SOUTH SUDAN OCTOBER 2013

Here is a more in depth look at the work we did in South Sudan.  Hopefully this gives a broader picture of what Empower Sudan is doing and how I am a part of it. 

T H E  J O U R N E Y

            Getting from Dallas, TX to Torit, South Sudan takes a little bit of time.  Just to give you some idea we left Dallas Friday afternoon and flew overnight to Amsterdam.  We spent our Saturday on the 8 hour flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi, Kenya where we stayed overnight.  We were at the airport by 8am Sunday morning to take a short flight to Juba, the capital of South Sudan.  From there is took 5 hours to travel the 80 miles of unpaved road to Torit where we arrived safely Sunday Evening.  It’s a long journey but thankfully every flight was on time and there were no logistical issues, which makes such a long trip much easier. 

The journey is long but the scenery is great!

W H A T ’ S   I T   L I K E   O V E R   T H E R E ?

            Upon arriving back in the US last week the passport control officer asked me where I’d been.  “South Sudan” I said. He then asked me “What’s it like over there?”.  It’s not an easy question to answer in such a brief interaction but I’ll try to give you a little better an answer than I gave him.

            South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011 after 5 decades of civil war.  The government is still getting on its feet and is dominated by one party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.  There is very little infrastructure although it’s improving.  It’s also not uncommon to see military personnel anywhere you go although their presence is not intimidating. 

The terrain is typical of what you think of in Africa: tall grass, trees and some small black, rocky mountains.  Some locals claim there are still lions lurking around but all I saw were goats, chickens, stray dogs and some cows.

            Juba, the capital, is busy.  It has most of the paved roads in the country and it’s full of motorbikes and cars (all 4 wheel drive).  There are no tall buildings and most of the construction is new but the city is still dusty and dirty.  If you imagine what the Wild West would look like today then that’s probably an accurate picture of Juba. 

Torit is a small town by our standards and most of the town lies off of the main road.  Even here the majority of people live in tukols, which are mud and brick houses with dried grass roofs and dirt floors.  As you drive outside of Torit on the dirt road you can see a far off mountain range that leads to Uganda.  Along this road are villages, like Helieu, spread out and hidden behind tall grass.  The people in the village grow most of their own food, live in tukols, and have no electricity.  Water comes from wells or from the nearby river and people only focus on what they need to do that day to get by.  

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Pastor Dominic Augustin Africa has a lot to smile about

The people in South Sudan are welcoming and soft-spoken and it’s easy to forget the years of war and what they do to get by on a daily basis.  When you remember these things you are struck by how tough they are.  Most people would say they are Christians but this more accurately means they are not Muslim.  The Sudanese government in Khartoum pushed Islam on them for so long that Christian and Muslim refer more to culture than faith.  This makes it an easy place to talk about Jesus but a difficult place to follow Him. 

As I looked for the words to sum all of this up to the passport control officer the first reply that came to mind was “it’s rough”.  “Rough” serves as a good summary of South Sudan compared to a lot of other parts of the world but as I thought about the work that we were doing and the progress we’ve seen I had to add “but its getting better.”

So what's it like in South Sudan?  It’s rough but its getting better. 

 

T H E  D I F F E R E N C E  A  Y E A R  M A K E S

            Last year was my first trip to Torit.  There I met Dominic, the young pastor who leads a small church in the village of Helieu outside of Torit.  Dominic is young and passionate and a very gifted teacher.  Last year we were there to help Dominic develop a vision for planting more churches and finding tangible ways to serve the community.  I was very blessed to see a lot of growth in Dominic’s ministry. 

            In the last year Dominic and other church leaders started a primary school in the village as a means of serving the people there.  The school was started initially with funds from Empower Sudan supporters but is on its way to being self-sufficient. 

            Dominic has also planted two new churches.  One in a nearby village called Africa, and the other about 2 hours from Torit in the village of Kormush.  Dominic travels to these villages regularly to teach and mentor young Christians.

Dominic rides his motor bike to other villages to teach about Jesus

T H I S  Y E A R ’S  G O A L S

            Empower Sudan takes roughly 4 short-term trips to Torit each year led by Brian Bain, the Regional Strategy Coordinator for the Torit area.  Each trip has a few training objectives for the church leaders there.  One principle we follow in our trainings is that we not only want the people we train to have new knowledge but we want them to be able to go and teach others everything that we teach them.  This makes them less dependent on us and allows more people to be affected by the knowledge we share.
             

This trip consisted of two trainings:

1. Community Development Training for Church leaders.

2. Bible teaching through storytelling.

 

C O M M U N I T Y  

D E V E L O P M E N T  

I N  T H E   

N E W E S T  C O U N T R Y 

O N  T H E  P L A N E T

            South Sudan has a lot of challenges and no one understands the problems of South Sudan better than the South Sudanese.  This is why the focus of our community development training is to teach them a process for identifying problems and coming up with solutions using resources they have in country.  Our approach is to ask a lot of questions and let them do most of the talking.

            The model we taught has 5 simple steps.

1.    Build a Coalition- Who can help you create positive change?

2.    Dream a Better Future- What good things do you want for your community?

3.    Find the bright spots- What resources do you have in your community?

4.    Develop a Plan- What are the steps you need to take?

5.    Reproduce what works- How can you do this again?

 D R E A M I N G  A  B E T T E R  F U T U R E

 

            In order to identify a better future we had to start with the challenges the people face today.  We had the trainees list problems they see in their community.  The challenges ranged from societal to physical to spiritual and I was struck by how many of these challenges we face in the United States.  Some of the challenges mentioned were hopelessness, illiteracy, language barriers, alcoholism, poverty, and idleness.  

            A common theme we noticed is that many people in South Sudan do not think ahead or plan for the future.  That is why trainings like this are so important. If we teach a few people in the village how to create a plan for solving problems they will be able to teach those critical thinking skills to others and slowly the culture will change. 

F I N D I N G  

        T H E   B R I G H T  S P O T S

            One of our major goals is to not create dependence on outsiders and outside resources.  Instead we want to help the church leaders identify the resources, or bright spots, they have right there in their village.  The members of the training were asked to identify six types of resources: natural, human, physical, economical, spiritual, and institutional.

As I reflected on which of these types of resources is the most important I came to the conclusion that it is human resources.  These include the skills, knowledge and drive that people in a community possess.  People with the passion to do something positive are the starting point for creating lasting change in any environment.  You can have all the physical and economic resources in the world but if the people don’t use them well they are useless.

Dominic, Johnson, James, Okello, Joseph, John, Jacob, Dominic

We had nine leaders from two of the churches participating in our training.  These nine are valuable resources for their villages.  They have a passion for creating positive change in their villages and now we have given them a process to follow to create that change. We were very encouraged as they sat together and discussed the next steps they will take to create hope in their communities.  They have a long road ahead of them and can use your prayers so be thinking about them. They are the bright spots.

                                                     

S T O R Y  T I M E  

O N  T H E  O T H E R  S I D E  O F  

T H E  W O R L D

            In the late afternoons we would gather the children in the village and teach Bible stories.  There are New Testament Bibles written in Lotuko, the local language, but they are scarce and literacy is low so storytelling is a great way to teach scripture.  As a visual aid we used a scarf with 21 pictures that represented different stories from the Bible.  

Ryan and I teach as the other Dominic translates

            Each day we would teach about five stories with the help of a translator and as with everything we did the hope was that those listening would be able to go and teach the stories.  By the end of the week we were thrilled to hear some of the kids reciting stories back to us.  We left some of the scarves with the church so they can use them to teach others in the village.  The Torit county commissioner told us that a lot of the hope for South Sudan lies with the next generation so it’s important that they grow up knowing Jesus.  Pray that these young ones continue to grow and share the love of Jesus with their friends.   

                                               

W H A T ’S  N E X T ?

            I am now officially on staff with Empower Sudan as an Area Strategy Coordinator.  This is a part-time, non-paid position that includes me leading a trip to Torit once a year and being a part of the American team here in Dallas.  While I will only go once a year I’m making a long-term commitment to be a part of the work in Torit.  I will be raising support solely for my yearly trip and recruiting people to go with me so think about how you might want to be involved.  It’s really fun to tell you about South Sudan but it would be more fun for me to show you.  I will be sending out more information on how you can be involved in the coming months. 

            I have to end this letter with a BIG THANK YOU to all the people who funded this trip, prayed for me, and who were excited and worried for me.  I don't take it for granted that I am blessed to do this kind of work and I want YOU to know I couldn’t have done it without you.  You are a part of this work and a bright spot for me and for the people of South Sudan.  THANK YOU