Dear Prayer Partners,

Many, many thanks for your continued prayer over the past few months. You have served us well during a difficult period. I now right with much positive news an several fronts.

We give thanks for the successful BGC Board of Governors meeting at the beginning of this month which has worked to address the well-being and future needs of the college.

First they have appointed Samuel Galuak as the Principal of the college. He has been working as acting principal since January and now, with the sad parting of Joseph Taban, after due consideration it has been decided to appoint him as the college principal. Samuel has shown excellent qualities that will forward the vision that he shared with Joseph since September 2011. His experience, combined with his academic ability, make him the ideal candidate for the post. We praise God that we have found such a person for BGC when suitable people are so hard to find in South Sudan.

Secondly, the governors have appointed Revd. John Malesh as Academic Dean. John has MAs in two subjects and has been a visiting lecturer at the college since he returned to Juba in 2011. Before that he was the ECS liaison officer in Kampala where many of us expatriates first met him. John has also worked with Joseph and shared the BGC planning.

Thirdly, after 18 months of searching for the right person for the post of Administrative Secretary, the Board have appointed Mrs Esparanza Emil, Joseph Taban's widow. She is eminently qualified having the right kind of skills and a lot of experience in teaching in a primary school. She is also intimately connected to BGC of course.

Offering Esparanza this post also solves the problem of her future. She can continue in the college accommodation and it gives her a reasonable income to buy food and medicine and sufficient to pay the school fees of her three children at present.

These appointments means that Samuel has the support of two new full-time people in the college to add to the very experienced Benjamin Disi as logistic officer.

Eight new students have succeeded in passing the Special Entrance Exam and are ready to begin at the end of this month. Sadly a lot more failed than passed – we were hoping for a bigger intake this year. But the standard of English required is high and it is difficult for students in the remoter centres to get the tuition and practice in English they need.

The national government reshuffle last month seems to have gone off without any trouble. Although it took some people by surprise (especially the scale of it) it has met with fairly broad approval in the country. There is amicability on all sides and all have agreed that the President acted within his constitutional powers. The army in South Sudan, unlike Egypt and elsewhere, appears to keep well out of these kind of politics. The general impression is that South Sudan, despite its being such a young republic, is so far proving to be remarkably democratic despite its history of tribal differences. The churches and Christian message so widely heard in South Sudan is definitely impacting on the mood of the country.

Thank you.

Trevor

The College

1. Staff. Give thanks for the appointment of Samuel Galuak as the new principal and the new full-time appointments among the college staff. Pray for them all including those who continue in full-time positions as logistic officer Benjamin, and his assistant Boniface, librarian Abraham, our cleaner Esther, our cooks Dina, Margaret and Mackeline, and our site management and security staff Lako, Wani, Moses and Frazer. We pray for Simon as he prepares himself to do a one year full-time course in Nairobi at Africa International University.

2. Students. Thank God for eight new students who are to begin their first year at the end of August. Pray for those who were not successful in the SEE exam this time round and pray that they may find it possible to obtain the level of English required and can apply again.

We give thanks for a successful short-term course for potential female ordinands and ask God's blessing those the Archbishop has in mind to study at the college in the future.

We give thanks for those who have completed their three years and return to the college for their graduation in October. We pray for them as they sort out their immediate and longer term futures.

3. We thank God for our Board of Governors under the leadership of chairman Bishop Justin Badi, and we pray for the College Council which meets to help the principal implement the policy of the Board.

4. We thank God for the new two-storey library building erected by the local developers to replace the former dormitory now too close to the enormous hotel under whose shadow the college now finds itself.

The Nation

We praise God for calm and industry at the political level of South Sudan. We pray for the new ministers and their departments. We pray for the continued flow of oil.

We pray for the army and those who lead it.

We continue to pray for an early settlement of the Abyei question.

We earnestly pray for the people of Blue Nile, the Nuba Mountains and Darfur who still suffer so heavily in the Republic of Sudan. May God bless the UN and AU peacekeepers deployed in both countries.

We pray also for Christians who live in Khartoum, Port Sudan and the cities of Sudan.