Prayer Partners - 2/3/2013

Dear Prayer Partners,

Our Principal

I am writing this in Addis Ababa airport transit lounge on our way back to the UK. We have just spent a wonderful afternoon in Nairobi with Joseph Taban and Esparanza. He is far better than we had hoped. He is full of his former energy, talking of everything in the way he always did. His recovery from an illness that had rendered him unable to walk and talk, in some pain, and which at one time left him in a coma has been remarkable. The operation is a resounding success and he seems to be taking the radiotherapy with fewer side effects than most. Joseph and Esparanza are deeply grateful for all your prayers. On the day of his operation he was aware of a cushion of prayer for him from around the world. We are so pleased to report that God has answered our prayer for him, his family and the college in such a powerful way. We thank God for this!

There are just two weeks of treatment left and he will be free to return to Juba possibly at the end of the month. His doctors are recommending that he does not return to work just yet – we would be amazed if their guidance was otherwise. Please pray for the future, asking God for patience for Joseph.

We thank God, too, for the great generosity of those people who have funded Joseph's treatment and other costs in Nairobi with whom he could not have such care. It has all been very worthwhile.

So now we pray that the radiotherapy will do its job of eliminating all possibility of this disease returning. 

Tina, Esparanza, Trevor and Joseph (28/2/2013)

The College

The college is progressing very well. I attach an update. Please continue to pray for Samuel Galuak who is doing so well as acting principal. Pray also for Simon Lual, another member of staff, at a time of change in his ministry. He was hoping to be studying in Nairobi this semester but his admission to Africa International University has been delayed until September. We pray that his future will be now be made clear for him.

The building work next to the college is very noisy, and this, combined with the heat and dust of the dry season, makes for a difficult learning environment. But it is amazing just how resilient and purposeful our students are. We praise God for them.

We pray that potential new students will emerge for the Special Entrance Exam in July (Sat. 17^th). This will require a great effort from the dioceses to fund them because there are not enough sponsorships available from abroad. We are encouraging the dioceses and parishes to plant and farm some of their land and use the income for the payment of fees and transport. We are detecting a new determination to use local resources now that we are getting used to the freedom of independence. This is a healthy development. Please pray for our dioceses and their bishops as they seek to secure the fees and transport costs for their students.

Political Situation

Sudan (as opposed to South Sudan) is still suffering from the ravages of civil war. Despite bombing and other forms of attack in the Nuba mountains and Blue Nile, it is clear that the rebels control a lot of territory outside the towns (in a similar way to how it was in the south before the CPA). Civilians are in constant danger and deprived of food and medical help. Please pray that the government of Sudan abandons its policy of repression and ethnic cleansing.

There has also been an increase in persecution of Christians and other opponents of the regime in Khartoum. We need to pray for our churches and their leaders there.

There also many ordinary people who are finding life extremely hard. The Sudanese Pound is now trading at 7 to the dollar (in 2008 it was just 2) and food is very expensive. Oil revenues have plummeted of course, but it is the north that is suffering the most. Please pray for all there that this situation is soon resolved with freedoms for all the people from these privations.

I apologise to those of you who have missed out over the past few weeks when I was in Juba. I did not have the computer with me that contains the latest contacts and contact addresses. You have not been forgotten!! Now we are back I hope your direct contact will be restored!

I will post all the prayer partner information on our blog (address below).

Accessing the Internet is a challenge when we are in Juba. There is no city power and in any case the college is not online. It means a fifteen minute's walk to the Provincial Office (open only in office hours) but I am enormously grateful to them for accommodating me there.

Please keep up the prayer. It makes such a difference!

Trevor.

Prayer Partners - 18/2/2013

Dear Prayer Partners

18/2/2013

A communication from Juba is overdue. I have been enjoying myself so much I have not got round to updating you for your prayers!

In BGC things are progressing well. Most of the students have now returned and are pleased with their new dormitories that have been built on the site of the former workshop to replace the dormitory on the far east of the site which has been taken over by the development of a huge multi-storey hotel! (Next month when I have the software, I shall draw a site plan as you will no doubt be confused.) In exchange for the building we have lost, the developers of the hotel are going to build us a building of the same dimensions (only this will be two storeys) on the west side of the site, as well as pay us ground rent. The students report that their new dorms are more comfortable.

All the courses have now been covered by qualified teachers who are teaching their specialisms. We have part-time members of staff who have at least an MA in theology from East Africa, America and Europe. One man has a doctorate, another is studying for one in LSE and a third has an M Phil from Trinity College, Dublin. Our standards are increasing, and all members of the teaching staff, with the exception of myself and Daniela Rapisarda as guest lecturers this semester, are South Sudanese.

Joseph Taban is emailing us from Nairobi. He reports that he is feeling better. Following the operation he has regained his mobility and his speech and is now in the midst of radiotherapy treatment. Progress is as good as we can hope for at this stage, so we are encouraged. Tina and I plan to fly to Nairobi to see Joseph Taban on our way back to England in the middle of next week.

Samuel Galuak has taken over as acting principal and he is doing an excellent job. He has given up his government post and has committed himself wholly to the work here. This has been a huge sacrifice for him as the government job was much better paid, but his heart is in doing something really significant for God and this country – and at BGC we are making a big impact for the future (and even the present) for the work of the Church in this land.

Joseph Taban had kept a careful hand on the college use of resources, but, as always, we cannot work with a large cushion. If we wanted to take advantage of the building opportunities, then a minimum amount of building work had to be taken on. All would have been well, but Joseph did not (and could not, of course) budget for the cost implications of his illness. As well as contributing to his treatment costs, the staffing costs have risen and it was necessary to buy a small second-hand car for the acting principal to help him fulfil his job. This has left us with a short-term cash-flow problem. We will not be out of pocket at the end of the year, but we may find it hard to meet the expenses of May to August before the new term's finances arrive in September, and we going to make some applications for help in this. We are much indebted to you for your prayers.

Trevor

PS. The computer with all the up-to-date contact information in it for the Prayer Partners remains in the UK. Please forgive me for inaccuracies in your addresses, and please pass this on to other people whom I might have missed. I shall be re-united with my regular computer in March. If you have any suggestions of people who might like to become a partner of BGC, please don't hesitate to pass on their email addresses. Thank you for your prayers and your patience. T.

The College

We give thanks for the tremendous opportunity to take in new land and expand the college. We thank God that we have discovered some good foundations on which to build new dormitories and a student common room to improve on the original accommodation. We rejoice in the promise of a new two-storey building to be finished by the beginning of the new semester to be used for teaching and a new library.

We pray that we can make proper use of this opportunity. We pray for the students studying on a building site with all the noise and dust, and we thank God for their enormous patience.

We pray for all our members of staff. We thank God that we have been able to attract so many well qualified South Sudanese teachers.

Please pray for Joseph Taban and his family as his recovery continues. Pray for his doctors. Pray for his long-term prospects.

We give thanks for Samuel Galuak and pray for him as he establishes himself in the college. We rejoice in his commitment and his impressive ability to lead the college forward in the way that was begun in 2009, and continued under Joseph.

We give thanks for all those who support this college both within and outside South Sudan. We pray that the funds necessary to help us through the short-term cash-flow problem will be found.

The Nation

The news from Sudan in the north and the border areas continues to be bad. The war in the Nuba Mountains has seen the SPLM-N rebels in control of the countryside with the SAF occupying the towns. Civilians continue to be bombed. No humanitarian aid is allowed in. Please pray for South Kordofan and the Blue Nile Provinces.

There has been a build up of forces along the border in Western Bahr el-Gazahl. This is a potential flash point between Sudan and South Sudan. Pray that these troops remain firmly on their own sides of the border.

The situation in Jonglei State is not good with local rebels armed by the Sudan fighting the SPLA. This is all overlaid with centuries old inter-tribal conflict. Pray for the safety of ordinary people caught up these conflicts - the women, children and old people.

Pray for our students who come from these areas and their families back home.

The Church

The Church of all denominations is the best hope we have for peace. Please pray for the ECS, especially our Archbishop as he travels around interceding, encouraging, listening and getting himself involved in some the most desperately dangerous parts of the country.

Please pray for the Bishops of the ECS in the each of the 31 dioceses including north of the border. Pray for the Sudan Council of Churches.

We give thanks that we have students for many corners of this land and we pray for them and the families that they have left behind.

Prayer Partners 1/2/2013

Dear Prayer Partners,  
 1/2/2013

We are all very grateful indeed for you continued prayer.  I am currently at BGC in Juba.  The news is a mixture of sadness but also great encouragement.
The sadness is that Joseph is not here as he continues with his steady treatment in Nairobi.  It will be a long-time before we can see whether or not he is responding to the radiotherapy treatment.  Tina and I are arranging to go to see him at the end of February on our way back to the UK. I have met his mother and sister in Juba and his children are back home and are going to school.
At BGC, however, we are massively encouraged to find that Samuel Galuak has been appointed as Acting Principal and is working very effectively with all that needs to be done to get the college up and running in the new semester.  Nearly all the courses have been covered with all the three year studies, despite the loss of Joseph Taban, and this is the first semester since the college re-opened in 2010 that we have not got an expatriate on the staff.
The New Site is undergoing a significant expansion now that the workshops established during the war have vacated the site - one of the significant developments under Joseph's leadership last semester.  We have discovered that, although the buildings used by the workshops were very battered and ramshackle, they are all built on substantial foundations that can be reused to good effect.  Before Christmas, Joseph had put in hand the construction of new roofs and interiors, and within weeks we will have new rooms to use as classrooms, dormitories, a covered area suitable for use as a dining zone, and even a student common room to add to the teaching room/chapel and library.
The hotel next door on the main roadside of the college is now under rapid construction. To aid construction, the investors have approached the college to lease a further parcel of land which includes our existing dormitory and half our toilet block. However, they have agreed to build a new two storey building with toilets and showers on another (better positioned) part of the site that will more than compensate for the loss of the old building, as well as paying us good rent for the parcel of land. So the whole site is now under our control and we are developing it as fast as income allows. An important aspect is that we are surrounded substantial walls and fencing and sturdy gates and all is properly secure.

Samuel will continue the careful development of student formation with the correct amount of discipline and encouragement that he has been part of developing with Joseph as a tutor over the last sixteen months. He has already been to Limuru and is au fait with all their requirements and their modus operandi.

So, altogether, I am more than happy with the way things are turning out. The college is set to continue its trajectory of upward development. Please pray for Samuel Galuak and all the rest of the staff. It is Samuel's intention to publish the profiles of all our staff, including pictures on the website, so we can pray for them more effectively.

Many thanks for all your continued prayers for BGC. Prayers for the situation in the country and ECS are also needed. I shall update on those things soon.

Blessings,

Trevor