“Yes” said Queen Lucy

“In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

I pray that you have a happy Christmas and that you are reminded afresh of the love that dared to let a king be born in a stable.

Thank you for another year of love and prayers for Marol Academy and South Sudan. After independence in July, this is South Sudan's first Christmas...

Yet, really, the story has only just started.

Graduation, Growing and Safely Home

Thank God For:
1) Safe Arrivals Home
Now, finally, Gordon, Joyce, Loice, Rachel and Emma are all safely back in their homes. Some are now in the Lydney and others in the bustle of Nairobi, but they are still at the heart of what Marol Academy has done this year.

2) Nhial's Graduate from Teacher Training College
A star of the college, Nhial Bona has finally graduated from Yei Teacher Training College. He is the first trained teacher amongst the 90,000 Apuk Dinka and will return to Marol for the 2012 school year. We are so, so proud of him. And we hope to send another teacher for this two-years' training. It seems one of the most lasting legacies that is possible. We have only been able to do it thanks to the funding from teachers in the UK. So, thank you.

3) Growing Support in the UK
Thank God as He gathers His people in the UK to love, be envisioned and serve the children of Marol.

The Marol Family

Gordon, Joyce, Emma, Loice and Racheal all leave Marol today in the direction of home. They will sleep tonight in Luonyaker (the nearest market village) and then, tomorrow, drive to Wau, fly to Juba and fly onto Kenya.

So many of us are in such awe at the strength of this Marol Family and what God has done through them this year. It is beyond expectations and hopes. It is truly a miracle.

Please pray for:
1) Logistics
That everything fits together with times and planes.

2) Safety
That God carries them safely home.

3) For Peace
That God would really guard their hearts as they say goodbye and process all that God has done this last year. Pray for vision for His plans ahead for each of this fabulous five, and pray for God's heart and grace as they look back over these last nine months.

Plane, Peace and Plans

Through the plane's small window and across the thin tarmac that shimmers in the sun, you can see a handful of cattle grazing at the runway's edge. A tiny plane comes into land as the engine on our Kenya-bound flight kicks into action. Just a few months before, after a miscalculation by air traffic control, our plane had been metres from landing on top of another when flying into Juba airport. The sight of the strip of tarmac always reminded me to thank God for his mercies. But, it was soaring up over the vast, green lands and snaking rivers that was the real reminder of God's provision. Beneath us was spread South Sudan and its post independence hope. God had done mighty works in this nascent nation but there were many more left to do.

Yet, looking down on the glistening roofs of Juba, reminds you of what is hidden in Juba that is not always the hope that seems more abundant in the village. NGOs and the UN are accused of consuming money intended for South Sudan. The government is accused of using South Sudan's money to buy the biggest cars that can fit on its crowded streets. Land Cruisers, high security fences and quick construction characterise this city that few Southern Sudanese would recognise as their own. Yet, with the jumbled streets and the beating sun, this is still almost a reminder of Marol.

This morning saw me land into the mist of a London morning. From home to home in just an afternoon and a morning.

Please pray for:
1) Peace In Gogrial East
Five people died last week in the grazing lands where the cattle from Marol are kept. School-aged boys, guarding the cattle, often come into deadly conflict as they attempt to protect their family's wealth. Recent disarmament campaigns have confused the usual security setting. Fear of more conflict remains while these families still grieve their loss.

2) Plans
Please pray for the plans for Marol for the year ahead and also for my plans for the year ahead. Please ask for the right people to seek God, to listen to His plan and to obey Him. At the moment, Marol has no secondary school teachers for 2012 although we have dozens of eager students. Plus, due to student protests, many schools in Wau have been closed indefinitely meaning that even less secondary education is available in the region. Marol needs you to beg God for teachers so that we can keep providing.

3) Church of Sudan
This week the leaders of the church of Sudan gather in Juba. This includes Bishops from the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile who are experiencing intense persecution as civil war erupts in these regions. Pray for strength and vision.

The Joys of Juba

Just before the thatched roof bar in our hotel is a small bridge that leads over a little stream that gushes down to the Nile. When it rains, the little flow becomes a torrent to carry Juba's rain fall down stream. Over this bridge, as you walk out of the hotel and into the rest of Juba, the roads run red with mud and small boys, whose play was interrupted by the rain, shelter beneath thin grass roofs. For a moment the bustle of motorbikes and LandCruisers stands still, too timid to face the torrent. Yet the people of this city over time have seen everything from seasons of being beseiged during the civil war to bursting with development as it is now. Juba has the chaotic haze of any bustling city. The educated and aspiring, the entrepreneur and the nephew all descend on Juba. Life comes and goes here.

Please Pray For:
1) Gordon, Joyce, Rachael, Loice and Emma
This saintly cohort have just over two weeks at Marol before the school year ends and they head home for a rest. Pray for easy good byes that remind them of the joys they've known and the difference they've made. Pray for last minute opportunities to make a world of difference. And pray that God would already set the logistics in place so that they safely make the three flights home from the red dust of Wau's airstrip to the swarm of Heathrow.

2) Students at The University of Juba
Again and again and again the University of Juba did not open. It was meant to open in April, then August and then October. The students returned but the lectures never started. And with no lectures and no funding, the students now sit in the university accommodation without a means of getting food or the money to return home. The promise is that the university will open in December but students are not confident. The University of Juba was initially founded in 1975 to support the education of Southern Sudanese, yet during the war the university was moved to Khartoum. While some of the university's departments reopened in Juba after the peace agreement of 2005, since the Southern government took over this year they have found it hard to find teachers and funds to get the university open. The same is the case in Wau and Malakal.

3) Peace
There are increasing whispers of possible attacks between Unity State and Warrap State. Rebel leaders just over the border from our county seem to want to advance towards us to make a political statement. The rebels are also claiming that many soldiers already in Warrap State will defect to their cause. At the moment it is far from a reality, but it is a season of rumours of wars. The rain laden swamps will hopefully act as a natural barrier for peace at least for now.

4) Work on Communities
This week God has been gracious enough to give me two incredible meetings that I know could not have been without him. Key people just happened to sit in front of me at church or be friends of friends over breakfast. But I still need his guidance as I work out what I'm doing and what doors to knock on.

5) Universities
Having thought God had put things together, there are small complications with the details of my PhD due to new regulations at the university that had not filtered down to the department. I am also seeking funding and would appreciate your prayers for provision. I know my struggles are nothing compared to those at the unversities in South Sudan but it has still upset me. With the growing threats of conflict in Warrap, I hope the work of my PhD will serve well the communities of this land

Governance, Grain and Research

Below are just a few things to keep praying for. Sorry to have been a little out of touch, but South Sudan needs your prayers as much as ever. Thank you!

1) Marol's Governance
When the raids came in May, one of the chiefs of Gogrial East was amongst the dead. His home was far northeast in the county and his attempts to defend it saw him killed in the relentless attacks. Therefore, this season has seen the appointment of his replacement (as well as the appointment of a new chief for another area). This appointment of new leadership has bought with it inter-community tensions. As Marol Academy organises its own leadership and governance to last the school through this next generation, pray that these tensions do not interfere with what is God's best for Marol. Pray that He protects those children and gives them a chance to learn. Marol sits on the boundary between two communities, both of which have children craving education.

2) Grain and Protests in Wau
The euphoria of the new nation has already been stiffled by the tough circumstances that this new land faces. Due to a blockade by Northern Sudan on trade coming to the South, prices have rocketed especially in cities nearer the Northern border (such as Wau). Grain is beyond the few pounds that families can gather together. With no secondary schools in the villages (except for Marol's S1 class), families have tried to save all they can to send their sons to school in Wau. However, this means they must also save enough money to pay for their son's food. As the food prices have soured, these school pupils can no longer afford to eat. There have been protests in desperation.

3) Research
This week I head to Juba to do a little work to earn a few pennies. I fly on Wednesday night and head to Juba as soon as I can get a visa (prayers for this are much appreciated). The work is on the idea of "community" and will inform strategy for the organisation in South Sudan for the decade ahead. I am growing in awareness of the macro level influence good research could have and am praying for the wisdom to have a good impact, however small it might be. Yet, I would really appreciate prayers and peace as I try to balance the various demands. I also seem to miss the village more than ever at the moment. Lots of me wants to go home.

Teachers, Tiredness and A New Term

Things to Pray For:

New Term
Glistening in the sun, and interrupted by the occasional tuft of grass or tree, the road to Marol now closer resembles a river than the dry track of the dry season. Yet, with shoe-less feet, the children will wade through the water tomorrow morning to return to Marol. They have just had a week's holiday and will return to a new term at Marol Academy. It is now only a month and a half until the school year comes to an end. Yet, there is much work to be done in these weeks and much to pray about for the year ahead. We desperately need a secondary school building and secondary school teachers. We hope to build a simple, four-classroom secondary school with a store room. We are yet to know where either funds or money may come from. I'm sure God can do something.

Teachers
Emma, Loice and Rachel (Kenyan, Christian teachers who recently graduated from university) have been a pivotal gift to allow the Academy to keep learning this year. They were given to us by Focus - the Kenyan Christian Students' Union. In January 2012, 3,500 Christian students will gather in Kenya to be "commissioned" for their call at a massive Focus conference. It sounds such an incredible event and something I can hardly dare dream that South Sudan will see one day. But, for now, I am just praying that God will use it to give us more Christian teachers for the future. It seems that Marol is quite a tough location to survive in unless you are confident that God has called you there.

Tiredness
I am quite exhausted as I process all that God has done these last years in South Sudan as well as build faith for the future. It would be good to have the time and space to do that this season. Home, in itself, lets that time trickle in but I have a tendency to keep busy. Moments of stillness are rich but not always often enough. Plus, I hope to write a couple of articles soon to sum up my academic work so far. I just pray God has their hand on them.

Life And Death

As I sit on a friend's spare bed, having spent the day exploring with another, I am reminded again of the richness of having gracious and patient friends that God has been kind enough to give me back here in England. The last weeks have been steeped in trying to settle back in to this homeland, and God has reminded me of the blessings of friends. I am grateful and, slowly, starting to feel rested.

Life
Thank God for Ayak. Beneath their thatched roof, a few hundred metres into the forest, this little girl was born on Saturday. Her safe arrival seemed a little miracle as her mum (Regina) had fallen seriously ill with malaria prior to her birth. Her mum and dad (Dut) are the couple that could finally marry, and escape the clashes in Abyei, after the gift of cows by an Englishman. Ayak literally means drought. Yet, now, she brings much happiness to this little family.

Another of Bol's daughters

And Death
If you turned through the towering crops towards Bol's circle of mud huts, the children would spot you and run to greet you. Madut's little legs carried him the fastest and the girls would run closely behind. Nyanut's silent presence would always watch from a distance, too shy for the bold greeting of the younger children. Nyanut was about ten year's old and lived with her uncle (Bol) for much of last year. Her mother lived about three hours walk away. She had been lent to Bol to care for his youngest daughter. This week she died of malaria. No one could afford to take her to Wau to seek treatment.

Other Things to Pray For:
1) Teachers at Marol
They are in good health but the road from the market to the school remains as nearly five miles of swamp.

2) Talks in the UK
Pray that I have the right words to say as I speak to people in the UK about South Sudan.

3) Abyei Floods
Having had their homes bombed to pieces in May, the people of Abyei are now facing some of the worst flooding in memory. Crops and people have been washed away. Fifteen have been killed and ten thousand displaced.

Thank you!

Munching, Mums & Marol

As routines are resuming after the summer, I thought it was timely to request more prayers for South Sudan. Thank you for being part of these prayers

The last months have swept me away as I moved back from South Sudan to the UK. I now have a term away from South Sudan as I start a MPhil/PhD researching peace-building in South Sudan. It is intimidating to be away from South Sudan, but I am also confident that I need to rest a little - in God, in my studies, with friends and just sleeping! I will also continue to serve Marol Academy and am asking God to give me others to join me in this commitment.

Thank God
1) For The Harvest

As you walk the dusty tracks or turn through the fields of sorghum, you see even the smallest children tearing apart the tough sugar cane poles. With smiles on their faces, they munch the first, sweet fruits of the harvest. At Marol, the small school garden is now sprouting with greens to feed hungry tummies. No one is sure that there will be enough to eat until the next harvest but, for now, they are happy to feast.

2) For The Marol Family
I remain in awe of the five volunteers who remain at Marol (Gordon, Joyce, Loice, Rachel and Emma). Joyce has built strong relationship through her midwifery work and the others have laboured hard to be a gift to the pupils of Marol. They are even running Bible studies that dozens attend. Yet, last week, even the bumpy road to the nearest market flooded so they are now quite stranded at the school. Thank God for their faith, boldness and strength. Also, please pray for God's gentle protection over them.

Prayer Requests
1) Regina and Her Unborn Baby
The bombs fell and the artillery shattered the birth place of Regina this May. Sitting on the border between North and South Sudan, adjacent to rich oil fields, Abyei has been the site of some of the heaviest fighting. She had left just a few months before with her little son to join her husband in Luonyaker. Yet, in May she watched with anxiety and fear for her family. Now, heavily pregnant, she also waits with uncertainty for her baby. With little midwifery available, most women rely on their female relatives and just give birth on the mud floors of their huts. Regina is nervous for her and her baby as no female relatives are nearby.

2) Secondary School
As the last term of the school year approaches, conversations are starting about whether we can afford to sustain Marol Academy Secondary School. This year it has been such a privilege to see the first secondary class. Filled with an ethusiasm to learn, amongst the insecurity of opportunity, they are an impressive cohort. One boy walks six hours each day to be at the school.

3) Development Officer for the Church in Wau
The Diocese of Wau stretches from the northern deserts of Raja County to the swamps of the eastern stretches of Warrap State. With bombed cities on the borders, militia fighting amongst its communities and very few basic services, the Diocese has many challenges to face. Yet, with people turning to Christ in the heat of the civil war and churches planted despite their isolation, the last few years of peace have given the Diocese a new ambitious vision. They hope to educate their own pastors (most are not literate or able to read the Bible) and serve the community. Interviews for a South Sudanese Development Officer happen tomorrow (Tuesday). Pray for someone of faith who can easily make a big difference.

Email Fraud From Naomi's Account - Supporters Please Read

Someone (or something on someone's behalf) has managed to hack Naomi's account and send fictitious emails pretending to be her in urgent need of money. If you receive the following email (or similar) purporting to be from Naomi, please delete immediately!

My sincere regrets for this sudden request, things actually got out of control on my trip to Madrid,Spain . I was mugged,all my belongings including cellphone and credit card were all stolen at gun point. I need your help flying back home.

Am cash strapped at the moment. I've made contact with my bank but the best they could do was to send me a new card in the mail which will take 3-5 working days to arrive here. I need you to lend me some money to sort my self out of this predicament, i will pay back once i make it out of Madrid.

Western union is the fastest option to wire funds to me. Let me know if you need my details(Full names/location) to effect a transfer. You can reach me via email or hotel's desk phone and the number is,+34 91 608912736.

Love,

Naomi

Happy Independence Day from the villages of South Sudan

The dawn chorus on this independence day witnessed a splattering of guns across the horizon, shooting into the air in celebration.  If they had not been given their South Sudan, they would have fired in anger.  Instead, they fired with joy.  From the pops of the Ak47s to the tutterings of the machine guns, they declared their freedom.  As the sun climbed higher, women started singing, the drum started sounding and bulls were slaughtered.  In the villages, everyone was celebrating and watching as the new flag was raised.  The party is still dancing through the village now although the sun has already set.

Thank God that he answered prayers for a peaceful day and for freedom for this land.  Everyone can hardly believe it's come true.

The Day Before Independence

Practising for the parades:

Two Days Until Independence

This evening I sat at my friends's home, her daughter occasionally jumping off my knees to chase the goats away from the crops. Their tukals (mud huts) sit adjacent to the UN food halls and today food was being distributed. Hundreds of ladies flowed through her home to greet us, 25Kg sacks of grain carried on their heads. Their harvest of the year before was not enough to feed them and they will be dependent on others for the food for their independence day feasting.

Here are some thoughts I have written for a Royal African Society blog, in case you're interested.

Keep praying for peace, and God's foundations to this new land and people.

Four Days Until Independence

In just four days time, South Sudan will become the newest nation on earth. Children are practising the new national anthem and flag poles are being raised in the county offices. Schools have started their two week holiday but still practices of singing and marching continue.

Things to pray for:

1) The Nuba Mountains
The Nuba Mountains sit north of the North-South border, in the terrain governed from Khartoum. However, resisting oppression from this regime, the people of the Nuba Mountains fought with the Southern SPLA during the long civil war. The coming of independence leaves these people in an unclear and insecure position. With the North wanting to assert their authority, they have started an offensive in the Nuba Mountains that seems nothing short of genocide. The atrocities that the South suffered for decades seem to be starting afresh in these hills.


2) South Sudan
Please pray for South Sudan as the 9th July and independence approaches. It seems that the whole country is holding its breath until then. There has been insecurity in this state due to a rebel militia and there are other agitations throughout the country.

3) Regina and Her Baby
Last night my friend Regina (Dut's wife) had a sleepless night in her mud hut due to intense pains. She is at least six months pregnant. Please pray that she will get better soon and that the baby will be kept safe.

BBC Article on Warlord Gadet

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13977178

Continued prayers are much appreciated. The above is a very good article on Gadet. His base in Mayom County is just over the border from our County's grazing lands and his attacks killed over a hundred people from our Apuk Dinka last month. Many children at Marol lost brothers and uncles. If you listen carefully to some of the lyrics on the video, in Nuer (not so dissimilar from Dinka) they sing, "we will go to Yiikador". Yiikador is the neighbouring, market village to Marol, less than an hour's walk. In fact, they run into each other.

However, God is big enough to keep us safe. Plus, at the moment, the river is flooded north of Yiikador and Marol meaning that it would be very, very hard for them to reach it, especially at this time of year. They have not done it since the height of the civil war in the 1980s and 1990s.

New Things in South Sudan

With the first months of rain the land is painted the richest green and the dry, barren world of South Sudan seems a memory. While the crops have still not grown beyond seedlings, your eyes can trace the horizon for its fresh beauty. At this time of year, there seems to be new life in everything. It seems as if even nature is responding to the promise that South Sudan will soon be the newest nation on earth. With just one week and six days to go until independence, the thought is on people's hearts. The school children are practicing their songs and the price of goats has risen as everyone wants to be prepared with something to feast on when the day comes.

Pray for:

1) Peace Over The New Nation
The schools are closing for a holiday over independence but the local government has not specified when they will open. The reason given is that they want to know that all has gone peacefully before they start again. Schools were a prime target during the war. And people are still not sure in their hearts that war will not come again. Already there have been militia clashes much further north in our state, so please plray.

2) Girls At Marol
Last year, in the church, girls started collectively collapsing, falling unconscious and shaking. This year it is happening at Marol. I am grateful to have a community of people to pray with about it, but please pray too.

3) The New Kenyan Teachers, and Gordon and Joyce
Keep them close in your thoughts and prayers. They are my heroes and they are strong as they face the challenges of life in South Sudan. They are making such a difference in Marol and are such a gift to us. I just really pray that God will keep speaking to them and giving them moments when they know with clarity that he wants them to be in Marol.

A Message On Marol

In all the movement and restlessness of South Sudan as it approaches independence, it is easy to forget to share the stories of daily life at Marol Academy.

Before the dawn rises, many pupils set out from their tukals (mud huts) to pace the hours of journeying to school. By 8.30am, crumpled lines of students fill the dusty compound, waiting for the teachers to ring the bell and for assembly to start. Notices, singing and praying fill the half-hour slot. The oldest children stand tall and straight, while the littlest fidget about relentlessly, hoping their size will keep them hidden from rebuke. Once all has been said, assembly gives way to a day of lessons. The children are squashed onto the wooden benches with up to eighty children squeezed into each classroom. As the teacher talks and writes with chalk, those who can afford exercise books scribble down what is written. Few of the teachers amongst the 90,000 Apuk Dinka have finished school themselves, but they teach whatever they know. Food comes when the sun is high in the sky, cooked by local, volunteer mothers in a large, black cauldron. The school day eventually fades to a close. The classes pour out to play volleyball and start the long journey home.

Marol's life is now also coloured by two incredible volunteers - Gordon (a retired science teacher from the UK) and Emma (a newly qualified maths teacher from Kenya). Both called by God to come to Marol, they are a gift to us.

Current Needs At The Academy - Just In Case You Are Able To Help?
Whatever you are able to give, however small, adds faith to what we're building and allows funds to quickly add up.

1) A Soap Sponsor
Most families in the village of Marol have no person amongst them employed and, therefore, no income of money. They grow what they eat but there is never enough, let alone enough to sell. Therefore, they cannot buy items such as soap. The volunteer mum's of Marol, who cook the school lunch, have one request: they have asked for soap to keep them clean. More than enough soap for all the mums who cook would cost £15 per month.

2) Taking Care of Two Teachers
Two friends of Emma were set to be sent to a school in the Nuba Mountains (just over the border from Marol in Northern Sudan). Like Emma, they felt God's call on them to Sudan. They teach English and CRE (subjects we need teachers for at Marol). However, political conflict in the Nuba Mountains is bringing fear and has forced the school to close. We are hoping to borrow that for a few months at Marol until God brings enough peace in the Nuba Mountains to allow them to move on. For us to have them join us at Marol until August will cost £250 per teacher per month for three months.

3) An English Teacher
Marol Academy is desperately looking for a long-term English teacher who could support the secondary school and the primary school teachers. It is estimated that this will cost £210 per month.

4) Somewhere To Stay
Increasingly, to allow Marol to both train teachers and offer secondary education, Marol will invite teachers from East Africa and around the world. In Gogrial East, there is less than a handful of people who have finished secondary education, let alone those who can teach at these higher levels. To do this, Marol is desperate to build more accommodation. The hope is to build a four bedroom block (with one or two beds in each). Each room will cost £5,000.

If you are interested in giving, please visit: www.justgiving.com/MarolAcademy.

Fresh Thoughs On Faith And Fuel

I just thought I would send you a quick update on previous prayer requests.

Emma
Emma (Marol's newest teacher) safely landed in Wau on Friday and made her way to the village in a large, grey fifteen ton truck. I hope she was not too disturbed by her welcome. But it has been a blessing to meet her and pray with her. She's about my age and from a village north-east of Nairobi (Kenya). She seems filled with faith about what God will teach her during her season in South Sudan. I'm just praying that she keeps her vision of seeing God in everything and that it is not blurred by the dust of South Sudan. She will meet her classes at Marol tomorrow so pray for her as she steps out in faith.

Fuel
Fuel remains in decreasing supply throughout Wau and the villages. Large numbers of Southern troops are also passing through Wau on their way to Abyei (the border region recently occupied by the North), chasing a sense of peace from the city.

Please pray for South Sudan in this crucial, crucial month. There are just forty one days until this land declares its independence.

Prayer for Faith and Fuel

This is a small, urgent request for prayer tonight. Emma is a young, maths teacher from Kenya. Motivated by faith and a call to South Sudan, she has volunteered to come to join us at Marol. Despite the stories of war filling the papers, she's still had the courage to come. She's now in Juba, waiting for a flight to Wau. Yet, the battles that are taking place in Abyei have interrupted the fuel supply coming from the North into the South. Although oil is drilled in the South it does not have its own refinery. Today we searched Wau and could not find a drop. Emma's flight from Juba to Wau was cancelled today for lack of fuel.

Please pray for:

1. Emma and her courageous faith.
2. Fuel for the flights. I am so hoping Emma can make it to Wau tomorrow. I am also hoping to travel in the next week.
3. Fuel for everything else. Joyce is especially reliant on the car to allow her to do her midwifery work in Luonyaker.

Thank you.

Abyei

As he returned from Lietnhom, Dut bought with him our first fresh fish of the season. Tied over the handle of the motorbikes and cooked on a fire on the floor, they made a perfect feast for all of us. Dut had gone towards the Toc pasturelands (and the fish) to get reports of security there. All was well and the militia have not raided again, although the armed, guarding youth are still on the highest alert.

But the news of the radio and websites is the news of Abyei:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13491445

Yesterday, the North captured this town from the South, putting this nearly new nation on a war footing. Here, in Luonyaker, it is the talk of the market but there is not fear in the air. The last time the North captured Abyei in 2008, our region felt no impact. The neighbouring counties received displaced people but no fear of war. Therefore, there is little anxiety that war will reach us here. But Dut was originally from Abyei, before he was orphaned and moved south. His wife and little boy joined him here recently. Tonight, over skype, he spoke to someone who had news of his family at home in Abyei. Three of his wife's relatives were killed yesterday. "Dead" was the scribbled title on the top of the notebook page and the names were listed below.

Pray for South Sudan.

Thoughts From The Sound of Gunfire

South Sudan woke yesterday morning to the sound of gunfire as the people fired their AK47s into the air across the villages and towns. Yesterday, people celebrated the founding of the SPLA - the liberation army formed in the 1980s to resist the extremist, Islamic North. The wars they fought in have resulted in the imminence of the South's independence (on the 9th July 2011) and the final promise of peace. After fifty years of civil war, the people are ready to rest.

Yet, there has been heavy conflict in our pasturelands in Gogrial East in the last week, killing over a hundred. Cattle-raiders and rebel militia have been advancing, with armed teenagers as our defence. Even though this is meant to be an era after war, people are still dying from bullet wounds. There is still so much that needs to happen.

And I am realising at the moment, that God has to do it if it's going to happen, whether at Marol or building peace between the fighting communities; whether in enacting my dreams and aspirations or those of South Sudan. In the Bible it talks of how man can plant and water, but God makes it grow (1 Corithinians). In South Sudan, as the rainy season trickles in, conversation turns to cultivation. People talk of when, what and where they should plant. Yet, the soil is so dry and hard that man cannot plant until it rains. Plus, the water is so scarce that man cannot water until it rains. It is not just that God makes it grow, but his rain also allows man to plant and to water. We are dependent on him completely here, for everything.

At this time, please pray for peace for our Gogrial East and for South Sudan. As the new state approaches, there is growing restlessness. Old dissidents of the SPLA are reemerging. Pray for wisdom for the leaders and peace for the people.

Over 90 Killed in Our County

The number now counted as dead from Sunday's attack in our home county (Gogrial East) is now over 90 people. The cattle camps I visited last Wednesday were hit by the attack. The people of the Apuk Dinka are now officially in a state of mourning, with most people having lost a relative. Many more are injured. See BBC article: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13350791

Although the attacks were in the cattle-camps and limited to the swampy parts, it seems that the attack was not a normal cattle-raid but was conducted by Gadet's rebel force. Gadet has been a long opponent of the governing SPLA/M party. His base is in neighbouring Unity State and, under pressure from the SPLA (the governing army) to the east, he has been seeking to attack to the west (i.e. our Dinka Apuk people in Gogrial East). There are reports that further attacks may occur. Without significant numbers of SPLA nearby to offer defence and security, the teenagers of the county are left alone to defend themselves and their livelihoods.

Security, Secondary and Scripture

Thank you for your messages and prayers this week. Some days in South Sudan are filled with intense sadness. Other days are filled with the hard, continuing struggle beneath the sun: things that should be easy to achieve never get done; one moment beneath a cold shower or eating a bowl of fruit salad seems a cruel and distant fantasy; and people become lost in unrealistic expectations. Yet, somehow, there are moments that fill you with fresh awe at what God is doing here and how far we've come.

Update On The "Sadness of South Sudan"
Little Jok and The Truck
The truck has made it safely to Wau and now everyone is resting. Little Jok is obviously shaken and someone else is driving his vehicle for the time being. Yet, they are glad to be back in the safety of familiar faces and places.

Diing's Cousins
Both Diing's cousins have survived despite their severe bullet injuries. The boy who received five bullet wounds is still in extreme pain but they are confident that he will recover.

Please Pray For:
1) Peace and Security
The word in the market is that 5am this morning there was a Nuer raid on a village about half-an-hour north of Lietnhom. The raiders were shocked to find the cattle-camp defended and heavy fighting followed. Numbers are not yet known, but it is said that eighteen injured have already been taken to Lietnhom hospital (it is a small, brick building without doctors). The remains of the dead of other conflicts still lay scattered around this county, having never been buried. South Sudan has tasted endless violence and, as independence approaches, the conflicts are again mounting. Pray for protection for these people. Yet where we are, far from the cattle, I feel in no danger at all.

2) Marol's Secondary School
In its first weeks, the secondary school is settling into a rhythm. Yet, with uncertain syllabuses and inexperienced teachers, the challenges are still too high. Please pray, especially for Gordon, as he leads the emergence of this new venture and for Grace (a possible Kenyan, Christian, new recruit to Marol).

3) Little Bits of Scripture
A box of little, red New Testaments was once given and sent the thousands of miles from Berkshire to Marol Academy. Some of these were distributed to the senior pupils last week. They held them knowing they were as precious as diamonds and more weighty than gold. We will be reading these bits of scripture together in class but pray that God would speak through them.

The Sadness of South Sudan

Sometimes sad news falls too fast for it to really make sense. I have just received this news and I send it to you with a beg for immediate prayers.

Attack on Little Jok's Truck
When Marol bought its vehicle and when we need help moving things, Little Jok has always come to our rescue with his knowledge or his own big, green truck. When I am trying to buy things, he often comes to help me. And his charming smile has got us out of a muddle many times.

Today, as Jok travelled from Juba to Wau by road (carrying some thing for Marol), his truck was attacked. One boy was shot dead and another seriously injured. All their cargo was stolen.

Injured in Diing's Family
This season draws the cattle of different communities together as they seek common pastures and water sources. The cattle store the family wealth as if they were gold. Therefore, people defend them with their lives. Diing was once a teacher at Marol, yet his family is originally from Jonglei State (far south east of Luonyaker). Today, during the deadly raiding in Jonglei, two of his cousins were shot. One has five bullet wounds and lies in a critical state in Juba Hospital tonight.

In all of that, I am thankful that here we feel perfectly safe. Both dangers are far, far from our Marol and Luonyaker.

Happy Easter

Just to wish you a very Happy Easter. Sorry it's a little late - our internet disappeared yesterday. I hope you've enjoyed celebrating the resurrection of our saviour.

Easter here has been without the familiar traditions and songs, but we have carved celebrations of our own. On Thursday night, a handful of local men gathered with Joyce, Gordon and I to read the Bible, break bread and drink wine (well it was actually mango juice). Sitting outside the tukals, beneath the palm trees of Marol, as the stars emerged in the sky, it really felt a God given blessing. And then on Easter Sunday I ate fresh mangoes for breakfast, sat with my friend's son on my lap as I met him for the first time and worshipped with our brothers and sisters in the middle of South Sudan. For my own treat last night, I drank pineapple juice and digestive biscuits (bought from Wau) as I reread the Easter story. A beautiful day and God is here.

I pray that you know God with you too.

Starting, Suffering and Struggling

The clouds are thickening ready for rain above the slippery sands of Gogrial East. Yet, still the sun seeps through leaving the ground pounding with heat. Mangoes are in abundant supply in Wau but I am still carefully watching the ones on the tree besides my room swell. Patience and promise are in the air. While the start of Marol's Secondary School, Joyce's work and the use of the library have brought thanksgiving. There are still many struggles to face and too much suffering to see.

Thank you again for all your prayers. As we step into new phases and adventures, we are desperate for your prayers.

Things To Thank God For:
1) The Starting of the Secondary School
On Wednesday, the first pupils sat beneath a tin-roof classroom for the first lesson at Marol Academy's Secondary School. Over twenty have registered but only four attended on that first day. Gordon was their first teacher with a lesson in something scientific. His wisdom, experience and wit have made him the strength of the secondary school already. And RE lessons, filled with reading the school's new Bibles, have witnessed some incredible conversations.

2) The Start of Joyce's Work
Joyce (a trained midwife) has also now started work at the pan akim (small, health clinic). Her first day was a hard introduction to the unhidden suffering here. Two babies died that day during labour in the small, dust-covered maternity room. The second child would have survived if the mother had been given a few fizzy drinks earlier in labour to keep her energy high. Many of the simplest skills still to be taught here.

3) The Start of Life in the Library
This year the 90,000 Apuk Dinka have their first library hidden at Marol. Surrounded with textbooks, bibles and novels, the library is always quietly filled with teachers and older pupils. Having struggled for a year to see the foundations dug, the books delivered and the doors opened, it is a privilege to sit amongst what God has given us.

Things To Ask God For:
1) The Suffering in the Toc
Last Sunday, over a dozen people from our county were killed in deadly cattle-raiding in the Toc (the swampy areas). Having driven their cattle to the swamps for pasture, they found themselves closer to the neighbouring tribe and the potential for raiding. The attack swept away hundreds of head of cattle and injured even more than it killed in the accomanying gun battle. Fears remain of further attacks into our state and revenge attacks are already being planned with care. It feels like this local, deadly conflict is unending.

2) The Struggle of the Secondary School
Pupils are still only slowly filtering through the doors and the exact teaching arrangements are yet to be confirmed. There needs to be massive protection over this small gathering of students as it starts to grow.

3) Struggles of Omar
Marol Academy has, this year, invited its first teacher from Uganda to teach English to its highest classes. With few people of the Apuk having ever attended school, it is difficult to find people with the education to teach at primary level and impossible to find teachers for secondary level. Omar's teaching will be a blessing to us. However, on Thursday, an old injury reoccured and he has rushed to Wau for treatment. Please pray for him and that our prayers will be a good witness to him.

The Night Before School Starts

Just above my knee in height, in her red, dust covered dress, Nyandut has kept appearing at my side today. She was on the branch at the front of church when I introduced Joyce and Gordon to the gathered, Luonyaker crowd. She was at the borehole when I was pumping some water to wash my clothes. She had been sent to the market to fetch something and she walked with me, hand in hand, on the way home. She was excited to tell me how, tomorrow, she would be going to Marol for the start of the new school year. Her little legs alone would have to carry her the five or so miles. With all the hassles and competing logistics, it is lovely to have even one little person to remind me what it is all about. The more I know the children and young people of this community, the more I feel the weight of Marol. I have to trust God that he will not fail them.


Things To Pray For:
Joyce and Gordon
Them and their car are now happily resident at Marol. They are a real gift from heaven to Marol and to me. Pray for them as the routine of life, the pace of the school and the heat of South Sudan invade. The smothering South Sudanese sun seems at its hottest at the moment. I sleep beneath the stars and can hardly face work until the sun is sleeping. Pray that God keeps reminding them of the strength he has given them, the love he has for them and the people he has called them to.

Pupils of Marol
Tomorrow, their little feet will carry them for miles across the sliding sands to Marol Academy. Pray that God brings them with care and has a plan for each one of them. Pray too that God will really seep into the school this year and make himself seen.

Teachers For Marol
God has called Gordon and Joyce from England, but I am now really praying hard that he will gather some teachers from the local villages to teach at our primary school. I fear there is still such a vacuum and they are needed if we are to feed the children with education.

Anthrax, Exams, Teachers and New Arrivals

This morning we woke to a covering of sand. The wind had swept the particles into the air, forming a yellowish cloud in this meandering sand storm. The floating sand hides some of the sun's intensity but it has also left all my belongings covered in a fine film of dust. I never quite know what South Sudan will bring next but a day of cooler weather was a blessing.

Things to Thank God For:
1) Marol's Results
Our first final-year primary class was quite an odd collection of people with a mix of educational backgrounds (Marol had only been open for three of their eight years of study). Yet, they all managed to pass and some with flying colours.

2) The Married Couple - Dut and Regina
Having been married through their love and the birth of their son, they were kept apart by Dut's poverty and his inability to pay the cattle price. She was left to remain with her family in the highly volatile region of Abyei. She is now safely in Luonyaker (where Dut migrated) and Dut seems to give thanks for her every other minute. They are also a faith filled couple and I pray that God has called them here for a reason.


Things to Pray For:
1) New Arrivals - Joyce and Gordon Lovering
This amazing couple from the Forest of Dean arrive into Wau on Tuesday. They are coming to teach, help with midwifery and pray for up to a year. Please pray for their safe travels (to Juba on Monday and Wau on Tuesday) and that God will guard their heart in their initial impressions of Marol. It is a hard place to grasp from a distance and it is easy to be overwhelmed at first sight. They have already given much, so pray that God brings fruit from all that they are sowing. Please also pray for the logistical arrangements - it is not very easy in South Sudan.

2) Teachers
The last week has been a humbling reminder of how far we have left to go. In this season of teacher recruitment, I have seen again the low capacity of the teachers of these villages. There are currently no secondary school graduates available to teach amongst all of the 90,000 Apuk Dinka. It is a humbling thought.

To try to correct this situation, the hope is to run top-up secondary lessons at Marol, in the evenings, for the most advanced primary teachers. If we are able to do this with even ten teachers, it will cost us just £20 per teacher per month. They will not only then qualify for further teacher-training but also be able to share their knowledge with the 150+ primary school pupils they teach each week.

3) Health
There are anthrax scares amongst the herds of cattle and two infant deaths from measles reported in the last week. Disease can spread too fast through these small communities and intimate homes. Do pray for their protection and strength at this hungry, weak time of year.

Finally Home

Wau Aiport.

Finally, the WFP (World Food Programme) plane lowered us down onto the dusty airstrip in Wau. We had hopped around South Sudan on the way, dropping other passengers off at different strips of dust along the way. So, after a long journey, I am safely tucked away back in the village.

And, in all the muddle, I love how God always gives me something to keep me smiling. Often when I walk the streets of Wau, I come across street boys. They have a mix of stories of their own. They have fled homes that cannot afford to feed them or that abuse them, or have disregarded them. They trek hundreds of miles to the apparent glory of the city. Yet, once they are there, amidst the bustle and the litter, there is no welcome and they scavenge from the streets for survival. Deng was a Dinka boy originally from Gogrial West. He was little higher than my waist and was dressed in torn, sagging clothes. They were now a patchy grey although I am sure they started as something else. With an hour to spare while I waited for my lift to the village, Deng gave me a Dinka language lesson as we sat on the side of the road and then walked through the markets. His pay for his teaching was his first pair of flip-flops. They cost only £1, but it is rare to see street boys with anything but bare feet even in the harsh streets of the city.

Things To Thank God For:
1. Safe Journey to the Village. It is lovely to be back and I am glad that I am safely here.
2. Reunions. Last night, I wandered to the market and was met with a sea of familiar faces. Having greeted people there, I wandered on to the house of Akwol (the only girl I have found who is about my age with good English). We sat and talked about her husband-to-be, her house and her work. It is a blessing to have friends here who are now feel so familiar.
3. Health of A Sick Friend. Last year, I asked you to pray for a mother who had fallen sick due to a bullet that is lodged in her stomach. Yesterday, when she saw me at a distance, she ran up to me shouting words of praise to God. When I left Luonyaker, I really was not sure I would return to see her alive. Yesterday, she was bouncing with life. However, the bullet is still lodged in her stomach meaning that there is potential for this sickness to keep coming and going. Every episode only seems to make it worse. There is a medical team coming from a UK hospital to Wau for two weeks in in May, so I am praying that they may be able advise her. Please keep praying.

Things To Pray For:
1. The Street Boys of Wau. I still find it hard to know how to respond to them and what God would have me do. Boys like Deng I just want to pick up and take to Marol so they can live and learn there. But their family is now the other boys of Wau, and their home the dusty streets. They feel secure there. Do pray for an opportunity to help them or to know how to serve them best.
2. Marol Academy. In just over a week's time, Marol Academy will open for 2011, including with its first secondary school class. Many of the students are currently away with the cattle, despite the heavy, deadly raiding in some parts near the cattle camps. The secondary school teachers are also still preparing to travel to us, from the UK and from Uganda. Please pray for God's protection over the journeys of the pupils and teachers. Pray too for God's hand on all that Marol is this year.

Introducing Some of the Littlest in South Sudan

Yaar
The daughter of a single mother, she is rejected by her father and toddles at the edges of society. But her mum is a strong, dynamic, eager Dinka mother and she is struggling to give her the very best. Her mother is even buying and saving cows herself to ensure she can independently chose the best for her little girl. Little Yaar now often spends lots of Sunday with me, sitting on my lap at church and playing at the compound afterwards. She is a blessing. I pray that she has the courage of her mother, built on a trust that Jesus loves her.

Aluets
There are three little Aluets amongst my friends' homes and many more of the same name scattered around the village. One is around three, one is around eighteen months old and one is just six months old. In the Dinka villages, names often run in the family making it much easier to remember. Aluet means cloudy. They are all beautiful little girls. Especially in the coming season of mosquitoes and malaria, pray for their protection. Two of them were serious will last year.

Madut
A little, wriggling baby boy, only a couple of weeks older than Joseph Joshua, he is the fourth child of his mother. Long before he was born, during the fighting of the North-South war, his mother was shot and the bullet remains in her stomach. Having never seen a doctor, the bullet remains and often causes her severe sickness. She recently fell ill again, causing fears that she would not survive to look after and breast feed her little Madut. Pray for mother and son.

I would appreciate your prayers too. I always feel like a child in South Sudan. Like the little children, I cannot speak Dinka nor walk very far very fast nor do anything very practical. And even the Dinka children know how to do things that I am still to master, such as eating sugar cane. Plus, like a little child, I am completely dependent on my Father in that land. I will soon be traveling back to South Sudan, so also please pray for safe and fearless travel. It is always hard to say goodbye to mum and dad, as well as the promise of seeing friends and our green and rolling land. In the sadness, fears and doubts rise up. So, prayers are much appreciated. But I know God is calling me on and I know I have a second home to return to in South Sudan. The thought of seeing friends makes be crave my return.