This picture is taken
in the garden of our new house in Keynsham, between Bath and Bristol,
UK. We are grateful to the local people of this place who have come
to help us celebrate. We were delighted to find a Zande from Yambio
living just up the road from us. Sadly the health of his family has
prevented him from fulfilling his dream of returning to Western
Equatoria.
Amazingly 9th
July provided the only dry and warm evening in a week of rain, so we
were able to cook and eat outside.
This picture is taken
in Beaminster, Dorset who had a special “Sudan Sunday” on 15th
July. The morning worship contained of a sermon and prayers for
Sudan, South Sudan and the ECS. In the afternoon they invited the
small town to a Dorset Cream Tea to raise funds for the Beaminster
Friends of Sudan. Their most recent contribution is a set of bibles
for Ephata Primary School in Juba.
~~~~~
The following is a
short article that expresses Trevor's feelings following a series of
negative reports of the first year of the life of South Sudan.
South Sudan - One
Year On ...
The outside world has not given very high marks to South Sudan and its northern neighbour Sudan for its first year of independence celebrated on 9th July 2012. Somehow, reporters had a kind of false anticipation of the progress that the new countries would make following 9th July 2011. The people in Juba that we know, however, were never using rose-tinted glasses. They knew the problems back then, and there really hasn't been any surprises.
They were never under
the illusion that the Khartoum government were going to give up
trying to keep them poor as they have done for years. They knew that
they would drive out the ethnically southern from the north –
indeed the exodus was well under way as soon as the referendum had
taken place in January 2010. Hundreds of thousands of people have
fled or been forced out of Khartoum to do the best they can in the
south (where many of them, having been born in the north, had never
ever lived). Disruption to trade between north and south had been
happening even in 2009, and no-one really believed that the barges of
refined fuel that powered the Juba electricity generators would
continue to arrive. The north had long been suspected of supplying
the LRA, and inciting, and pay-rolling rebellious factions in the
south has been an ongoing reality since the CPA was signed in 2005.
These issues of tribal
division, mistrust, armed robbery and revenge attacks are not a new
thing. The period of the referendum in January 2011 was a remarkable
exception to the usual round of tribal violence. The one thing that
unites the people of the south is the universal oppression from the
north. But both these things, inter-tribal conflict and northern
oppression go back centuries.
The allegations of
financial corruption surprise no-one. It has been generally accepted,
and it is, of course, not confined to a few leading politicians. It
is rooted in the natural instinct to survive and to provide for your
family in very uncertain and difficult times. It is how human beings
are – even in the West (although there they are more likely to make
it technically legal). This certainly does not excuse it. But it is
not new.
So what is new? First,
the fear has largely gone. You can generally say what you think
without risk of being picked up and 'disappeared'. The police and
soldiers are generally on your side. Then there is a certain pride
about being a South Sudanese, having your own identity in a world
where, for most of its history, the black tribes of this remote part
of Africa far from the sea have been largely ignored. And, not least,
there is hope. Things may not get materially better in a hurry, but
the Khartoum bullies will eventually loose power, the new relations
with East Africa will increase, and the NGOs and investors (although
hit by the world's current economic slump) will continue to channel
resources into the country without hindrance. Peace between families
and communities is high on the agenda of the Christian churches who
have joined together across the denominations (and also the Muslim
minority in the south) to work to dispel the traditional tribal
animosities, outlaw theft and violence, and build schools, workshops
and clinics.
So one year on things
may seem worse than a year ago, but progress never takes a smooth
curve. It's a long term venture. It's going to take generations, but
with the resources and the resilience of the people there is lasting
hope for both Sudans.
Trevor Stubbs,
International
Consultant,
Bishop Gwynne
Theological College,
JUBA
