Listening and learning

We are grateful to be reconnecting with colleagues and friends in Juba! There are several people who have come to our home this month and shared their joys and struggles of the last year. These conversations have been a valuable window into our friends’ lives and the common struggles of life in South Sudan. Here is a snippet of what we have heard…

We sat with Pastor Awadiya, who has planted a new church on the outskirts of Juba. She has worked with the community to get a primary health clinic started and a clean water source, and also to equip a new primary school. She described how God has opened doors and given her the strength to overcome obstacles to meet these significant needs. She is known and respected throughout the community now, and many people have been drawn to the church as a result of seeing her hard work to meet the needs of the community.

Pastor Awadiya in our home

We also enjoyed a visit from Pastor Toma, who lives in the rural region of Pochalla. He shared the encouraging ways that different churches are working together in Pochalla on initiatives related to trauma healing, evangelism, and education, and regularly worshipping together. He has felt the challenge of addressing educational needs in his community for several years now. Most public, government-run schools teach only sporadically because the teachers are paid a salary (about $5 per month) that does not make it worth it for them to teach. There was not another option of a school in his neighborhood, and he realized his children were not being educated. So Toma asked one organization to donate chalkboards, and the government contributed some textbooks, and with the help of some volunteer teachers they started teaching children under the trees.

Teaching students in Pochalla

Pastor Toma teaching in the school

In this first year they already have 250 students in the primary grades, which shows the demand in his neighborhood. But convincing the parents to support the teachers and the school has not been easy, because many of them were not able to go to school themselves and do not comprehend its value. Toma described the closing ceremony of the school year, with government representatives, parents, and students present. As the top students in each class were recognized, the parents started to appreciate that maybe their children were learning something worthwhile. We prayed with Toma for God’s provision of uniforms, a building, and support for the school.

The closing ceremony of the new school in Pochalla

Daniel, one of Bob’s students at NTC came over and we enjoyed seeing pictures of his visit with his family in a refugee camp in Sudan. He described the 5-day journey just to reach the camp from Juba, which included a flight, several buses, and a border crossing. You may have heard us describe Daniel’s harrowing escape from Malakal with his wife and young children during the crisis of 2013. Daniel has persevered in his studies and is finishing a few classes this semester that will allow him to complete the degree he started eight years ago. Even in the few months of his visit in the refugee camp to see his family, Daniel was active in discipling youth in the church and teaching in one of the schools in the camp. He shared the burden that he has for his people and how he looks forward to serve in the church full-time, even with the challenges in the refugee camp.

Daniel, on the left, with the Media Team at NTC in 2019

We are so inspired by these friends of ours, and excited by the ways that we see God at work in them and through them. It truly is a privilege to get to connect with them and learn from them here in South Sudan. We pray that God continues to help us keep our ears and hearts open to the people around us.