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.