Voice of Hope Newsletter of the Diocese of Kajo-Keji Issue 2 March 2013 Editorial Not in Vain By Jacob Haasnoot It is quite amazing, these last words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. After all the wonderful, almost poetic, words about the resurrection of Christ, he becomes very earthly, practical in verse 58: Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. We sometimes might feel our work is useless, has no effect. But St. Paul tells us here that because of the resurrection, because of the new start that God made in Christ, our work makes sense and is important. Because of Easter we know that God is working on the renewal of his world for his glory. And He is using our work (even our mistakes?) to build his Kingdom, in South Sudan and around the world. Let us continue to labor in that hope and to pray for the coming of that Kingdom among us. We wish you a Happy Easter! In this issue Editorial (Not in Vain) 1 Word from the Bishop 2 Youth ministry 2012 3 ALPHA Course at CBPC 4 Shonglap Graduation 5 Bright Lights in Römögi 6 End HIV/AIDS 7 We will persevere 8 More than lending money 9 HAMI 9 Contact info 9 Voice of Hope Issue 2 March 2013 Page 1
Word from the Bishop Rt. Rev d. Anthony D. Poggo I am writing this on my last working day before I go on sabbatical. I have had a busy week trying to fit in many functions just before Christmas and before I start my sabbatical. One of the encouraging church services that I did a few days before Christmas was to dedicate St. Matthews s Parish Lori in Gederu Archdeaconry This is the first church building with corrugated iron roof that has been built in its entirety by the local Christians and community. Most of our other church buildings, built out of bricks and iron sheets, were built with the assistance of Rt. Rev d. Anthony D. Poggo Samaritan s Purse. One of the reasons that the Christians in Lori were able to construct this church is because they embraced the Church and Community Mobilisation Process (CCMP) ethos of utilising the local available resources and being self-reliant. They also have an excellent team of lay leaders and clergy who worked together as a team to complete this building. At the dedication service of Lori church I spoke very strongly to the children to take their education seriously. At the end of service, I spoke to each of the choir members. Some of them were already married although there were teenagers. A 15 year old girl called Janet told us how she dropped out of school due to lack of fees and that she lost her father and her mother remarried left them to fend for themselves. She has had to take care of her younger brother, who has also dropped out of school. The Archdeacon and one of the Lay leaders corroborated her story. This moved the three of us who heard her story; we have pledged to do what we can to get her and her brother to re-join school next year. Pray for children like Janet and her brother. The above issue that has been of a great concern to me as we seen an increase in number of girls who drop out of school before they complete their primary education. There are many factors that contribute to this; one of this is lack of school fees due to poverty. In one of our parishes in one rural part of Kajo- Keji, the leaders lamented that none of their girls has joined secondary school in their entire village. Continues on page 3 Voice of Hope Issue 2 March 2013 Page 2
Youth ministry 2012 By Rev. Joseph Aba Duduka Word from the Bishop Continued from page 2 Diocesan Office construction The diocesan office construction is almost to be completed. The plans are for the staff to begin using the new office during the first quarter of 2013. I would like to thank those who made contribution and prayed for the fund raising efforts for the construction of the office. Just before Christmas, it was brought to my attention by our treasurer that we still have a shortfall of US$ 11,463 to pay off all the needed costs. Pray that the remaining funds will be raised and that those who made Training Sunday school teachers The Youth and Children Ministry Evangelism and Empowerment Initiative (YCMEEI) in our diocese focuses on reaching out to the youths and children through film ministry, training of youth leaders and training of Sunday school teachers. We are grateful to Almighty God that we were able to do the following in 2012 with support from GZB in the Netherlands: pledges will honour their pledges so that the project will be paid in full. Sabbatical By the time you read this, I will be at Ridley Hall, A full time youth leader was recruited. He revitalized youth ministry in the diocese. A generator was purchased and we had film ministry in various places. Over 1500 youths and children were reached and hundreds made informed decision of confessing Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Continues on page 4. Cambridge in England. Pray for Rt. Rev. Hilary Adeba, the Bishop of Yei who is the caretaker Bishop of Kajo-Keji during my sabbatical. Voice of Hope Issue 2 March 2013 Page 3
Twenty-three Sunday school teachers were trained and acquired practical skills in ministering to children. Sunday school is now happening every Sunday in most of the parishes that had their representatives attend the training. Forty-eight youth leaders were trained. The same training was copied in archdeaconries: 78 young people were trained in Bori, 350 in Gaderu and 272 in Kiri archdeaconry. We also conducted evaluation and follow-up meetings after the seminars. Let me finish with the story of John Sekwat (26 years old). He is the youth leader of Bori archdeaconry. He got saved in the leadership seminar of 17 th December, 2012. He struggled with smoking tobacco and had many problems in life. His wife had divorced him and he failed even to take care of himself. Now John Sekwat is completely changed and God uses him in amazing ways. He immediately organized the same seminar in his archdeaconry and now they have a powerful youth ministry in that place. Alpha Course in College By Jacob Haasnoot This semester we have started an Alpha Course for the Theology Students at our College. We begin the session with something small to eat and drink (in good Alpha fashion!) and then we watch a talk by Nicky Gumbel. The students really wanted to see the talks on the DVD and join in with people all over the world doing Alpha. After the DVD talk we summarize the topic and clarify some of the examples that were not directly clear because they assume knowledge of Western culture. Then we break up in small groups and discuss questions or do a Bible study. The objectives of this course are for students to grow in faith and to be able to use this course in their future ministry. One student said: Alpha helps me to see clearly again what we believe. The materials for this course were kindly provided by Alpha Netherlands and Alpha Uganda. Voice of Hope Issue 2 March 2013 Page 4
Graduation Shonglap students By Duesuk Alex J. Lioto On 7 March 2013 we had the joyful graduation of over 240 adolescents girls in the Shonglap program of the diocese. The Shonglap program is developed by the Stromme Foundation (the word shonglap is a word from Bangladesh which means talking/dialogue ). Shonglap focuses on capacity building of adolescent girls with life skills and vocational training. These girls have either missed schooling or have dropped out from school. The goal is to equip them to face life confidently as resourceful wives and mothers. The graduates were trained in various skills like catering, hair dressing, tailoring, weaving and design to enable them to grow in their expertise and participate in incomegenerating activities in order to be self-reliant. The graduation was attended by many dignitaries like the secretary general and regional director of Stromme Foundation, the Norwegian ambassador to South Sudan, the State minister of Education H.E. prof. Scopas Dima and the commissioner for Kajo-Keji county H.E. Ben Yengi Lonyainga. The guests were warmly welcomed by the Diocesan staff, government officials, parents of the graduates and trumpeters from the revival movement. Voice of Hope Issue 2 March 2013 Page 5
Bright Lights in Römögi By Jacob Haasnoot At the beginning of December 2012 three more buildings in Römögi were equipped with solar power. The Emmanuel Cathedral, the Diocesan office buildings and one block of staff housing at the College compound were fitted with a solar system. The solar system in the Cathedral will also power the FM radio station. These projects were funded by Holy Trinity Parish, Aylesbury, UK (Cathedral), a number of donors from within South Sudan and from abroad (Diocesan office) and several Nigerian donors (staff housing). We are thankful for these generous contributions. Installing panels on the roof of the office Mr Kees Barendse, Chief engineer with MAF Uganda, volunteered for the third time to install solar systems for the diocese. We are very grateful for his hard work! We also thank MAF Uganda for their support. The pictures speak for themselves! Solar for staff housing Cathedral by night Voice of Hope Issue 2 March 2013 Page 6
End HIV/AIDS by acting now! By Rev. Taban Israel (Program Coordinator) From November 2012 to March 2013 the Diocese conducted several activities to raise awareness about HIV/Aids in our community. These activities were supported by Christian Aid. On February 24 27, 2013 we did a workshop to train fourteen people in counseling skills and community education about the Aids pandemic. This training took place at Canon Benaiah Poggo College in Kajo-Keji. We are also doing HIV/AIDS awareness programs in all congregations to make sure all churches (and mosques) are competent to reduce the Shame, Stigma, Denial, Discrimination, Inaction and Mis-action (SSDDIM) in the church while Safer practices, Access to treatment and nutrition, Voluntary counseling and testing and Empowerment (SAVE) is promoted. Classes to train Peer Educators mobilised from various churches were conducted based on biblical values as a strategy to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. On Sunday, December 2 nd 2012, the Diocese was involved in an event to commemorate the world HIV/AIDS Day in Kajo-Keji town. The World Faith-Based AIDS Campaign s focus on "Zero AIDS related deaths" signifies a push towards greater access to treatment for all. We are calling for governments, NGO s and Christian institutions to End HIV/AIDS by acting now Voice of Hope Issue 2 March 2013 Page 7
'We will persevere' During his sabbatical in the UK, Bishop Anthony was interviewed by CMS and they issued a press release regarding a call for prayer for South Sudan and Sudan as agreement to resume oil production is finally reached. Here is part of this interview (with permission of CMS). "Having good relations between Sudan and South Sudan is crucial for both countries," said the Rt Rev Anthony Poggo on a visit to CMS. "As people who were once one country, we must be good neighbours." Bishop Poggo renewed calls for prayer for South Sudan and Sudan, including for the implementation of the agreement on oil production. The bishop asked people to persevere in prayer, just as the Sudanese people persevered through the war years and still do now, despite facing so many difficulties. The international community still had a role to maintain pressure on both countries to solve these areas of dispute and conflict, said the bishop. "The important thing is that people are willing to persevere. They have in the past and are willing to persevere for a little longer." Jeremy Woodham/CMS March 2013 Prayer points Pray for us to persevere and be patient as we wait on the changes that have to happen in our nation. People have at times been disappointed and discouraged as they had hoped to receive the dividends of peace and the new nation. That church would remain faithful to its calling and the needed resources would become available for all that we need to undertake. Voice of Hope Issue 2 March 2013 Page 8
More than lending money By Duesuk Alex J. Lioto In our diocese we are administering two microfinance programs. The first one is called Community Managed Microfinance (CMMF) and it is funded by the Stromme Foundation. CMMF is much more than lending money to people. The overall objective of the project is to increase and strengthen the capacity of vulnerable households in order to generate income by ensuring improvement in business planning, management and access to credit through their small savings. We have now about 500 members participating in CMMF. Although it is still early to talk about the impact of CMMF, the project activities are beginning to yield good results. This program has reduced domestic disputes between wives and husbands. Women don t need to wait any longer for their husbands to provide all the necessary basic needs since they have set up their own income generating activities. HAMI (Harvest Microfinance Initiative) The other program is the Harvest Micro-finance Initiative (HAMI). The project is funded by Sudan Recovery Fund (SRF) with CMS Ireland being the lead agency in the delivery of the project in partnership with the ECS Diocese of Kajo-Keji. HAMI provides group loans to economically poor businessmen and women. 60% of the active loans have been issued to agricultural clients and 70% of the clients are women. The project is faced with a number of challenges. One is that circumstances like drought make it difficult for the clients to quickly repay back their loans. Prolonged Drought makes paying back loan difficult Diocese of Kajo-keji C/O The Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan P.O. Box 110, Juba, Republic of South Sudan Women operating small scale businesses at the market Email: newsletter@kajokeji.anglican.org Website: www.kajokeji.anglican.org Voice of Hope Issue 2 March 2013 Page 9