45 years experience working in Africa – in Northern Nigeria, Sudan and South Sudan and Kenya. He retired from the US Government after 32 years. His time with USAID was spent both in residence in Sudan as well as a regional position with USAID in Kenya covering East and Southern Africa. He continues to work on issues related to Sudan and South Sudan. Most recently he worked as an advisor to the Minister of Finance and the Office of the PM, during the Civilian Transitional Government of PM Hamdok (2019-2021). Before that he worked as an advisor to the Minister of Finance in the independent Government of South Sudan. Currently he is advising USAID on their $60 million initiative for Sudan. He lives with his wife in Reston, VA.

Rev. Robin Denney, Rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal, Napa, CA. was ordained in 2017, and before that had a career in agriculture development as a missionary of the Episcopal Church in Liberia and South Sudan. She also served as a lay church-planter, starting a bilingual ministry in the Salinas Valley. Robin grew up on a farm and ranch in northern Salinas Valley and has a degree in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis. She has a Master’s in Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Liz Ha is the CEO of Five Talents, a Christian micro-enterprise organization that ministers in South Sudan as well eight other countries in the global south.  Five Talents is proud to partner with the global church and partner organizations such as AFRECS to facilitate literacy, savings, and entrepreneurship training to help people find a sustainable path out of extreme poverty to the flourishing of the body and spirit.

The Rev. Andrew Merrow serves at Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia, one of the parishes that helped to build the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Renk Diocese. He has made numerous trips to South Sudan over the years and was blessed to lead a Retreat for Deans at the request of the then Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul. Saint Mary’s prays at all Sunday services for the people and church in Sudan and South Sudan.

Bishop (Rtd) Alan Scarfe was born in Bradford in Yorkshire, England. Before ordination in 1986 he served as Executive Director of Keston College USA, an independent research institution advocating freedom of religion in communist countries. He was rector of St. Barnabas’ Episcopal Church in the Los Angeles area before his election as Bishop of Iowa in 2002. As Bishop he created a diocesan companionship with the ECSS Diocese of Nzara. Bishop Scarfe co-chaired the Task Force on Dialogue with the South Sudanese Anglican Diaspora 2018-2024. He has twice visited South Sudan and has frequently hosted Archbishop Samuel Peni of Western Equatoria and Yambio Diocese. 

The Rev. Oran E. Warder is the long-time rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia, a congregation that has a decades-long mission partnership with the Diocese of Renk, South Sudan and also has a South Sudanese worshipping community that is part of the parish.  He has made two visits to South Sudan, once to visit the Renk Basic School (which the parish supports) and once to attend the first General Synod Meeting of the Church of South Sudan following independence.

Webinar

Sudan: War, Challenge, and the Church

The Episcopal Parish Network featured AFRECS in a June 18 Webinar – Sudan: War, Challenge and the Church.  Archbishop Samuel Peni Enosa, Chair of the Episcopal Mediation Advisory Team, Brian D’Silva, longtime expert on both Sudans, and Dr. Jacqueline Wilson, Policy Advisor to the State Department, joined AFRECS President Anita Sanborn and Executive Director Dane Smith in exploring the challenges of peacebuilding in these violence-torn countries.  Please tune in to the EPN video.

Webinar

Sudan: War, Challenge, and the Church

Tuesday, June 18th | 3:00pm EDT

While not headline news in the United States, our brothers & sisters in the Sudans are suffering.

Since April 2023 Sudan has been ripped apart by nation-wide fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces militia. This conflict follows a 2021 military coup which upended a transition to democratic rule.

In the past year 15,000 have died. Almost 9 million people have been displaced, the largest number in the world. Khartoum, its capital, has been largely destroyed. Almost 40% of the population is food insecure. And, through all of this, faithful Christians are working to make conditions livable. The Episcopal Church in Sudan has regrouped after ouster from its headquarters in Khartoum, is promoting recovery of its scattered churches & is providing relief where possible with international support.

In South Sudan the civil war which erupted two years after independence in 2011 ended with an uneasy 2018 peace promising a transition to elections. That peace agreement has largely been unimplemented, leaving elections uncertain. The South Sudanese Government is corrupt & dysfunctional. The dynamic Episcopal Church has nevertheless been effectively promoting literacy, livelihood creation, trauma healing & peace.

Join us to learn about the genesis of the crises in the Sudans, the unhelpful involvement of some outside powers & the inspiring role of both national churches. You will leave with ideas on how you & your church can help and where you can learn more.

Panelists include:

• Joseph Bilal – Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs & Church Relations, Episcopal University of South Sudan; Juba
• Jacqueline H. Wilson – Policy Analyst, Office of Sudan/South Sudan; Arlington, Virginia
• Brian D’Silva – Economic and Political Expert on the Sudans; Reston, Virginia
• Anita Sanborn – President, AFRECS; Angola, Indiana
• Dane Smith – Executive Director, AFRECS, ret. US Ambassador, Washington, District of Columbia

We hope to see you in Louisville!

AFRECS is eager to meet you at our Table #1225 in the Exhibit Hall during the 81^st General Convention of The Episcopal Church at the International Conference Center in Louisville, Kentucky, June 21-27.

New Diocese in Nuba Mountains

Heiban, a new diocese of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, has been inaugurated in the Nuba Mountains. Elsir Hassan Kuku was consecrated as the first bishop by Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo on Sunday, February 18th. Read more from the Church Association of Sudan and South Sudan.

A Death in the Diaspora

by Kwathi Akol Ajawin

I was in Memphis, Tennessee, April 6 for the burial of my friend and co-worker Reverend Canon Ismail Badur Kunda. About a thousand people showed up from all over the country, plus two pastors from Sydney,  Australia, and Bishop Andudu el-Nail  from Sudan representing Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo.

I served for over fifteen years in Cairo with this great servant who hailed from Nuba Mountains. I didn’t know Rev. Ismail was an Episcopalian, since our focus was on the kingdom of God and spreading the gospel among the Sudanese immigrants. Denomination rarely comes up in our discussions.

[Ed. Note:  Rev. Ismail attended one of AFRECS’s past annual conferences.]