Category: E-Blasts

Executive Director’s Update

AFRECS Board member Rev. James Hubbard and I visited Sudan and South Sudan in August.   It was my third visit to South Sudan since 2018. This issue focuses on that portion of our visit. I saw a dynamic young church in operation. It counts 4 million souls. That is twice the number of Episcopalians/Anglicans in the United States. And it is growing rapidly. It has over 60 dioceses and bishops spread throughout the reaches of South Sudan. It is led since 2018 by Primate Justin Badi Arama.

In addition to the leadership, the Episcopal Church of South Sudan is “peace-operational” on the ground.  The Mothers’ Union is active in many dioceses.  Its energetic national coordinator, Mama Harriet Baka, is promoting literacy and livelihoods for women throughout the country and raising up local leaders.  In the diocese of Terekeka, in Central Equatoria, at the tiny parish of Luyari, Mothers’ Union facilitators teach local women for a year to read and write in Bari, the local language. They go on to teach micro finance so that the women can start small businesses of their own – bakeries or tea shops, for example.

The South Sudan Development and Relief Agency (SSUDRA) has a dynamic new leader, Light Wilson Aganwa, experienced in and deeply committed to development.  SSUDRA is working in livelihood generation, water, sanitation and health, focusing on areas that have experienced much violence — Jonglei, Unity State, Western Bahar al-Ghazal, and Eastern Equatoria.

I returned to the US excited about what God is doing with the Episcopal Church of South Sudan.  I hope you will continue and even expand your support for AFRECS in its funding of the critical peacebuilding work going on there.

Prayer 

The quiet sympathies of good people will not bring about true good for all people.

What of our own power, privilege, and comfort are we willing to sacrifice to bring about full human becoming for all people?

Broaden our sacred imagination.

Free us in the places where we are bound. Help us see big enough ways to give all people what they need.

Give us sacred intolerance for prejudice, exclusion, repression, and violence.

May we treat the needs of others as holy.
-Prayers of the People adapted from Abolitionist Spirituality by Willie Dwayne Francois III

Editors’ Note:

In this issue we excerpt very personal experiences and encounters from the August 2022 dispatches from the Sudans by a parish priest and a retired ambassador. Future E-blasts will  report what they learned at the Rokon, South Sudan site of the new Episcopal University, in Khartoum, about an Arabic-language seminary, and developments at a burgeoning school for orphans outside Juba.

Contact us at afrecs@afrecs.org if you are inspired to join in one of the efforts they describe.

What the Priest Heard:   From Mothering to Gender-based Violence
by James A. Hubbard, August 21-22, 2022

Mother Harriet Baka sat Dane and me down in her Mothers’ Union at the Juba Provincial headquarters on August 21 to prepare us for Terekeka.

This petite, redoubtable woman explained that when literacy training was validated as effective with non-literate groups, the pilot sites were Khartoum, Juba, and Renk. The Province gave them five years—to foster literacy, numeracy, and savings groups in the first three years, then to address trauma healing and Gender-based Violence in the last two years. “We started slow,” says Mother Harriet, “because we needed experience in how to train facilitators and in facilitating groups. We started with twelve groups in Juba, and a like number in Rajaf district.   We wanted an awareness of the power of salvation, so we started with the provincial leadership and diocesan leaders and then began to train.” “ AFRECS began contributing funds in 2017 to support the effective Anglican group Five Talents in this work.

The following morning we set out for Terekeka, some seventy-three kilometers out of Juba. Picked up by Light Wilson of South Sudanese Development and Rehabilitation Assistance (SSUDRA), we met Bishop Paul Modi on the outskirts of Juba, a few minutes before arriving at the first security checkpoint. The Bishop, who had been very clear that he would ride only with his wife and driver, met with the police by himself. He is a large, tall, imposing figure, and I was glad I wasn’t part of the security force. He was back in a very few minutes and, without saying a word to those of us in the following car, his lead car took off. At every other security point, he simply looked pointedly at the security personnel and we were waved on through.

Cars, trucks, goats and cattle all shared the highway. The herds belong to the Mandari people, who are semi-nomadic, and their boys accompany the herds. The Mandari women are persistently visible walking long distances along the highway seeking drinking water. Cattle are central to their culture, being their wealth, their source of milk and food, and the vital resource needed to pay the bride price in order to marry. Cattle are virtually part of individual families as well as a tribal responsibility.

At the end of the highway we came to a large roundabout and headed off on a dirt and gravel road for the last few bouncy kilometers into Terekeka. At the church compound, we were welcomed by forty or fifty singing children, ten men, and twenty ululating women with leis for Dane, Mother Jessica (an associate of Mother Harriet’s), who had accompanied us from Juba, and me. In our stiff American way, we mingled and greeted. After prayer and a song or two, we retired to the bishop’s office and heard from four or five women leaders and about a dozen chiefs and elders

The Chief of Tali spoke movingly about the difference trauma healing and literacy training were making in their church, their communities, and their families. (I was wondering what the men really knew about this training, only to discover later that men were always included in these groups. Though predominantly made up of women, the groups usually have around 40% men.) Lack of transport to rural areas of the diocese, conflict, and the need for peace and reconciliation were among the issues discussed. One hundred fifty-five young men were killed in a recent incident. People clash because of cattle raiding, disagreements, rape, taking children for soldiers, and killing. The entire country is traumatized in so many ways.

Women are being empowered. Many are the stories both Harriet and Nora have heard about women with this training becoming active about serious issues in their communities, calling the attention of elected officials and demanding action. No longer are they shy and quiet women, but individuals who stand up and say with a gleam of pride in their eyes what needs to be addressed.

By teaching and encouraging prayer and the study of scripture, these groups help people learn ethical practice for the family and the community, heal from the serious psychological harm done within a country that has been in the midst of war for decades, and, most importantly, become part of the loving, healing, trusting community of Jesus within the Church.

One surprise occurred when the Bishop, directly asked me to come back in the future to spend a week helping to train his clergy, who are evidently hungry for education. It was a humbling request, but immediately I saw the immense value it could bring, particularly if I could bring three or four other clergy with me.

Men’s behavior within their families has changed. Many men, particularly those who have taken the training, speak up with pride for the women in their households and their community. Traditionally, men in this culture have nothing to do with a baby once it is made. But through these groups they learn the importance of a father holding his infant child, helping with his children, and helping his wife with household matters in ways that revolutionize marriage and family life. As they explained this, these women became animated in helping us to understand the changes.

We were undone by the careful, thorough efforts which are having such wonderful success in perhaps the poorest of neighborhoods in the poorest of countries in the world.

A Declaration of Faith

You, O God, are Holy Spirit.
You empower us to be your gospel in the world.
You reconcile and heal; you overcame death.

What the Ambassador Saw:  Mothers’ Union and Trauma Healing
by Dane F. Smith, Jr.

When facilitators from the Mothers’ Union (MU) went out into villages last year, they discovered with some surprise that the women weren’t shy about telling their stories of gender-based violence (GBV). The work of the Mothers’ Union consists of preaching, of course, and inviting women to form savings circles, but their starting point has been literacy — teaching women to read and write in their own languages.  Then numeracy and microfinance were added, guided by trainers from Five Talents. Women are the breadwinners in South Sudan, because the men have no work, and the cost of living is very high.  Mothers’ Union has also been dealing with emotional trauma, which is pervasive after generations of war.

Mama Harriet Baka, the redoubtable National Coördinator of the Mothers’ Union in South Sudan, with her right hand Jessica Lukudu and other lieutenants, has begun to engage bishops’ spouses in confronting gender-based violence.

Now the Mothers’ Union is addressing gender-based violence. “So many women have been raped,” said Mama Harriet Baka, National Coördinator of the Mothers’ Union (MU), when we met in her office August 22.  Besides making the bishops aware of GBV”, Mama Harriet said, “the spouses of bishops need to be empowered. They feel a lot of frustration.”

Working with the Anglican Alliance, she spoke to 58 of them in Arabic at the recent Lambeth Conference. Caroline Welby, wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury, did a retreat with them. Now returned home, Harriet plans to begin working with the spouses, starting with a few at a time.
Harriet said that God was blessing the MU in its work scattered throughout South Sudan.  MU doesn’t have the resources to go to all 64 dioceses, but the dioceses are formed into clusters in the 8 internal provinces. MU now has an office in every cluster

On Gender-based Violence, the Mothers’ Union starts with sensitizing the leadership “from the Provincial Secretary on down,” making the bishops aware of GBV. Emphasizing that women are also created in the image of God, they teach that abuse of wives, torture, and rape are inconsistent with that truth.  The MU elicits stories ranging from the groups which cover the unavailability of schooling, to abuse in the family, to rape by military personnel. MU attempts to make clear what is fairness and justice and to give hope.  A major issue is how to handle violence in families without making the situation worse. MU is trying to illuminate men, as well as women, on the nature of gender-based violence (GBV) and its consequences. MU has confronted military perpetrators, who sometimes react with tears. Significantly, MU is collecting and documenting these stories.

GBV training is directed to men and women.  In addition to teaching that beating your wife is wrong, it enjoins against child marriage and forced marriage. It encourages the men to share in household chores like getting water and collecting wood.  In traditional Bari culture, the man never holds a baby. GBV training encourages them to hold and share in the care of children.  Sarah told us that the incidence in Terekeka of GBV is very high.  Girls are married off very young to gain dowry.  Women and girls are often raped by military personnel when they gather firewood or collect water. Challenges include difficult passage to the centers in the rainy season along impassible roads.  Intermittent internet is also a problem.

The Redoubtable Harriet Baka. We met with Mama Harriet Baka, National Coordinator of the Mothers Union (MU), in her office August 22.  Her right hand, Jessica Lukudu, who in 2020 traveled with me to Renk, was there with the other lieutenants.

Mama Harriet Baka

We were welcomed at the diocesan compound with women ululating.  We proceeded into the church, where about 50 were gathered. The Bishop welcomed us in Bari and I said a few words in Arabic about AFRECS, our work with the Mothers Union, and our pleasure at visiting Terekeka.  We repaired to the diocesan office with a smaller group of 12-15 (five women) which included a local chief, Canon Agnes, Provost of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, two male canons, the “development coordinator,” and Mothers Union officers led by Coordinator Mama Nora.

Bishop Paul is the second bishop of Terekeka, created as a diocese in 2009. (HIs predecessor is buried in a tomb on the property.) The country of Terekeka has 10 payyams. In the diocese there are 9 archdeaconries, 65 priests, including some women and 43 parishes.  Capacity building of priests is his highest priority; only 5 are educated and the rest are “vernacular pastors.”  Terekeka is a diocese of 15-20% literacy.  The area is affected by climate change which has brought unprecedented floods for the last three years.

Lunch in MU office

We said good-bye to the diocese and drove about 5km with Bishop and MU trainers to make a very brief stop at the learning center at Luyari Parish, a small building.  Local facilitators were introduced: Rev. Peter Leggay, Rev. Justin Kalong, and Santino Lak.  Then we made a quick return to Juba.

Learning center at Luyari Parish

We are deeply grateful that contributions from you, our supporters, continue to nurture AFRECS in expanding our impact.  You make a difference in the essential peacebuilding work of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, so needed in these challenging times. We hope you will make a contribution to support our work with the people of the Sudans and offer a prayer for their nations. You can contribute online at https://afrecs.org or send a check made out to AFRECS to P.O. Box 3327, Alexandria, VA 22302.

This issue was compiled by AFRECS Board members Anita Sanborn and Richard Jones. AFRECS craves your comments, corrections, and future contribution of photos, news, or reflection.

Message from the President

We at AFRECS are so happy that Executive Director Dane Smith and board member James Hubbard are in the midst of an extended visit to reconnect with Sudanese and South Sudanese church leaders and other AFRECS friends in Salisbury, London, Khartoum and Juba, as well as other parts of the Sudans.

The Covid pandemic has reminded us there is no substitute for direct human contact and dialogue. That AFRECS has been able to show up and be with our friends, for the first time since early 2020, is quite meaningful. Dane and James will get to see first-hand the progress of three projects that we support — the Glow MAPS school in the displaced persons camp outside Juba, the developing campus of the Episcopal University of South Sudan in Rokon, and the vocational and trauma healing program administered by Five Talents in Terekeka (where it has expanded from Renk). Most importantly, we get to rekindle friendships, spark new ones, and share ideas for new mission. So much more can happen face to face than over a choppy internet connection — where the video often must be turned off to make the audio audible.

Recent in-person discussions at the Lambeth conference of Anglican bishops were, of course, a reminder of our differences as a Communion.  Differences certainly remain. As the gathered bishops were able to do, however, we too can find a way forward as friends in mutually respectful relationship, working together to fulfill Jesus’s vision of human dignity by addressing the suffering of his people. The current visit by Dane and James is a reflection of that call and furthers that effort.

I pray for continued safe travel, and for stronger relationships in shared mission!

Phil Darrow

Smith and Hubbard Visit UK, Khartoum, and Juba: Selected Dispatches

Dane Smith (Khartoum, Sudan, August 15):

James and I met with Hawaya Abdul-Rahman, Coordinator of the Mothers’ Union today at the Provincial Office.  Mama Samira Suleiman, MU President, joined us late in the meeting. The meeting was in English until the latter arrived and was then translated into/from Arabic.  Hawaya said that the Mothers’ Union has been mobilizing literacy circles in Arabic in the dioceses.  Coordinators are trained in Khartoum, then they train facilitators.  There are currently seven coordinators and fifty facilitators (ten per diocese).  The training goes on in Khartoum with trainees housed locally in “hotels.”  The coordinators are Christian, but facilitators may be Muslim or any other faith.  Both the diocesan coordinators and the facilitators are volunteers but receive incentive payments from time to time. Building on the literacy work, training continues into small business.  Graduates receive up to 16,000 Sudanese pounds (about $32 today) to get started.  The bulk of them acquire simple sewing machines to enable them to create clothes, especially school uniforms.  Others go into the food business, selling tea on the streets or creating cakes or other food items.  Women benefiting from the program — often their husbands are unemployed —  have been able to pay school fees for their kids, buy them clothes, purchase goats, or even buy a house.  Mothers’ Union evaluates the success or failure of those they have trained in order to improve the program.  In one case, a graduate ambitiously attempted to build a cafeteria to sell food but ran out of money before completing it.

James Hubbard  (Omdurman, Sudan, August 13):

Saturday evening Dane and I were taken to the Mahdi’s tomb. The tomb itself is located within a huge architecturally carved wooden case, which is itself a screen with dimensions of, say, 25 x 40 feet in width and length.  A few of the devout were there to pray.

Later we were driven through mud and water (this is the rainy season in central Africa) into the grounds where the dervishes were to dance.  By the time we arrived, several hundreds, perhaps more, mostly men, were gathered to hear speeches.  We walked through the vehicles, small structures, and crowds, sticking to high ground, to see and hear the speeches—all in Arabic, of course.
Suddenly there were men gathering around us, shyly smiling, and then asking where we were from. They were fascinated that Americans were there, but over and over they welcomed us. One asked me my profession and, being a little coy, I said “Clergy”.

“ ‘Clergy’, what is clergy?” he responded.  I told him I was a Christian priest.

That he understood and then said that their holy book was the Koran.
“Yes, I said, “I’ve read it many times.”
“What do you think of it?”
“There is much that’s good in it, like the Bible”.
‘But what do you think of it?’
“Well, no disrespect, but it seems disorganized”.
“Why do you say that?”.
“Well, because it does not develop topically, logically.  It speaks of one thing and then moves to another, maybe later on comes back to a topic mentioned previously.  There are no connections between paragraphs. You write an essay and you develop a topical sentence and then a paragraph around that, and then move on logically.”

He understood that, but said that I misunderstand the logic of the Koran. Then another young man jumps in to say that it is my opinion and he cannot say that I am wrong.  He must respect my opinion.
“No, if he is wrong I must tell him so.”
Delightful. Open. Disagreement, but in a very friendly manner.

Then the discussion turns to forgiveness: “Only God could forgive.” I agreed. “But humans have to forgive each other too,” I say.

“Give me an example”, says one. So I suggested we were friends, but say I told him a lie.  When he finds out, then to retain the friendship he must forgive me. I must forgive him for something he does to me. They thought this was fascinating, seemingly a new idea.  We had an enjoyable conversation, all six or eight of us!

Impact of AFRECS

AFRECS has released our 2021 Annual Report featuring stories, updates, and reports from its work over the previous year. Read more about AFRECS’ partnerships and the inspiring ministries in Sudan and South Sudan. Click here to read the AFRECS 2021 Annual Report.

Bishops Discuss Differences at Lambeth Conference

At the recent gathering of bishops from all dioceses in the Anglican Communion at Canterbury Cathedral, known as the Lambeth Conference, some of the more difficult discussions exposed differing views within the Communion on human sexuality and same-sex marriage. Prior to the July 27 opening of the conference, Archbishop Justin Badi Arama, alongside the Archbishop of Hong Kong, had announced the hope of the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans that the conference would reaffirm a 1998 declaration that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. As the seven-day conference of bishops and their wives proceeded through worship and Bible study, small-group discussions, plenary responses to themes such as evangelism and climate care, a message from the Queen of England, and many corridor conversations, no voting on this divisive matter occurred. The gathered bishops instead concurred on a Call regarding human dignity that recognized the different views, but affirmed the commitment to listen and walk together despite “deep disagreement” on these issues.

See the links below for interviews with the Bishop of Tonj, Peter Yuol Gur, and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s advisor for Anglican Communion affairs, Anthony Dangasuk Poggo, former bishop of Kajo-Keji.

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2022/08/01/lambeth-conference-shifts-to-more-challenge-issues-as-bishops-take-up-anglican-identity/

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2022/08/06/bishops-wrap-lambeth-conference-with-look-ahead-to-unity-despite-persistent-divisions/

Come See Us at New Wineskins, Black Mountain, North Carolina Sept. 22-25

Dane Smith and AFRECS Board members look forward to welcoming visitors at our exhibit during the once-every-three-years New Wineskins gathering of Anglicans and Episcopalians engaged in international cross-cultural mission. Our guest on Friday and Saturday will be Bishop Grant LeMarquand, editor of the letters of Marc Nikkel Why Haven’t You Left?, recently Bishop of the Horn of Africa in Gambella, Ethiopia, and professor of New Testament at Trinity School for Ministry. We will also welcome Tad deBordenave, founder of Anglican Frontier Missions and author of Light to the Nations: God’s Covenant with the Nations and Abraham Yel Nhial, Bishop of Aweil in South Sudan.

Register now at https://www.newwineskinsconference.org. For details, contact 800-588-722, 828-669-8022, or Richard Jones at 703-823-3186.

Violence in Northern Bahr al-Ghazal Internal Province

Following a series of machine gun and burning attacks on villages between February and June, the bishop of Abyei Diocese in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, Michael Bol Deng, on June 26 appealed to friendly governments and the United Nations for assistance with food and shelter for 156,000 people, including twenty pastors, displaced from their homes in nine Ngok Dinka villages. These homeless people have congregated around Aweil town, the capital of Northern Bahr Ghazal, which is 175 km. by road SW of the border of Abyei, overwhelming local resources.

The Abyei Administrative Region has been disputed between Sudan and South Sudan since independence. A proposed referendum never took place in 2011 because of a dispute over whether nomadic pastoralists were residents; an informal referendum in 2013 was boycotted by pastoralists.

Bishop Michael Deng Bol (abyeianglicanchurch@hotmail.coom) identifies the attackers as member of the Twic Dinka community, supported by South Sudan people’s defense forces, as well as cattle-grazing Misseriya Arabs from north of the border with Sudan. Baroness Caroline Cox of the United Kingdom has called the attacks a massacre. Robert Hayward, a volunteer with Christian Aid, writes from London, “These attacks are seen as attempts not only to take over land for grazing but also to break up and drive away Christian communities.”

A Teacher Makes Up Her Mind

“I decided at the outset (for me, 2005) that with the relatively small amount of money and human resources I could hope to contribute, directly and indirectly, I could make the most significant impact through improving theological education, since the Sudans are one of the few places on the planet where Christian clergy are the best educated, most trusted, and most influential members of the community. I still think that is the case.”

Ellen F. Davis, Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology, Duke Divinity School, July 27, 2022

Seminary in Exile Prepares to Uproot and Go Home

War has twice forced the theological school with the best library in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan to pack its books and seek refuge in Arua, Uganda. Bishop Allison Theological College (https://www.batcyei.org), established in Yei in 1993 by Bishop Seme Solomona, now plans to build back on property formerly belonging to Samaritan’s Purse and to return home to Yei  in 2023. Principal Emmanuel Lokosang Charles has just sent off to Uganda Christian University in Mukono his dissertation for the Master of Arts degree.

Most students pursuing the three-year residential program live in refugee camps one or more hours away from the Arua campus. These include seventeen candidates for a certificate and five for a diploma in theology. Each of the five teachers at Bishop Allison offers two or three courses per term, plus administrative duties.

To share this strenuous load and strengthen the faculty, BATC has recently welcomed students from Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina in the United States to serve as unpaid short-term teachers. Maggie Larson, a 2^nd year M.Div. candidate at Duke teaching said in June, “I love the students. Many are coming from challenging backgrounds, yet they are all joyful. Everyone has their role within the student body. Some of the students are already ministers and ordained.”

A fellow Duke student, Bri Karpovich, added: “One of my favorite parts of teaching is small group discussions. The students are able to so elegantly explain and think about all the different aspects of the New Testament. I have been really blessed by challenging questions. The students have such curious minds – so much imagination.”

Exams for students are created by Uganda Christian University’s theological faculty. UCU selects questions submitted by BATC instructors. Students then see a bank of questions and must choose which four questions to answer. In the most recent class, 100% of the students passed their exams.

Stephen J. Crupi, a Duke graduate, joined the full-time BATC faculty in 2017 and served as academic dean until December 2021, teaching Bible, history, ethics, English, and basic computer skills.  Crupi helped maintain links to supporters, including the Diocese of Salisbury, parishes in the UK, Church Mission Society Ireland, the Lipscomb Foundation in the US, and the Antioch Partnership.

The Reverend Rhonda Parker, director of ministerial formation at Duke, visited BATC in June and came home asking, “Are there ways to reduce the need for such long residential terms – perhaps concentrating education into two days per week so that students can work the other days of the week?”

Click for a video that captures a glimpse of life at BATC.

Who Funds Training?

by Robert Hayward

The Episcopal Church of South Sudan’s Development and Resettlement agency continues to train new staff. In 2018 thirty-eight Development Coordinators and Mothers’ Union Coordinators from fifteen ECSS dioceses and four internal provinces received eight days of training in Emergency Preparedness and Response. The training was conducted by CORAT Africa (Christian Organizations Research and Advisory Trust) trainers from Nairobi, paid for by Anglican Alliance partners.

In the Episcopal Church of Sudan, another supporter is the Relay Trust. As well as providing generous funding for education and development projects and training in El Obeid Diocese, the Relay Trust supports the Provincial Office, the five dioceses, and the Shukai Bible Training Institute in Omdurman to increase their wi-fi and other communication capacity, so they can better do theological education by extension (TEE).

We are deeply grateful that contributions from you, our supporters, continue to nurture AFRECS in expanding our impact.  You make a difference in the essential peacebuilding work of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, so needed in these challenging times. We hope you will make a contribution to support our work with the people of the Sudans and offer a prayer for their nations. You can contribute online at https://afrecs.org or send a check made out to AFRECS to P.O. Box 3327, Alexandria, VA 22302.

This issue of the E-Blast was compiled by Board members Richard Jones and Rick Houghton. We eagerly welcome comments, news, photographs with captions, and rejoinders from you, our readers, to anitasanborn@gmail.com.

Director’s Update

Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced July 4 that the military would withdraw from the U.N.-mediated talks in Khartoum seeking a transitional solution to the present political stalemate. He added that the military would pull out of Sudan’s political process more generally.  The announcement has generated some skepticism, because the Forces of Freedom and Change and the Resistance Committees, the key civil society elements pressing for complete civilian rule, were already boycotting the talks.  There is suspicion that the military is looking to its civilian allies, including members of the old regime, to carry its water. A more generous interpretation is that Burhan is prepared to see what an inclusive set of civilian actors might come up with.  There are indications that conversations were quietly proceeding among the civil society leadership and the political parties, with a pause for the Eid al-Adha holiday earlier this month.  Stay tuned.

The postponement of the papal visit to South Sudan scheduled for this month led to messages from the Vatican, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland regretting the delay and promising to reschedule it.  Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Paolin, visited South Sudan in early July to reinforce that promise.  In his message to the people of South Sudan, Archbishop Justin Welby reminded President Kiir and Vice President Machar of their commitment to peace at the 2019 Vatican meeting.  He said, “[Those] leaders promised to work together for the good of all. Peace requires much more than not being at war. It must be created together, with your fellow leaders and even with your enemies. There will be challenges ahead, and I pray that … your leaders would listen to you and to themselves and to God.”

The World Food Program has announced resumption of its school feeding program suspended because of the COVID pandemic.  The US announced $117 million in food support for WFP July 8 — welcome news as warnings of starvation in the country multiply.

Other positive news:  The South Sudan Ministry of General Education announced July 6 that it is introducing an alternative learning program for girl students who drop out of school, usually because of pregnancy.  South Sudan is reportedly among the countries with the highest prevalence of adolescent pregnancy.  Factors include early marriage, the high incidence of sexual violence against girls and women, and continued displacement of families.

AFRECS Board member, Rev. James Hubbard, and I are looking forward to our August visit to South Sudan and Sudan, plus a stop in the UK to touch base with British partners.  We hope AFRECS Vice President Steven Miles will join us in South Sudan.

Executive Director

Archbishop of Canterbury Regrets

Archbishop Justin Welby with South Sudanese refugees in Uganda in August 2017.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, cancelled a visit to Juba which had been planned for July 5^th to 7^th, due to physicians’ advice to Pope Francis, who would have taken part along with Dr. Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the Church of Scotland. Welby sent to the people of South Sudan on July 5^th a video message of regret, expressing his hope for a future visit and exhorting government leaders to act on their commitments made at the Vatican in July 2021 to reconcile and end factional violence.

https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/news/archbishop-sends-video-message-people-south-sudan-eve-postponed-peace-pilgrimage

Come See Us at New Wineskins in North Carolina Sept. 22-25

Dane Smith and AFRECS Board members look forward to welcoming visitors at our exhibit during the once-every-three-years New Wineskins gathering of Anglicans and Episcopalians engaged in international cross-cultural mission. Our guest on Friday and Saturday will be Bishop Grant LeMarquand, editor of the letters of Marc Nikkel Why Haven’t You Left?, recently Bishop of the Horn of Africa in Gambella, Ethiopia, and professor of New Testament at Trinity School for Ministry. We will also welcome Tad deBordenave, founder of Anglican Frontier Missions and author of Light to the Nations: God’s Covenant with the Unreached Peoples.

Register now at https://www.newwineskinsconference.org. For details, contact 800-588-722, 828-669-8022, or Richard Jones at 703-823-3186.

Eating for Peace

Pastor Kwathi Akol Ajawin writes from Burke, Virginia:

It was in 1989 that I first heard of Paride Taban, the Roman Catholic bishop of Torit in Eastern Equatoria state, and a Madi by tribe. 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 booklet written in Jerusalem, where he had gone for healing and meditation, and discovered a coöperative peace village called Neve Shalom where Christian, Muslim and Jewish people lived together in harmony. Taban argued — influenced by Matt. 12:1-8 — that the liberation movement is for the people and not the people for the movement.  Bishop Taban co-founded with Episcopal Bishop Nathaniel Garang the New Sudan Council of Churches in the then-liberated areas of South Sudan.

After his retirement in 2004 Taban founded Holy Trinity Peace Village at Kuron, now grown to some 3,000 people. Once asked by a Swiss mediation institute interviewer what he eats, Taban replied, “People in the area raid cattle.  I don’t eat this meat because I don’t know whether it is raided or not. Sometimes I would go to visit a poor family. Because I am bishop, they would kill their only goat or their one chicken for me. I said, ‘No, I eat what you eat.’ They have green vegetables, they have beans. Their goat is very precious. Why should they kill it because of me?”

I had the pleasure of hosting one meeting of the bishop with Southern Sudanese community members in Washington, DC.

More at http://www.sergiovdmfoundation.org/activities/award/2013-laureate-bishop-emeritus-paride-taban/

Dancing for Peace

Paul Jeffrey of Friends in Solidarity writes from Malakal, South Sudan  (forwarded by John Ashworth in Kiserian, Kenya):

Peacemaking has a distinctly African rhythm in this sprawling camp for some 35,000 displaced persons at the United Nations base in Malakal. “I like to dance,” said Vivian James, a teenager. “It brings people together. Our dance is for everyone. Even though we are from different tribes, we dance together.”

The dance choir’s director, David Luk, says it’s a very Catholic thing to do. “The Bible says we are to pray to God with song and dance. We have a lot of tribes in South, and each tribe has its own dances. But the Catholic Church stands for unity around the world, so here we dance for unity. I am Nuer, but if a Shilluk sees me dancing like a Shilluk, they’ll see that there is no difference between us. I do a Shilluk dance, the Shilluk does a Dinka dance, and so on. That’s what peace is.”

Father Mike Bassano, a Maryknoll priest from the United States, dances with members of a youth dance group inside the Protection of Civilians area in the United Nations base in Malakal, South Sudan.

The church’s pastor, Father Mike Bassano, is a Maryknoll priest who came from the United States to work in Malakal’s teacher training college. Following Malakal’s 2013 battle, Bassano returned, constructed a simple church structure, and began celebrating Mass.  “Over the years,” Bassano said, “we established a group of dancers who meet every day to practice for the liturgy on Sunday. The idea of the dance is to express our worship to God through our whole body. And to show unity.”

According to Rhoda James Tiga, a Dinka woman who still lives in the camp, Bassano helped people to unite. “Outside, people still fight. Outside, we still point fingers at the other tribe. But when Sunday comes we sing together. We pray together. We chat and we laugh, and we dance.”

More at https://www.solidarityfriends.org/dancing-for-peace-in-malakal

A Must-See Film for Visitors to Sudan

Photojournalists continue to document lethal response to street protesters against military dominance of the government of Sudan.  Arsonists and gangs on motorbikes spread sporadic intercommunal violence. Food and water prices soar. Death threatens women and children especially. A seasoned visitor from Bradford, England, meeting church leaders in Khartoum, Port Sudan, and Wad Medani during four weeks in May, was reminded of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Mr. John Poole also met reasons for hope. Travelling as a trustee of the Church Association for Sudan and South Sudan (www.casss.org) in the UK, along with Rhys North, a community accountant, Poole met Bello Elbuluk, recently appointed Provincial Relief and Development Officer. Elbuluk spent time learning how British partners look at projects, before he headed to Nairobi for formal training. Poole also met the Rev Dr Isaac Kodi, Khartoum Diocesan Relief and Development Officer.  Makki Eldoonki, director of Theological Education by Extension across the whole province, showed Poole copies of completely refreshed study materials in Arabic.

Arriving in Wad Medani by night after a fourteen-hour bus journey from Port Sudan, Poole found a whole row of lighted shops, newly completed by the diocese to be rented out. Bishop Saman explained, “Income from one of the shops will be given to the Mothers’ Union and another to youth work.”

For the first time in three years, a House of Bishops was able to meet, facilitated by Archbishop Mounir of Egypt.  They were preparing for the August Lambeth Conference and for a General Synod to be held later this year. The bishops’ wives attended also, following an example set by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
At a pre-primary school near Omdurman, Poole saw children learning their numbers.  A notice board full of photographs of the previous year’s children graduating to primary school testified to the pride of parents. The children were singing of the love of Jesus, and they embraced each other at the words, “We must love one another too”.

Poole’s video: https://www.casss.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CASSS-AGM-2022-news-from-Sudan_Trim-3.mp4

Weddings, Linguistics, and Prayer

Mrs. Jackie Kraus, of St Michael’s Episcopal Church, Barrington, Illinois, recalls being met on her first landing at Khartoum airport in 1998 by Awan de Gak, a linguist with the Wycliffe Bible Translators’ Old Testament project for the Dinka Cam language.

“Three years later,” Mama Jackie remembers, “his nephew, Abraham Awan, moved to Chicago and told me his uncle Awan said to greet me. I was moved.”

Besides that epilogue, Jackie recalls a prologue. “A year before that visit to Sudan, when the first bishop of Renk Diocese, Daniel Deng Bul, was studying at Virginia Theological Seminary, he had wanted to meet a woman at the University of Wisconsin who worked summers on the translation project. Dr. Cynthia Miller became a mentor for my 1998 visit. On one of the visits to the Diocese of Chicago by the second bishop of Renk, Joseph Garang Atem was asked to officiate at the marriage of Cynthia and Dr. Jacobus Naudé, who had worked together through Wisconsin’s department of Hebrew studies. The Dinka had been praying for her to marry.”

We give thanks for your continued support in prayer and generosity

We are deeply grateful that contributions from you, our supporters, continue to nurture AFRECS in expanding our impact.  You make a difference in the essential peacebuilding work of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, so needed in these challenging times. We hope you will make a contribution to support our work with the people of the Sudans and offer a prayer for their nations. You can contribute online at https://afrecs.org or send a check made out to AFRECS to P.O. Box 3327, Alexandria, VA 22302.

Bishop Anthony Poggo to be next Secretary-General of the Anglican Communion
by Ed Thornton,  Church Times, London

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s adviser on Anglican Communion affairs, the Rt. Rev. Anthony Dangasuk Poggo, has been appointed the next secretary-general of the Anglican Communion.

Bishop Poggo, who is 58, will take up the post at the start of September, and will succeed Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, who is due to retire at the end of August after serving a seven-year term.

The secretary-general leads the staff at the Anglican Communion Office in London, which serves the four Instruments of Communion: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates’ Meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the Lambeth Conference.

Before taking up his post at Lambeth Palace six years ago, Poggo was the bishop of Kajo-Keji in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan.

At the age of one, he moved with his family from what is now South Sudan to Uganda to escape the first Sudanese Civil War. They returned in 1973, when he was aged nine.

Bishop Poggo was ordained deacon in 1995, and priest in 1996, before which he worked for Scripture Union, ministering to Sudanese refugees in Uganda. He graduated from Juba University with a degree in Management and Public Administration, and also holds an MA in Biblical Studies from the Nairobi International School of Theology, in Kenya.

Bishop Poggo’s wife, Jane Namurye, coordinated follow-up to Women on the Frontline, maintains contact with the Mothers’ Union of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, and facilitated the 2018 AFRECS conference in Denver. Dr. Josiah Idowu-Fearon was archbishop of Kaduna, Nigeria and founded the Kaduna Centre for the Study of Christian-Muslim Relations.

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/17-june/news/world/poggo-to-take-over-from-idowu-fearon-as-the-communion-s-next-secretary-general

Director’s Update

The big news in South Sudan this past week has been the cancellation of the Pope’s visit scheduled for July.  The decision was based on the advice of the pontiff’s doctors who cited the undesirability of interrupting therapy for his knees.  Recent photos have shown him in a wheelchair. According to the Vatican, the visit will be postponed “to a later date to be determined.”

The State Department is required to report on religious freedom in countries around the world. The most recent report on South Sudan points out that the transitional constitution provides for separation of religion and state, prohibits religious discrimination, and guarantees freedom to worship and assemble.  It notes, however, that in January the military detained and killed five Episcopalians worshiping in Central Equatoria State.  Two bishops were detained but later released at Bor airport in connection with the dispute over the appointment of the internal Episcopal Archbishop of Jonglei Internal Province.  The report also mentions the killing of two Catholic nuns on the Juba-Nimule road and the shooting of the Catholic Bishop-designate of Rumbek, who survived. The perpetrators of the latter incidents have never been identified.

Overshadowing this violence targeting religious figures in South Sudan, intercommunal conflict in Abyei, Northern Bahr al-Ghazal, Western, Central, and Eastern Equatoria has killed over 200 in the last few weeks and has displaced 150,000, according to a church official.

In Sudan the international community has launched a “tripartite initiative” by the UN, the African Union and IGAD aimed at overcoming the political deadlock. Talks began June 8 led by UN Special Representative Volker Perthes. However, the Forces of Freedom & Change, the major civil society group which has been heavily involved in popular demonstrations, refused to take part.  The group criticized participation of the military leadership and Islamist elements and the failure to release all political detainees.  Observers fear that Gen. Burhan and his supporters are pushing a plan to formalize the entrenched power of the military, while providing only enough civilian window dressing to induce the international community to resume economic support.  Massive street protests continued this past week.

Episcopal Church officials in both Sudan and South Sudan have warmly welcomed news of planned travel by AFRECS Vice President Steven Miles, Board member Rev. James Hubbard, and me August 12-24.  We look forward to renewing our contacts with church and Mothers’ Union leaders in both countries, and in South Sudan visiting the Glow MAPS school, our trauma healing program, and the new campus of the Episcopal University.  We intend to report back our adventures to all of you.  

Executive Director

Scholar of Middle East Joins AFRECS Board

We were delighted in June to welcome Rachel M. Scott to the Board of AFRECS.

On joining the Board, Dr. Scott wrote:” I am particularly drawn to the initiative that bridges trauma healing with community savings. I believe firmly in the power of financial independence and the transformation such independence can bring. Christian-Muslim relations in Sudan and South Sudan, and the growth of Christianity in South Sudan, really pique my interest.”

Dr. Scott is an Anglican and has lived and done research in Egypt. She studied Arabic and Islamics at Oxford and took a Ph.D in Islamic Studies from the University of London in 2004. Now a professor in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, she teaches on Islam, religion and law, secularism, and Coptic Christianity. Her second book, Recasting Islamic Law: Religion and the Nation State in Egyptian Constitution Making, was published by Cornell University Press in spring 2021.

Dinka Cam Translation of the Old Testament Nears Completion
by Lorelei Mah, Senior Philanthropy Advisor, Wycliffe Bible Translators USA

Editors’ note: In the combined territory of Sudan and South Sudan, over 115 languages are spoken, including Arabic, English, and Dinka. Sudanese church leaders count 26 Bibleless languages in Sudan and 11 in South Sudan. There are three major dialects within the Dinka community: Dinka Cam, Dinka Padang, and Dinka Rek. Each has developed its own hymns and books and translated the Bible. A Dinka Rek Language Committee was established to lead on the translation of the Bible, collect Christian songs, and write stories for books in the Dinka Rek dialect.

The Dinka Cam team of Wycliffe Bible Translators, USA, in Juba is making progress. By March of this year all the books of the Old Testament had been published in trial edition form for community checks among the Dinka Cam congregations. All that remains is the completion of the consultant check, plus harmonizing and updating their translation of the New Testament done a long time ago. Then follow the read-through and typesetting.

The Juba team is led by Awan de Gak, who joined the team in 1993, and Ayeil Deng Ayel, a  computer/paratext expert who joined in 1992.  In addition, Guot Bul Mayuon, a Scripture engagement and literacy specialist, joined the team in 2018 and is learning Greek and Hebrew., but is on a short leave right now.

The Juba team has used daily Skype calls to South Africa with university professors of Hebrew Jacobus A. Naudé and his wife, Cynthia Miller. (She previously worked on the Murle Bible.  The Corona virus lockdowns in South Africa forced the professors to teach their regular classes online, which meant extended periods when they were not available to the Dinka Cham team. An undersea fiber cable that they relied on for Skype internet connectivity was severed for a time. Miller’s mother in the USA passed away unexpectedly, taking her out of the work for several weeks. These disruptions delayed the work for a month.

Keep in mind that I have not met in person with these folks since 2008.

Instrumental in encouraging this translation project has been Joseph Garang Atem, a graduate of Seabury-Western Seminary in the US and Principal of Renk Theological College, who is now Bishop of the Episcopal Church’s Diocese of Malakal and Archbishop of Upper Nile.  Donors in the USA continue to provide financial support.

For more news:  lorelei_mah@wycliffe.org, www.wycliffe.org, or  810.772.9196

Hymns People Sing: North America and South Sudan
by Joan Huyser-Honig, Grand Rapids, Michigan

That so many Dinka Bor people became Anglican during the Second Civil War (1983-2005) is due partly to a decision by Bishop Nathaniel Garang Anyieth to stop requiring literacy as a condition of baptism.

For generations the Church Missionary Society (CMS) required baptismal candidates to study for a year or more to prove they knew enough about Christianity. Growing up in an oral culture, the Dinka were very good at memorizing. Missionaries suspected that they were “cheating” by memorizing, rather than reading, the necessary passages and answers. Missionaries worried that without literacy baptized Christians wouldn’t be able to deepen their faith.

For five years during the Second Civil War, however, people in the Bor region were cut off from the rest of the Anglican Church. Bishop Nathaniel was the only bishop in the region, and thousands of traumatized Dinka Bor were ready to switch allegiance to a God more effective than their local jak. The bishop decided to baptize first and catechize later.

These baptisms led Dinka women to meet and encourage each other through worship, church meetings, and shared learning. Among them was Mary Aluel Garang Anyuon, who was called by the American missionary Marc Nikkel “a natural theologian”. Nikkel heard, then recorded, and eventually wrote a doctoral dissertation about her songs. These new Christians’ preferred medium was singing.

Songs from Scripture

Meditating with scripture, Mary Aluel was inspired to compose hymn texts. In 1985, the year after her conversion, she wrote two songs that quickly spread. The songs spoke to people as warring groups stole their cattle, burned their homes, destroyed jak shrines, raped and killed their relatives, and forced them to flee.

Mary Aluel Garang

Mary Aluel’s first song was “Death has come to reveal the faith”

The first of four long verses begins: “Death has come to reveal the faith.”
Verse three gives voice to suffering and pleas:

God, do not make us orphans
of the earth.
Look back upon us,
O Creator of humankind.
Evil is in conflict with us.”

The final verse begins:

Let us encourage our hearts
in the hope of God,
 who once breathed wei [breath and life] /
into the human body.
His ears are open to prayers: the Creator of humankind is watching.”

When this song was published, the Dinka Anglican editors gave the scripture reference as  John 11:25–27 (“I am the resurrection and the life..  Do you believe…? Yes, Lord, I believe…”).

Her second early song, also spreading quickly, was “God Has Come Among Us Slowly”

The first of five verses begins:

“God has come among us slowly,
 and we didn’t realize it.
He stands nearby, behind our hearts,
shining his pure light upon us.”

The song explains (v. 2) that God, not jak, created all people and all things, even the insects. It asks for the Lord’s power and “Guiding Spirit of truth” to reach everyone. It muses:

We receive salvation slowly, slowly,
all of us together, with no one left behind.
Gradually, gradually it will succeed,
until the day when it will be grasped
by the Dinka who sacrifice at shrines.

Mary Aluel created these two early songs in Kongor, which had a brief flurry of Christian revival in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Prior to 1983, other people groups in southern Sudan had responded far more enthusiastically to Christian missionaries than did the Dinka.

Here is an exercise for an American staff meeting or worship committee seeking to make church music relevant to real-life issues:

• Describe your knowledge about or connections with Christians in or from the Sudans.
• Which songs in your congregation’s repertoire speak specifically about joys and problems in your culture or subculture?
• How can you tell when your political or cultural identity overrides your “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” identity? Which of your worship songs address this issue?

More at https://worship.calvin.edu/search/new-search#s=Dinka%20 or joan@hhcreatives.com

Meet AFRECS at New Wineskins Conference September 22-25, near Ashville, North Carolina

Dane Smith and Board members look forward to welcoming visitors at our exhibit at the once-ever-three-years New Wineskins gathering of Anglicans and Episcopalians engaged in international cross-cultural mission. Our guest on Friday and Saturday will be Bishop Grant LeMarquand, editor of the letters of Marc Nikkel Why Haven’t You Left?, recently Bishop of the Horn of Africa in Gambella, Ethiopia, and professor of New Testament at Trinity School for Ministry.

Register now at https://www.newwineskinsconference.org. For details , contact 800-588-722, 828-669-8022, or Richard Jones at 703-823-3186.

AFRECS is grateful for the recent donation from the Women of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, Dallas, Texas.

We give thanks for your continued support in prayer and generosity

We are deeply grateful that contributions from you, our supporters, continue to nurture AFRECS in expanding our impact.  You make a difference in the essential peacebuilding work of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, so needed in these challenging times. We hope you will make a contribution to support our work with the people of the Sudans and offer a prayer for their nations. You can contribute online at https://afrecs.org or send a check made out to AFRECS to P.O. Box 3327, Alexandria, VA 22302.This issue was prepared by Board members Ellen Davis and Richard Jones.

A Prayer for the Feast of the Martyrs of Sudan, May 16

Statue mounted outside Salisbury Cathedral, England, of  Ezra Baya Lawiri,  biblical scholar and translator, born 1917, killed in 1991 in crossfire between government forces and Sudan People’s Liberation Army outside Rokon.

O God, steadfast in the midst of persecution, by your providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: As the martyrs of the Sudan refused to abandon Christ even in the face of torture and death, and by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest, so may we be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (AFRECS) is drafting a resolution for the General Convention scheduled for Baltimore July 7 – 14. Our draft resolution asks that this prayer not be allowed to get lost in the vortex of supplements to the Book of Common Prayer:

“Resolved, the House of ________ concurring, that the Martyrs of Sudan and South Sudan be included in the calendars of A Great Cloud of Witnesses, Lesser Feasts and Fasts and all supplements to Holy Women, Holy Men; and be it further

Resolved, that congregations of The Episcopal Church be encouraged to observe the Feast of the Martyrs of Sudan on May 16th with public prayer and personal outreach to Sudanese and South Sudanese immigrants in their vicinities.”

Please get in touch with David Colin Jones (bishopjones@outlook.com ), retired suffragan bishop of Virginia, if you have questions or suggestions about this prayer.  Please get in touch if you will be attending General Convention and the legislative committees to which our resolution may be referred. We need your lobbying help.

Funds for Peace Building and Trauma Healing

A cat may look at a king. But a church leader seeking to fund trauma healing or peace building may need a go-between to reach a large donor.

AFRECS Board member Thomas Staal held the third-ranking post of Counselor in the U.S. Agency for International Development. Tom explains:

“The heady optimism of the early days of South Sudan has sadly dissipated. Development programs have had to be scaled back and focused where USAID has partners with whom they can work and are confident that their support is properly used.  They are no longer providing support to or working directly with the national government in South Sudan, but are instead focused at the local, county level in 5 states.  They are primarily working through non-government organizations, in the fields of health, agriculture, education, and economic growth, focusing on restoring livelihoods in an approach that integrates humanitarian assistance with longer-term development activities.  This is intended to help build resilience in local communities.

“In Sudan, USAID has initiated an Office of Transitions Initiative program, which provides short-term, in-kind assistance to a wide variety of local organizations to support the “transition” from autocracy to democracy at the community level.  This can include anything from soccer balls to start a soccer league, equipment to start a local private radio station, computers to open an internet café, books for a library, etc.  The program is managed in-country, with the managers having a lot of flexibility to make decisions and act quickly.  Support can be provided to civil-society groups, local entrepreneurs, religious groups, local government, etc.  At $78 million for 3 years, it is currently the largest OTI program in the world.

“The other unique intervention is a direct result of the Abraham Accords [between Israel, Sudan and other Arab countries].  Congress authorized a “supplemental fund” of $700 million for Sudan.  Discussions are still going on between State Department, USAID and other agencies about how that money will be allocated and spent. With the re-intervention of the military in taking over the government in Sudan, any assistance to the national government has again been suspended.”

See https://afrecs.org/advocate/ for full details.

Who’s Where?

Simon Chuong Elected Bishop of Episcopal Diocese of Renk

Simon Chuang Ayok, newly elected bishop of Renk

Jackie Kraus, a resident of the Diocese of Chicago and Honorary Canon of St. Matthew’s Cathedral, Renk, South Sudan, reports: “There is joy in the Diocese of Renk!”

Archbishop Joseph Garang Atem has announced the election of the 3rd Bishop of Renk Diocese, companion with the Diocese of Chicago. Unanimously elected, Bishop-elect Simon Chuang Ayok Deng is currently pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in Paloch, partner with Christ Church, Winnetka, Illinois. He is married to Mary Bol Deng Ayiik, and is a graduate of Renk Theological College, Center for Peace & Reconciliation.

“We praise God for strengthening the Church in Renk, and the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, through our Companion Diocese Relationship with the Diocese of Chicago”, proclaims Archbishop Joseph Garang.

Consecration of Bishop-elect Simon Chuang by Primate and Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, Justin Badi Arama, will take place May 22 at All Saints Cathedral in Juba. The date of his enthronement by Archbishop Joseph at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, Renk,  is yet to be determined. Archbishop Joseph will be headquartered in the Diocese of Malakal, the seat of the Province of Northern Upper Nile State, which is composed of 6 dioceses, including Renk.

South Sudan Council of Churches Sends a Reminder

Archbishop Justin Badi Arama joined other South Sudanese leaders in signing Easter message.

In an Easter “Message of Hope” on April 13, the South Sudan Council of Churches confirmed the “pastoral pilgrimage” to Juba by Roman Catholic Pope Francis, Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby, and Presbyterian Church of Scotland Moderator Iaian Greenshields previously announced for July 5-7.  The church leaders reminded political leaders of their April 2019 commitment to implement the Revitalized Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS). Signatories to the message were James Par Tap Hon, moderator of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church; Stephen Ameyu Martin, Apostolic Administrator of Torit; Justin Badi Arama, Primate of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan; James Lagos Alexander, Presidng Bishop of the Africa Inland Church; Isaiah Majok Dau, General Overseer of the Sudan Pentecostal Church; and Moderator James Maki Jej Chuol, Presbyterian Church of South Sudan.  Details at www.sscchurches.org; tel. 211-918-190-376.

The Washing of the Feet 

(Photo courtesy of EUSS Deputy Vice Chancellor Rev. Dr. Joseph Z. Bilal)

At the Rokon campus of the budding Episcopal University of South Sudan (EUSS), a technician nonchalantly washes his feet in the flow from one of three new wells successfully drilled at the site, a critical first step in the development of what will be the main facility of the EUSS.  The bequest of the late Richard Parkins, former Executive Director of AFRECS, and an additional donation from AFRECS Board Member Rick Houghton made a significant contribution to make this drilling possible. Praise God from whom all blessings (including waters) flow!

Director’s Update

In South Sudan the scope of inter-communal violence seems to be expanding.  In addition to the ongoing clashes in Unity and Jonglei states which have been extensively publicized, dozens have been killed in Magwi County in Eastern Equatoria, precipitated by pastoralists bringing their herds from Jonglei into areas already planted by farmers.  That violence took the lives of the mother and two brothers of Archbishop Ogeno Charles Opoka of Eastern Equatoria Internal Province. The wider violence may reflect, in part, increasing fragmentation of the South Sudan Peoples’ Defense Force (ex-SPLA).

In Sudan a Tripartite initiative involving the UN (UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan – UNITAMS), the African Union, and the IGAD regional body for the Horn is slowly moving forward in its consultations with the Forces of Freedom & Change, the so-called community “resistance committees” and other civil society groups, the political parties, and the military.  A high-level delegation of the Troika (US, UK, Norway) plus France, Germany and the EU visited Khartoum at the beginning of May to impart the message that the only acceptable outcome of such a consultation would be a transitional civilian government.  Only then could donor assistance be restarted for an economy in the throes of high inflation and food and other scarcities.

The Episcopal Churches of South Sudan and Sudan are anticipating a busy summer.  The Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) will visit South Sudan July 5-7.  Bishops from Sudan and South Sudan will be present at the Lambeth Conference July 27-August 8 – a gathering of bishops from across the Anglican communion.

AFRECS Board member James Hubbard and I are expecting to meet these bishops in Salisbury, England, after the Lambeth conference, the first leg of our planned visit to Sudan and South Sudan in August.  We hope to be joined by AFRECS Vice President Steven Miles in South Sudan.

Executive Director

Easter Retreat

The Board of AFRECS met in retreat April 22-23 at Virginia Theological Seminary for its first in-person session in two years. (Back, from L.: Phil Darrow, Steven Miles, Tom Staal, Dane Smith, David Jones; Front, from L.: Richard Jones, Larry Duffee, James Hubbard, the Risen Jesus, Jackie Wilson, Anita Sanborn; Absent: Ellen Davis, Fritz Gilbert, Brad Langmaid.)

We affirmed our efforts to strengthen our programs in support of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and the Episcopal Church of Sudan – including:

• Glow MAPS (Mission Academic Primary School)  the school for war orphans at a displaced persons camp near Juba; it has grown to 500 children  under the direction of Bishop John Gatteck.;
• our partnership on trauma healing with Five Talents and the Mothers Union in Renk and Terekeka;
• the new Episcopal University of South Sudan in Rokon; and
• girls’ education at the Hope Primary School in Kadugli Diocese, Sudan.

Questioning the U.S. Secretary of State on the Sudans

On April 26, AFRECS Executive Director, Dane Smith, wrote to encourage Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D, 5^th District NY), Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Relations, to question Secretary of State Anthony Blinken “about U.S. policy toward both Sudans, in particular plans to promote peaceful transitions to legitimate government in both countries.”

Holy Week Reflections 

While preparing for Easter in 2022, we invited members of the South Sudanese Diaspora to reflect on death and hope.

Anita Sanborn, Denver, Colorado: 

Some of the practices that are most meaningful in the lives of all faithful Christians occur at the time of death.  This is an intense and deeply felt time. As an American friend, I have observed how the South Sudanese community gather to grieve and to comfort one another, to bear witness to the life of the departed, and to celebrate their homegoing.  Strong emotions are expressed. People spend long hours together.  Great sacrifices are made in order to travel and be with the grieving family members.  Our own practices, when contrasted with these, can appear constrained.

Have we forgotten that tears are prayers?

A great blessing came to us when we began to worship with our brothers and sisters from South Sudan.  We felt along with them.  In spite of the untold suffering all had endured, their separations, and the loss of home, their faith strengthened our own.

Helen Achol Abyei, St.,Louis, Missouri:

I can speak of my experience living a long time in Denver, Colorado. I believe the way we South Sudanese observe funerals is generally the same among Diaspora communities.

When someone dies in the hospital, news spreads very fast. Soon everyone rushes to the hospital to be with the deceased’s family. When Pastor Oja Gafour passed, a few of us were around his bed. In less than thirty minutes, the hospice was full of people. Even those living in Boulder and far counties arrived in no time.

We hug each other while crying, and soon the crying turns to hymns, until the body is taken to the mortuary. We then go together with the family to their home and continue praying, weeping, and singing. People continue to come and pay their condolences to the deceased’s family. Anyone who arrived from different states, even days after, would hug and cry with the family members.

When we got the news that my husband had passed away in Juba, our house was full of people in less than half an hour. I had to leave for Juba that day, but my children were not left to grieve alone. Because we believe the power of our presence to console the mourning person is vital, some women would spend the nights with the family for the first few days. We do not allow the bereaved to suffer alone. Women are always around to serve the guests who come to pay their condolences throughout many days. Women cook and bring food from their homes to where the funeral is held. People contribute water, soda, tea, sugar, and other supplies in order for the family to serve all the people who come.

The community will then contribute money to support the family financially. Chipping in is significant, especially when the family decides to take the body back to South Sudan. The body’s repatriation plus the ticket of the accompanying relative is very expensive for the family to handle alone. Community members are always willing and ready to help. Some people are taken further — to their hometowns. In that case, the body would be flown on from Juba to its final destination, which also costs a lot. Funerals bring the community together. We forget tribal and political differences and rush to console and uplift each other. Any dispute would be overlooked and not brought up again.

Traditionally, funeral prayers are held three to four days after the burial. After that, those who spent the nights with the family can go back to their homes. Another ceremony is held forty days after the passing; some people change their black mourning clothes during this time. (Direct family members, especially the elders, do so after the first year’s memorial service.) We usually cook and eat together after such services. We do not let the family do the cooking alone. Instead, the women gather to cut the meat and vegetables, and each one takes something to cook and brings it to the church to be served after the service.

Community elders encourage the family and the whole community to keep the legacy of the departed one clean and alive during these services. People would pass by during the first month; just to visit and see how the family members are coping. The visitors still pray and speak words of encouragement if the family members or anyone still feel down. Losses affecting other families are shared to encourage the grieving person, primarily if that family handled theirs with solid faith.

We always use verses from the Bible, such as Psalm 46:.

God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will we not fear, though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea…

Be still then, and know that I am God.

Kwathi Akol Ajawin, Fairfax County, Virginia:

South Sudanese African Christians live by their ethnic communities’ diverse cultures, but they were influenced by the Arabized-Islamic rule of Sudan. South Sudanese have borrowed from the dominant Sudanese culture when it comes to the funeral.

The currently popular observation of a forty-days memorial service has little to do with many South Sudanese cultures. The common condolence expression “Kapara” comes from Sufi Islam. This one is very troublesome because it may mean accepting the death of a loved one as an atonement for sins. Though South Sudanese use this expression at death, it is widely used in the Sudanese culture after an escape from a serious incident or a loss of valuable material property.

The South Sudanese community is a loose umbrella of many underlying cultures, but it unites in funerals – particularly in raising funds for funeral expenses, whether for burial in diaspora or sending the body to South Sudan. Many prefer sending the body back, especially the communities that have relative peace in their home states.

The majority of South Sudanese have no life insurance. For some there is the economic constraint of low income. Some consider insurance taboo, and there may be some Catholic influence too. But when death occurs, most people of any of the sixty-four tribes of South Sudan raise funds to help the bereaved family with burial and reception expenses. Many give generously.

The preparation of the body is done by elderly women in most of the South Sudanese cultures, but the majority of Diaspora are young people who might know very little of this tradition.  Many people follow the church and funeral home directives, with no reference to traditions.  In participating in many funerals from Georgia to Portland, Maine, the question of observing traditional burial rituals surfaced only twice.
Once we were burying a young man who died in a tragic tractor-trailer accident. Firefighters struggled for over one hour to put out the fire before they could remove the body. The body burned beyond recognition. Maternal uncles raised the issue of “Sibir”, the word for cultural tradition in Juba Arabic. Their culture requires certain restrictions in case of a tragic death, in order to avoid a curse, or the spirit of death.  South Sudan, however, is culturally diverse, and when cross-cultural marriages are added to being in Diaspora, the culture takes a back seat.

During a funeral of a South Sudanese church elder in North Carolina, a family member approached me and asked that certain cultural burial rituals should be observed. It was too late to accommodate this. The deceased was a Shilluk. One of their rites to scare the spirit of death requires the immediate relatives of the deceased to take dirt and throw it into the grave before the grave is closed. One day later, the Shilluk community leaders in the United States conducted a meeting about the burial ritual, and I as a pastor was asked to advise. One ritual they wanted to observe was circling the grave with the casket four times before putting the body in place for the graveside service, also allowing the family to throw dirt on the casket immediately after lowering the casket. The east-west axis arrangement of graves in many cemeteries meets a requirement of some South Sudanese.

Funerals very much unite the South Sudanese Diaspora  — at least in the financial portion of the process. Most of the cultural requirements are dropped. Many are buried in diaspora, with few repatriated for burial back home, although many consider this more dignified for elderly people. Some communities will take the remains, or some dust from the graves, of those who are buried in diaspora for a reburial home in South Sudan. The spirit belongs there, around its homestead.

An Easter Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Director’s Update

The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will visit South Sudan July 5-7.  We understand that he will be accompanied by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.  You will recall that President Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar met in the Vatican in April 2019, where the Pontiff dramatically kissed the shoes of both while imploring them to reconcile.  We are praying that South Sudan will be positively moved by the presence, messages, and inspiration of these visitors.

Meanwhile political tensions have increased.   The Troika – US, UK, Norway – condemned an attack by the South Sudan Peoples’ Defense Force (at one time the SPLA) on an opposition position in Upper Nile State March 23, an event which an SPLM/IO spokesperson characterized as risking a return to civil war.  The US State Department reported to Congress April 1 that failure by the Government of South Sudan to implement key milestones in the 2015 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) means that the US Government will continue to impose costs on those who perpetuate the conflict.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has stated that South Sudan faces its worst ever food crisis. Over 8 million are facing extreme hunger.  The Ukraine crisis has reduced grain and sunflower oil exports to Africa. (Both Ukraine and Russia are major global suppliers.) Relief agencies like WFP are facing shortages.  Without some improvement in availability, tens of thousands could starve in South Sudan.

On the parallel COVID-19 crisis, an unconfirmed World Health Organization study estimates that two-thirds of all Africans have already contracted the virus — almost a hundred times more than reported.  It is widely believed that the youthfulness of African populations has thus far averted the anticipated catastrophe resulting from weak health systems and the general unavailability of vaccination.  Those factors may help explain why South Sudanese society no longer seems to be treating COVID-19 as a crisis.

In Sudan, the impasse continues between the military leaders, who dissolved the transitional government in October, and continuing protests by civilians, often suppressed with deadly force.  Some members of the old regime have been released from prison and reportedly reappointed to senior positions in the intelligence service. Violence in Darfur has dramatically increased. Over 200 were killed in attacks by Arab militias on farmers in west Darfur in early April, sending new waves of refugees into Chad.  Poor harvests, rampant inflation, and a shortage of foreign exchange are contributing to a looming hunger crisis.

Executive Director

Message from our President

Why I Haven’t “Left”
by Phil Darrow

Reflecting on why I have not left behind my engagement with the Sudans (a play on the title of Marc Nikkel’s book Why Haven’t You Left?), I find it ironic that I have not been able to visit my friends there since 2018. It seems that the pandemic is just one more reason why it is not easy to maintain the relationships I formed there, beginning with my first visit in 2008.

There are lots of other reasons. If the arc of the moral universe is in fact bending slowly towards justice, that is hard to see in the Sudans, except for back-and-forth vibrations. Soon after we all celebrated peace at last, and the independence of South Sudan, after many years of civil war, violent conflict erupted again in the new nation. Conflict has continued since in various forms and intensities, despite numerous “peace agreements” and the efforts of neighboring states and the larger international community to promote peacemaking and development. Sudan has also seen continued violence, both at its edges and in its urban centers after regime changes.

This conflict, instability, and the repeated frustration and setback they cause to the efforts of friends there to do a bit of good wrench my heart. Yet there remains that friendship, the opportunity to do a bit of good, and the inspiration that comes out of the hearts of friends who keep working towards a better future “in spite of.”

In spite of violence. In spite of losing, in a single rampage, church facilities that took years of painstaking effort to build. In spite of the threat to any new endeavor posed by potential violence. In spite of political circumstances that perpetuate conflict and put so much of the future beyond individual control.

Agricultural and forest land belonging to the Episcopal Church of South Sudan is used for income-producing crops, including these panicles of drought-resistant sorghum grown in the Diocese of Renk. In the U.S., sorghum is cultivated in the Great Plains, Arizona, and California. Photo courtesy of Phil Darrow

Amidst all this, a bishop starts a school for 50 orphans in a camp for displaced persons and builds it into an academy for 500 students who score at the top of national tests.  Another organizes groups of women and youth into co-ops with both vocational and trauma-healing training, creating an economy and keeping youth out of militias. Other courageous church leaders fly in to the centers of conflict and help strike local accords, protecting the women and children who are so often the victims.

I have never had to face such challenges directly, but I am quite certain that it is doing me good to be sharing a bit of the challenging journey of my friends in the Sudans. They are, after all, my neighbors, and I bask in the glow of the love that shines out of them.

Philip H. Darrow is a lawyer for KB Home and has been a member of the Board of AFRECS since 2008. He and his wife Robin are members of Church of the Ascension in Denver, Colorado.

Convening the Commanders:  A Peace-Building Workshop in Detail
by Frederick E. Gilbert

Because of exemplary cooperation among state, military, and church leaders of the troubled State of Amadi in the West Equatoria region of South Sudan, a peacebuilding and trauma healing workshop held in late 2019 worked well and was successful.

Canon Sylvester Thomas Kambaya, former pastor of the English-speaking congregation and Dean of Khartoum’s All Saints Cathedral, was the lead facilitator of the workshop.  Kambaya is president of Education for Peace Foundation, which he has registered as a South Sudan non-governmental organization. The event took place October 31 – November 4, 2019.

I recently reread Kambaya’s report. I found some parts quite compelling and sometimes moving. Most of the military participants were generals from both government-organized and SPLM-IO forces, while the civilian officials from Amadi State were also quite high-ranking. I was particularly struck by how the initial atmosphere of tension gave way to mixed seating and social interaction. Distrust gave way to openness and frankness in the offering of emotional confessions.

The workshop was carried out under the leadership and management of the Education and Peace Foundation, in collaboration with the dioceses of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan’s Internal Province of Amadi.  They used a textbook titled Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help (expanded edition 2016), published in 2013 by the American Bible Society.
The total cost – brace yourselves! –  was $3,850!  (It seems that the costs shown on p. 19 of the report were adjusted upward by $850.  It seems likely that substantial amounts of support may have been furnished in kind rather than money.)

Your can find descriptions of how the workshop unfolded on pp. 9-14 of the report. The workshop’s impact is described on pages 14-18. Pages 20-21 of the report show the workshop agenda for each day and the presenters for each. There were roughly 120 attendees, of whom 90 or so were participants. Originally planned for some 80 generals from government, SPLM-IO, and other forces, the participation widened to include high-ranking Amadi State government officials, the Archbishop of the Province of Amadi Stephen Dokolo, and bishops from each of the ECSS Dioceses of the Province, plus bodyguards and catering staff.

Page 18 lays out work that remains to be done in Amadi State and adjacent areas of West Equatoria.

We are providing this summary assessment of the EPF report and the link to the full report because most of us have never had access to such an informative account of the challenges and rewards of peace-building efforts.

Fritz Gilbert is a founding member of the Board of AFRECS and for seven years directed the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Sudan mission and its regional office for West and Central Africa in Ivory Coast. Since retiring in 1994 from USAID, he directed for two years the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System. Fritz and his wife Jane are members of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Annandale, Virginia.

Two New Key Leaders for Episcopal Church of South Sudan
by Richard J. Jones

After working as South Sudan Country Director for African Leadership Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM), a relief agency based in South Sudan and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the Reverend Canon Peter Garang Deng has assumed the task of coordinating, with limited internet capacity,  the work of 90 dioceses spread across the  Texas-sized territory of South Sudan. Recently elected by a churchwide Synod and working alongside the Archbishop of South Sudan, Garang has set out, in his words, “to teach the cost of discipleship”.  While his five children and wife remain in Nairobi, he works from a desk in Juba, the capital. “I hope to promote shared information,” Garang said in a recent international telephone call with overseas partners.  “Material assistance should serve to bring the weak up to the level of the strong. Different ethnic groups must be treated equally.” Graduating from a Bible school in Kenya and ordained in 1999 in the Episcopal Church of Sudan, Garang taught at Bishop Gwynne Theological College in Juba and the Bible school at Malek in the Diocese of Bor. Along with peacemaking, one of his priorities is to continue uniting the existing dozen theological colleges of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan into a multi-campus, multidisciplinary university.

The new Provincial Secretary, Peter Garang Deng, addresses an audience in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan. Photo courtesy of Daniel Karanja

A newly appointed administrator for the South Sudan Relief and Development Agency (SSUDRA), Mr. Light Wilson Aqwana, now reports to Peter Garang.  Salary for this key post is supported by the Diocese of Salisbury and by Christian Aid. The function of SSUDRA is to distribute material relief aid and provide training for economic development. When the Province has in the past not succeeded in providing coordination, material assistance to the ECSS from overseas charities and international organizations has more often been transferred by friends and supporters directly to projects of individual dioceses and schools.

Peacemaking remains the ongoing work of local churches when communal violence erupts, but Garang hopes to see a Province-wide commission on justice, peace, and reconciliation reconstituted to support courageous local efforts.  “There could be a role for our peacemaking elders, such as Bishops Paride Taban and Nathaniel Garang, or Canon Sylvester Thomas Kambaya.  Certainly for active Bishops like Samuel Enosa Peni of Yambio, and Moses Bol Deng of Wau, but it is not easy to bring them together or to offer them a platform.”

Based in the northern Republic of Sudan’s capital in Khartoum is Canon Musa Abujam, Peter Garang’s longer-serving counterpart for the Episcopal Church of Sudan.

Abujam serves the five dioceses in the Republic of Sudan, where the long-serving Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo Kuku has announced his retirement.  One task of both these provincial secretaries, north and south, is to keep up with the travel of their respective archbishops. This week Archbishop Arama was returning from Mombasa. Both archbishops are expected at a meeting of Anglican Communion Primates in England at the end of March.

Canon Garang’s work in South Sudan was with ALARM ( https://alarm-inc.org), gathering African church leaders to learn from past experiences like the Rwanadan genocide  and to cultivate practices of servant leadership. The current leader of ALARM is Celestin Mesukura, a Rwandan.

Former Ambassador Leads AFRECS

The AFRECS E-Blast has recently been featuring responses by American Christians to the question “Why haven’t you left?” – title of the inspiring book by Marc Nikkel, the late Episcopal missionary who worked with Southern Sudanese virtually up until his death from cancer in 2000.  In this issue we learn how Prof. Ellen Davis became involved in teaching at Renk Theological College and has been channeling students from Duke Divinity School to teach Sudanese students at Bishop Allison Theological College, a Sudanese seminary in exile in Uganda.

My own introduction to Sudan came with an assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Khartoum in 1986.  I became acquainted with the growing armed struggle of the South Sudanese for self-determination.  My wife and I worshiped at the Episcopal Cathedral in Khartoum, under the leadership of impressive priests from South Sudan. That assignment was perhaps the most interesting of my Foreign Service career. Years after my retirement from the Foreign Service I returned to Sudan in 2011 for a two-year assignment as senior advisor to the U.S. Government on Darfur, just as South Sudan was making good on its independence.  My duties on several occasions made me a participant in negotiations with the South Sudanese leadership.  However, it was joining the Board of AFRECS in 2016 which put me in regular touch with the leadership of the Episcopal Church of the Sudans, including Archbishop Justin Badi Arama, who visited the US in 2019.  Two visits to South Sudan in 2018 and 2020 acquainted me with the dedicated leader of the Mothers Union, Mother Harriet Baka, with Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo, Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, as well as a number of bishops and priests with whom we work directly.

I discovered that in a place where dysfunctional government places terrible burdens on ordinary women and men, the Episcopal churches are educating children, sponsoring trauma healing activities, promoting small business, and encouraging peace among ethnic groups hitherto engaged in violent conflict. That discovery has motivated me to work to ensure that AFRECS — our network of American churches, dioceses, faith-based organizations and individual Christians is providing support to these embattled churches as they seek to meet the needs of their people.

That’s why I’ve come back to the Sudans.

Executive Director

P.S.I hope to see many of you as we promote AFRECS’ work at the CEEP Network Annual Conference in Atlanta February 23-26.

“My People Live in the Old Testament”
                                                                                               

Ellen F. Davis
Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology
Duke Divinity School

It was the vision of Daniel Deng Bul Yak, then the “baby” (newly installed) Bishop of Renk Diocese, that captured my attention in 1996, when he came to study at Virginia Theological Seminary. I was surprised by the unstinting effort he put into writing, and sometimes rewriting, essays for my Old Testament Interpretation course. VTS was, as he put it, “the first school I have ever attended that was not destroyed,” and further, this was his first exposure to critical biblical interpretation. Refusing to be daunted or bored by academic exercises that belonged to Western culture, he was thoroughly, rapturously engaged by the text itself: “My people live in the Old Testament. They need to know their story.” Over the course of that academic year, my own sense of vocation was touched by Bishop Daniel’s commitment to preparing himself to advance biblical education, and theological education more broadly, for the Christians of Sudan. I promised to come to Renk to teach when peace came to Sudan, although it was nearly eight years before the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 26 May 2004 allowed us to make good on that promise.

Just ten days after the Agreement was signed, I traveled to Renk Bible School (now Renk Theological College) in the company of my colleague Richard Jones. There I encountered people for whom the Bible is a lifeline, people who would walk for a couple of days in order to study the book of Isaiah – the only book of the Bible that makes unmistakable reference to the people of the Upper Nile (see Isaiah 18). On the way home, Professor Jones and I imagined into being the Visiting Teachers Program, whereby Duke Divinity School and Virginia Seminary sent advanced students, alumni, and clergy to Renk and other theological colleges to teach Hebrew, Greek, and theological subjects for periods ranging from two weeks to three months. That program has now morphed into a partnership with Bishop Allison Theological College, a Sudanese seminary in exile in Arua, Uganda. One Duke Divinity alumnus has just completed more than four years on the faculty at BATC, and this summer three Duke students will travel there for a ten-week field education placement, under the supervision of Sudanese colleagues.

Studying Bible with Sudanese Christians – on multiple trips to Sudan until 2012, and later in Uganda – has transformed my reading of the Bible, making it three-dimensional and fully contemporary. They share a mindset with the biblical writers, one that I appreciate only across the vast distance imposed by my own full immersion in North American culture. Through them I have begun to develop a second-hand understanding of what it is to live in land torn by nearly constant armed conflict, to be an agrarian people inhabiting a semi-arid land, where human and animal life and the wellbeing of the land and its water sources are inextricably intertwined daily realities. Further, they showed me how those facts-on-the-ground shape religious sensibility. The very pressure of a corporate life that has been inexpressibly difficult and dangerous over generations has formed many African Christians in a stubborn faith that says, (contrary to what many Westerners would consider to be the relevant evidence) “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Pss. 14:1, 53:1). Against much evidence, they witness to the nature of tough hope, which the writers of both Testaments hold up as an essential religious practice. Moreover, my students and I have received from sisters and brothers in the Sudans the radical hospitality of those who have very few material possessions. Thus they have instilled in me an existential understanding of why hospitality, care for strangers and sojourners, who would not survive without that care, is the most important public value of the biblical world.

I hope my work with Sudanese Christians has contributed a little toward former Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul’s lifelong goal of educating leaders for the Episcopal Church of the Sudans. I know that it has profoundly shaped me as a teacher in my own local contexts and continues to do so. Through that work I have gained a sharper eye for what matters in our reading of the biblical text, what is potentially life-giving in every place and age. I pray that my students on both continents will advance that work, to the glory of God and the welfare of God’s people.

Ellen Davis serves on the Board of AFRECS

Update from Dane Smith 

A Backward Glance. Although 2021 could not be described as a good year in either South Sudan or Sudan, AFRECS was able to continue strong support for the Episcopal Church of South Sudan.  Glow MAPS (previously known as the war orphan school), led by Bishop John Gatteck at the displaced persons camp near Juba, grew from 350 to 500 students in grades 1-8.  It benefited from construction of new classrooms funded by St. Margaret’s Episcopal of Annapolis MD.  Our trauma healing program, attached to the nurture of saving groups by our partner Five Talents, expanded from Renk, Upper Nile, to Terekeka, Central Equatoria, in part because of a grant from the Gadsden Foundation (Grace Episcopal Church, Lexington VA).  AFRECS was able to finalize an arrangement to fund well drilling, essential infrastructure for the new campus of the Episcopal University of South Sudan.

Planning for 2022.  As the coronavirus and security permit, I plan to visit both Sudan and South Sudan. Hopefully, one or more Board members will accompany me.  AFRECS Treasurer Larry Duffee has been representing us in Juba this month, visiting his wife Suzy and carrying on AFRECS business.  This year we seek to increase support for teachers for the enlarged student body at Glow MAPs, while completing construction of school-related facilities.  Five Talents and AFRECS expect to increase the number of savings groups applying trauma healing curricula to their members in Renk and Terekeka.  We will continue to mobilize financial support for water infrastructure and scholarships for the Episcopal University.  We hope to greet many friends of AFRECS at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Baltimore July 7-14.  I also hope to travel to US churches with Sudanese congregations or ongoing relationships with Sudanese dioceses.

Meanwhile, amid the continuing failure of government to secure peace and law and order in South Sudan, peacebuilding continues to function at the local level.  In the waning days of December the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) facilitated a peace agreement in Eastern Equatoria.  The Ibahure and Lohutuk communities in Lafon Country agreed to end five years of violence, often related to the theft of cattle.  The SSCC and PAX South Sudan (an offshoot of the Dutch faith-based peace organization) brought together elders, women, youth, and local and county authorities to encourage the agreement.  A second three-day peace conference in Pibor near the northeast border with Ethiopia  brought together Murle, Lou Nuer, and Dinka leaders.  They agreed to recommit to peaceful coexistence.

Three other positive signs for peace as the new year begins:  First, UNMISS, the UN peacekeeping force in South Sudan, reported that violence against civilians had decreased by 37 percent during the July-September period by comparison with the same quarter in 2020.  Violence fell sharply in Jonglei and Pibor, although it increased in Tambura in Western Equatoria.  Second, Sant’Egidio, the lay peacebuilding organization attached to the Vatican, reported agreement to renew negotiations among non-signatories to the 2018 peace agreement, including several groups that had previously rejected inclusion. Third, Archbishop Gallagher, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, visited Juba December 21-23 to meet with political and religious authorities, possibly laying the groundwork for a Papal visit to South Sudan in 2022.  If it occurs, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby would likely accompany the pontiff.

The political future of Sudan became increasingly uncertain January 1, when Transitional Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned.  His resignation had been expected. Lacking civilian support and apparently unable to exercise the leverage his reinstatement might have given him with the military, he recognized that he did not have a way forward.  His departure eliminates any vestige of legitimacy the post October 25 government might have had, but leaves the future uncertain.  Popular protests are continuing, even as the death count of civilians  continues to rise.  Seven died on January 17 alone. The protests are organized, often relying on neighborhood “resistance committees,” created during the period before the overthrow of Bashir, but still operating.  These committees are now demanding total civilian control of the transition. The military government is reportedly looking for a civilian figure to replace Hamdok, but prospective candidates are being deterred by the likely absence of popular support if they accept the appointment.

The State Department reiterates, “The United States continues to stand with the people of Sudan as they push for democracy. Violence against protesters must cease.” On January 17 Ambassador Lucy Tamblyn, a former director of the Sudan-South Sudan office, was appointed Chargé d’Affaires in Khartoum, pending nomination and confirmation of a new US ambassador to Sudan.

Executive Director

Why Haven’t You Left?
First Executive Director of AFRECS, Nancy Mott Frank, reflects on her decades-long involvement with the people of South Sudan.

Why would a middle-aged Caucasian woman in Rochester, New York become impassioned over South Sudan and with refugees arriving from that place?   Three reasons:  watching Lost Boys cope; taking an anthropology course that helped me see the world through tribal eyes; and an American missionary named Marc Nikkel.

As part-time Outreach Coordinator of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in 1996, I was trying to interest the congregation in the newest group of refugees to settle in Rochester. We are an outer-ring city congregation, long known for refugee work. At my invitation, Marc Nikkel visited our church.  Within a week, he was able to marry Christian faith, Dinka culture, liturgy, humor, history and reflection with our need to serve. My congregation became involved with the Lost Boys of 2000 (including Salva Dut, of Water for South Sudan). As advocates, we helped find housing and cars. We taught cooking and how to navigate government agencies.  We also funded theological education for Sudanese pastors, and provided facilities for study in refugee camps in Kenya.

The Sudanese lived a faith I had never seen before. One Sunday I took a group of refugees to a church in Rochester that they wanted to visit. The offering plate came to me unexpectedly. I was debating the bills in my wallet – “This one is too little; this one is too much.”  Then I watched as the Sudanese ­emptied their wallets into the plate. I learned the young men wouldn’t take good jobs with a local grocery store chain because they wouldn’t work on Sundays. They needed to go to church. I organized carpools to get them there.

I grew to be good friends with Marc Nikkel, who was supported by the Episcopal Church in the U.S. and the Church Missionary Society in the U.K.  I itinerated several of his USA and Irish trips to drum up interest in the issues of Sudan, the refugees there and here, and the Sudanese Church.  In 1998 I joined an exploratory Episcopal Church trip to South Sudan.   It was revelatory to be in an outdoor early morning congregation of 3,000 Episcopalians singing and praying, and to watch youth dancing joyfully. This was not the faith of my youth. This faith was alive — full of energy. It captured me, heart and soul.  It helped sustain my energies back home as I hauled furniture and sorted out bureaucratic snafus for the Rochester Sudanese.

Auditing a friend’s anthropology course gave me more understanding of these young men.  Their almost immediate need to purchase cars was a power symbol, replacing their traditional focus on cattle.  Whereas I carried a purse containing my important things, the Christians in Sudan carried crosses. In the village of Wuningor after a particularly muddy arrival in a dugout canoe , the women welcomed our group with foot washing.  This was not the one-footed, delicate version I have experienced on Maundy Thursday in my American church. This was a thorough, gentle, loving, caring wash.

The faith I saw and experienced through the Sudanese was the center of their lives. It didn’t fit in around their lives. It was their lives. It was in their souls. I could feel that, and it captured me.

It has been 20 years since those early days of Sudanese refugees in Rochester. Many of the Lost Boys brought Sudanese women to the USA to marry. Most moved to the Midwest or West for better jobs to support their families, or to be in a larger community of Sudanese. Families have separated due to domestic violence. Most of the first refugees struggled, but their Americanized children succeed.

I continue to be inspired by several Sudanese.  My job at St. Paul’s put me in contact with Salva Dut in 1996.  He still calls me “Mother”, which he pronounces Moth-ah. His concern for his father, sickened with parasites in Wau, moved him to found Water for South Sudan. He dug his first well in his father’s village. Since 2004 he has dug 500 wells, along with sanitation projects, as well as redoing many other organizations’ wells.

In the early 2000s, a wonderful single-mother family with many young children lived in our church apartment.  I advocated with my alma mater, St. Lawrence University, for one particularly talented child, Ajok (Victoria).  On a generous scholarship, she took advantage of every opportunity for internships, international travel, women’s rights, and racial justice conferences, as well as being published in her major, Spanish and Caribbean studies.  After joining the Peace Corps, she went to the Dominican Republic, was evacuated because of COVID, and currently works for the US Labor Department in Puerto Rico.

I am proud to have been the Executive Director of AFRECS when it was founded in the 2000s to promote companion links between American parishes and dioceses and Sudanese dioceses, then numbering thirty-one.  In that job I made frequent trips to South Sudan and Uganda to represent Americans who had become impassioned with the Sudanese people and Church. It is an honor to view the additional roles AFRECS is playing today in both Sudans.

I look back on this astounding period of my life as a formative one for my own faith. I experience God so much more because of those years, and I am thankful for that.

A Prayer for the Churches of the Sudans 

God of peace, God of love, we pray that your Grace may so strengthen the Churches of Sudan and South Sudan, that they may be beacons of love and forgiveness.  We pray that Gospel preaching may be so inspired that it will lead to reconciliation, enduring hope, and lasting peace.  We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord.  Amen.

The Rt. Rev. David Colin Jones
Bishop Suffragan (Retired), Episcopal Diocese of Virginia