Answer: The Reverend Awatif Ali, President of the Provincial Mothers’ Union, shown here at a training session for trauma healing facilitators. She also served in April as Acting Provincial Secretary while Canon Peter Garang was away from Juba visiting his family in Nairobi.
Mama Harriet Baka, close friend of AFRECS, is National Coordinator of the Mothers’ Union.
Things go from bad to worse in Sudan.
This past week the New York Times devoted more than four pages to a road trip from Port Sudan to Khartoum by a Western journalist/photojournalist team. In the nearly destroyed capital, shelling and bombing continue between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), who control Omdurman, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), dug into Khartoum. There are no current prospects of an end to fighting, which has been spreading in Sudan’s agricultural heartland in Gezira and Wad Medani.
In South Sudan the continued absence of steps deemed necessary for minimally free and fair elections in December caused the US to announce it would not provide election funding. Devastating floods appear imminent in Jonglei, Upper Nile, and Warrap because Lake Victoria in Uganda is at a record high. Refugee flows from Sudan have not ceased.
In these lands of conflict and dysfunction, the Episcopal churches remain faithful. Primate Ezekiel Kondo and Provincial Secretary Musa Abujam, operating out of Port Sudan, do what they can to support their flock in the Diocese of Wad Medani, now on the war’s frontline. Churches in Kadugli Diocese and the new sister Heiban Diocese, both clustered around the Nuba mountains, expand under the protection of the forces of SPLM-North General Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, a staunch supporter of religious freedom. Sudanese Anglicans fleeing to Egypt now outnumber their parish hosts. The Episcopal Church of South Sudan pursues its work in literacy, livelihood creation and trauma healing in additional dioceses. It now operates 39 schools. Primate Justin Badi Arama has mandated the new Episcopal Mediation Advisory Committee (EMAC) to work diligently with civil society and other church groups to press the government on election preparations.
by the Rev. Shirley Smith Graham, AFRECS board member
It was not hard to teach Hebrew in South Sudan in 2006. Crowds gathered at the Bible College in Renk, hungry to learn what Jesus said in his own words.
“We want to know what the Bible says, not what someone says it says,” students would tell us. They had grown up speaking at least two languages, their tribal mother tongue and Arabic. They understood the importance of learning the Bible’s original language. Often they, and their families, had made great sacrifices to attend the college. I had come at the invitation of Dr. Ellen Davis to work alongside two students from Duke Divinity School. We were impressed at the Sudanese students’ staying power.
One day, after a long and hot two hours of instruction, students were ready for a break — at least I was. Everyone exited the building made of local brick and sought refuge outside in the shade. I needed a few minutes to organize my papers and books, and arrived outside last.
What’s this crowd? Is something happening? Coming closer, I could see women and men leaning over another student, looking at something in the red earth. What was going on?
The student had taken a stick and was writing letters in Hebrew on the ground. But the other students weren’t just watching. One corrected another’s letters or spelling. They discussed the proper shapes for making meaningful words.
Didn’t Jesus once write in the dust to give a crowd the chance to let his words sink in and transform their hearts (John 8: 6, the woman caught in adultery)? These students were doing the same thing. Writing in the red earth of South Sudan. Letting the words of Jesus sink into their hearts — just as they were praying his words would bring peace to their land.
“It’s typical of those times and conditions in Sudan, that I don’t have a photograph of the students writing in the dust. On a different day, they found chairs to make the learning easier.”
by Richard J. Jones, AFRECS board member
Ronald C. Byrd, director of African Descent Ministries ( formerly Office of Black Ministries) in The Episcopal Church, has added South Sudanese Americans to his constituencies.
When our Episcopal Convention meets in Louisville this June, Byrd along with bishops and deputies will be discussing how South Sudanese communities have evolved since the time depicted in the comic film The Good Lie, starring Reese Witherspoon and Emmanuel Jal, when refugees were plucked from Kakuma refugee camp and dropped into life in America. In 2022 15 clerics and 14 lay South Sudanese American congregational leaders were heartily welcomed at a Kansas City hotel– with some apology for things we had previously left undone — by Presiding Bishop Curry and House of Delegates President Julia Ayala Harris. For two days these leaders shared two decades of frustrations and aspirations. Later that year a smaller group wrote up their desires for full acceptance of their clergy and their congregations. In spite of uneven educations and limited finances, they committed to support dioceses that would give them recognition.
South Sudanese American congregations in Iowa, Michigan, Texas, Washington state, and Atlanta have become centers of community life. Others, including Portland, Maine and Baltimore, Maryland, have made their way without remaining connected to The Episcopal Church. As Ron Byrd and other chief pastors focus on newer, alongside older, congregations with links to Africa, they will welcome photos and facts, reports and rosters, to depict the health of these households of God. Please send your news to your bishops and deputies, the United Thank Offering of the Women of the Church — and to AFRECS at anitasanborn@gmail.com. We want to know!
Read more at: Report of the Task Force on the South Sudanese Diaspora and The Episcopal Church
Lord Jesus, as we walk beside you in this holiest of weeks, make us mindful of those who are our companions on the road:
As we join the triumphal march of palms, we salute all who march or demonstrate for peace and justice, even at the risk of their own lives and freedom;
As we watch you betrayed and arrested, we place our hearts with all prisoners of conscience;
As you receive the wounds of whips and crown of thorns, we feel the pain of all who are ridiculed, demonized, raped, and tortured;
As you stumble with exhaustion, we acknowledge the weariness of refugees, migrants, and all who long for a place to call home;
As you are comforted by Veronica’s soft cloth, we praise you for all who are moved by the Spirit to comfort the suffering, whether by shelter from the United Nations, a sandwich on the road through Mexico, or a friend in court for the legally defenseless;
As you comfort dying thieves with the promise of paradise, open our hearts to child soldiers, unwilling conscripts, and all who feel trapped in violence they neither want nor understand;
As you speak from the cross to comfort Mary and John, teach us to remember, even in our own struggles, there are ways in which we can strengthen others;
As you await your death on the cross, may we be with all who await the great transition, and with those who keep vigil with them;.
And as we, far beyond our deserving and our imagining, share with our companions in your Easter victory, we praise you for ever and ever.
AMEN
Crown of Thorns (Dinka: Göl de kuoth). This image of Christ suffering for and with us was created in 2000 by Hilary Garang Deng Awer, retired bishop of Malakal now living in Juba.
The US Government appears to be moving more actively to find a solution to the ongoing violence and humanitarian horror in Sudan. U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, has been traveling, talking to Arab and African leaders. US Permanent Representative to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, published a major statement March 6 in the New York Times, calling for a humanitarian surge in Sudan led by a new UN coordinator. She denounced “a handful of regional powers” (i.e. UAE and Iran) sending arms to both sides. She said, “The United States is working to persuade relevant players to coalesce around the shared goal of preventing the breakup of Sudan, which would fuel instability across the Horn of Africa and Red Sea region.” She restated a number of these points in remarks to the Security Council March 20.
The Troika – US, UK, Norway — guarantors of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that set the stage for South Sudan’s independence, stated March 19 that South Sudan was not on a path toward fair elections. President Kiir recently proposed that elections go ahead in December for President and governors but not for the legislature. Opposition leader and Vice President Riek Machar has called for “a mediated dialogue” among the political parties on the elections. Schools were closed last week because of soaring temperatures but have reopened.
AFRECS Board member Richard Jones and I greeted friends of AFRECS at the Episcopal Parish Network Conference in Houston March 7 to 9. Now my wife Judy and I are looking forward to our visit to South Sudan April 7-15.
Travelling between several Red Sea countries on March 21st, U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello described to journalists a woman who had escaped from fighting in Darfur: “Women go out to the fields to find food for their family and often are raped, come home, and have to go back to that same field the next day. These abuses need to end. We need accountability for those who have had command-and-control structure over the people committing the atrocities.” Perriello hopes to see the rival Sudanese generals Burhan and Hemedti, who have been at war since September 2023, as well as political parties and “all voices”, including foreign supporters, return to serious peace negotiations after the Muslim month of fasting ends on April 10th.
More at: https://www.state.gov/special-online-briefing-with-special-envoy-for-sudan-tom-perriello
“When we in South Sudan pray ‘Give us today our daily bread’, many of us do not know where we will find food that day. We have seen prayers answered, so when we pray, we mean what we say to God. We have received and believe the Good News of Christ’s death for us and his Resurrection to bring us life eternal. We have seen the power of God to heal us from illness. We have seen feuding communities confess their aggressions and be reconciled. Teams from our Board for Justice, Peace and Reconciliation have intervened in many locations in 2023 and 2024.”
Back in the day, there really were no street addresses in Juba. The population was not that large and most folks more or less knew one another, or knew each part of town – with names like Hai Cinema, Nimera Talaata, or Hai Jerusalem. There was also an old system of plot numbers, but that was effective for only parts of town. (There was also a somewhat nefarious effort on the part of some expats to go on Google Maps and name streets after themselves, or worse — some of which continue to appear on Google Maps.)
But as things got more crowded and as we at the Episcopal Church of Sudan were doing more international transfers, we needed a proper street address. I looked at our location and thought, “We are on the corner of the second block from where Unity Ave begins.” I presumed addresses on the left would be even numbered, and those on the right would be odd. And thus, the ECS office should be “200 Unity Avenue”! I informed the staff to start using that address, figuring if it was wrong, we’d be informed at some point. I never imagined that address would still be in use 10 years later!
by Jack Mathias and Leslie Siegmund
Two local groups, Zande and Balanda, had recently experienced devastating mutual violence in Tambura, including the killing of over 200 people, hundreds of injuries, and large loss of property. In response, hundreds gathered during the last week of September 2023 to witness a soccer tournament among six teams and participate in a peace conference facilitated by Bishops Moses Zungo (Maridi), Richard Aquila (Nzara), and the host, Isaac Ephraim Bangisa (Ezo), with co-operation from Ezo County authorities.
Organizers report greater trust and forgiveness among the people, as well as awareness of the dangers of violence, alcohol, drug abuse, witchcraft.
The gathering saw 12 marriages, 30 confirmations, and the ordination of several deacons and priests; training for Bible study and Mothers’ Union; and reaching out to those lost and traumatized. The conference was supported by the Internal Province of Western Equatoria as well as St. Francis Episcopal Church in Great Falls, Virginia.
The new Bishop Ruati Guesthouse in Ezo was put to good use by participants in the conference.
