Thank God that he answered prayers for a peaceful day and for freedom for this land. Everyone can hardly believe it's come true.
Saturday, 9 July 2011
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.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
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.
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.
Friday, 1 July 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, 26 June 2011
New Things in South Sudan
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.
Sunday, 5 June 2011
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.
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.
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