Voice of Hope | Issue 10 | March 2015 Page 1  

 

In this issue (10)

Editorial (eyes of faith) 1

Word from the Bishop 2

Role of men and women 3

Bishop’s Leadership School 3

BONGA Graduation 4

Deliver us from evil 5

Reaching children (CEF) 6

Money saving groups 6

Gurube is now like America! 7

Discovering own strength 7

Kajo-Keji Christian College 8

Kajo-Keji turning purple 8

Editorial Eyes of Faith Rev. Jacob Haasnoot The shortest verse in the Bible we find in John 11. It is a remarkable verse. It tells us that ‘Jesus wept’ (verse 35). He wept because of the death of Lazarus and probably also about his own death which was at hand. I think He was also deeply moved by the brokenness in this world. We have enough reasons to weep about the situation in our world. Refugees drowning while crossing the Mediterranean See, Christians killed in Libya and the ongoing problems in our own country South Sudan.

How can one not be discouraged about all this? We need eyes of faith, eyes that are focused on the Kingdom of God. In the midst of the misery of this world, we believe and declare that the Kingdom has come and will come. While Lazarus is still in the grave, Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). With eyes of faith we can look beyond our current situation and we know that God will bring new life.

 

Voice of HopeNewsletter of the Diocese of Kajo‐Keji Issue 10  |  March  |  2015 

The Voice of Hope Issue 10, March 2015

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Word from the Bishop Rt. Rev’d. Anthony D. Poggo

The year 2014 was a challenging year for South Sudanese people due the conflict that started on the 15 December 2013. There have been many rounds of peace negotiations that have not yielded the long awaited peace that we have yearned for. Let us double of efforts in prayers for peace in this nation and especially during this period of Lent, remember to pray for South Sudan.

As I write this, the next round of talks is scheduled to start. Our prayers are that this round of talks will yield fruit leading to an agreement on the formation of a transitional government that will bring peace, healing, reconciliation and national unity. Local situation In Kajo-Keji we also went through our own conflict during the month of September 2014 with the Kuku and Ma’di communities experiencing an unfortunate conflict that resulted to the death, injury and displacement of many people from both sides. The churches and other stakeholders are doing what they can to work on ways in which peace and reconciliation can be achieved between the two communities that have had a history of good neighbourliness and intermarriages with occasional conflict between them. Although there is calm in the border area, the effects of this conflict are still being felt. As religious leaders, we will not tire to do all that we can to help our people. We know that peace and reconciliation is going to be a long process. Pray with the leaders as we work towards this at the grassroots level so that it goes to the county/district level and on to the national level for a permanent resolution of this conflict and most importantly the issue of the boundary between Uganda and South Sudan.

House of Bishops 2014 We would like to thank you who prayed and supported us in many ways when we hosted the 2014 meeting of the ECSSS House of Bishops that took place from 20 to 24 November. There were close to 36 Bishops and some spouses who attended the meeting. It was a challenging task to hold a meeting of such a magnitude. I am grateful to the local committee, parishes, Christians and members of the Revival Movement for their support. The country, State and national government gave us adequate support.

Bishop Anthony Poggo

Pastors, youth and Mothers Union together for Peace and Reconciliation workshop

Archbishop Daniel arriving 

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Workshop on role of men and women

From 16-19 February a workshop took place at Kajo-Keji Christian College on the topic of ‘Transformative Masculinity’ with a focus on HIV and Aids. The training was funded by the World Council of Churches and 65 participants came from churches and organizations such as the National Council of Churches, South Sudan Aids Commission and the Armed forces. There were also representatives from the Muslim community.

In the workshop participants did contextual bible studies and looked at the roles of men and women both in culture and in religion. Also the issue of gender based violence was addressed.

Rev. Taban Israel, one of the participants says: “The workshop has really helped me. It opened my eyes and I know now better how to link bible stories to issues in our community. We will use this in teaching our people and it also encourages us to find out how we can make changes in problem areas”.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Bishop’s Leadership School

On the 11th of February many clergy and their spouses came together in the Emmanuel Cathedral in Romogi (Kajo-Keji) for the 2015 edition of the Bishop’s Leadership School. The main theme for this year’s training was ‘Discipleship’. There were teaching sessions about topics like Bible study, Witnessing, How to deal with false teaching? and Spiritual Warfare. The pastors did Bible study together in groups and went out for open air preaching in the area around the meeting place. This year’s Leadership School was supposed to be funded by local income only. Unfortunately, we had to cut the conference short by two days because of lack of funds. We have learned that next time we need more time for fundraising in the local parishes.

Participants came from different places

Also students of KKC participated

Teaching at Bishop’s Leadership School

The BLS was held at the Emmanuel Cathedral 

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BONGA graduation Rev. Canon Lomundu

Almost 600 girls graduated in the ‘Bonga’ adolescent girls' empowerment program in the Diocese of Kajo-Keji early this year. This training program is implemented by the Diocese under the guidance of the Stromme Foundation. Since there were two funding agencies for this program, we had two separate graduation ceremonies at two locations.

On the 9th of January 241 adolescent girls received their certificate at the Emmanuel Cathedral in Romogi. This part of the program was funded by DFID (UK). The next day 239 girls were presented with a certificate in Liwolo. This part of the program was funded by Eriks Development Partner from Sweden. The Commissioner of Kajo-Keji presided as the guest of honor during these two functions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2012 and 2013 there were 502 graduates. That means that we have now graduated 1082 adolescent girls in the following skill areas: Tailoring, Designing, Weaving, Catering, Hair Dressing, Driving and Computer skills. We thank Stromme Foundation and the donors for making this program possible.

We want to tell you the story of Mrs. Guo Betty (see picture). She learned how to do hair dressing. She earned over 700 SSP during last year’s Christmas season. She already bought some equipment for opening her own salon. Her husband James Kadi was extremely happy for the innovative work of his wife and he supported her by buying a solar panel for the salon. She is the first person to open a hair salon in her village Sokare.

Graduation at Emmanuel Cathedral 

Guo Betty 

Graduation in Liwolo 

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Deliver us from evil

When the evil forces know they have to submit to the God of the universe, they try their best to hold on to a person and strange things can happen. We have seen this in the life of Gladys Poni, a young lady in Kajo-Keji. [

Gladys came to the church to ask for help after she was attacked by demons. The first thing that happened was that while she was sleeping, a big stone fell on her back and she was hurt. The strange thing was that the stone was bigger than the ventilation space in the roof. The family even involved the police but they were also puzzled and did not know what to do.

The next event was again during the night. While she was asleep, she saw herself molding bricks somewhere in the forest together with two other girls. They were forced to do it. In the morning she found herself with mud on her legs and hands.

One evening, the third strange thing happened: a grasshopper landed on her chest. When she brushed it away, she felt the grasshopper inside her throat but her mouth had been closed. Her mother could see the grasshopper inside her throat but she couldn’t remove it. Gladys could not eat. She went to the church for help.

 

 

The church leaders prayed for deliverance and at some point the grasshopper went down her throat and she could eat again. The demons made clear that they wanted to kill Gladys. After counseling her, Gladys gave her life to Christ. But this was not the end of her predicament. Every time she went to a church service, the demons would attack her. Again and again she would be prayed over. After six weeks, she suddenly vomited and the grasshopper came out alive! The church leaders decided to burn the grasshopper publically (see picture) and have prayers for Gladys and her family. At the occasion bishop Anthony said: “The evil spirits know they are defeated by Christ. What we see now happening in the life of Gladys is because they are fighting their defeat. We need to be clear whom we want to follow. Let’s us follow Christ with an undivided heart”. Up to now when Gladys wants to pray, we can see marks and bruises on her skin, all over her body. Recently these marks were even bleeding. It will stop when she is prayed for. The mother of Gladys is involved with traditional medicines. Every time Gladys gets in contact with a family member, she is attacked. We have already seen the power of God working in her body and in her life but we want her to be completely free from these attacks. Please pray with us for Gladys so that God’s glory is shown through her life.

The grasshopper being burned 

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Reaching children with the Gospel

Mr. Iga Samuel (CEF)

The Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) in South Sudan organised successful evangelism training for teenagers. These young people will reach out to children with the Good News. This training is called ‘Christian Youth in Action (CYIA)’ and was done in early January at the Kajo-Keji Christian College compound in Romogi. CEF is an independent organisation but works closely together with the Diocese of Kajo-Keji.

A spokesperson of CEF tells us: “This year was a great year: for the first time we had a CYIA graduation in South Sudan for people who did four levels of training courses. During the training we were running 10 children’s clubs where children received the word of God, sang songs, learned memory verses, did games and had great fun. It was my joy to see a great number of children reached and others saved and counselled”.

 

Money saving groups create change Mr. Tomor Chaplain In the Diocese of Kajo-Keji we have 36 money saving groups. These groups help people to save money and to invest it in agriculture or business. The groups make profit by giving out loans with interest. The Diocese wants to set up more of these groups. One of the coordinators says: “We are realizing a great social and economic transformation within areas where this program has picked-up well. We have created an element of hope for families that were looking how they could improve their lives”. It is also important for people to get together in groups and to help each other.

In the last months of 2014 and the first months of 2015 most of the ‘graduations’ take place in the groups. A graduation is a day that the group money is collected, counted and then distributed among the members.

Students and staff CYIA 2015

Teenagers going to run the children's clubs

Money counters showing the money that is to be divided 

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It was a very joyful occasion when the first block of 4 classrooms of the new school in Gurube village was opened. After the opening ceremony, invited guests, teachers, parents and children gathered under the big mango trees to listen to speeches and the school choir. The children also did a drama and the invited guests were challenged with two riddles.

The school was funded by children and parents of Christian school in Barneveld, The Netherlands under coordination of the Reformed Mission League (GZB). The Dutch schools are now raising funds for the second block of 4 classrooms. The children of Gurube had composed their own English songs for the occasion. One song said: Thank you for helping us to build this school, now Gurube is like America!

Discovering own strength   Church members  in Ajira have discovered  their own  strength  and  resources  and  are  building their church without outside funding. 

Gurube is now like America! 

Rev. Jacob Haasnoot  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new block of 4 classrooms in Gurube

Enthusiastic dancing at the opening

Classroom with new furniture

Bricks made by the local community

Ajira Church

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Kajo-Keji Christian College

We ourselves still have to get used to our new name: Kajo-Keji Christian College (KCC). It used to be ‘Canon Benaiah Poggo College’, but that name is phasing out. We are already half way the first semester of 2015 and we are running two theology programs in English: Certificate level (7 students) and Diploma level (9 students). We also have a pastoral training course in the Bari language with 14 students. And we offer a training in Computer skills. These programs are all fulltime. We are still working on our registration with the government. The biggest challenge is that the authorities want to see a large sum of money in our College account as an ‘start-up capital fund’. Please pray for this issue.

On Ash Wednesday we had a beautiful service in the College chapel with Bishop Anthony preaching and making the sign of the cross with ashes on the foreheads of those attending. (On the picture you see that we are standing outside, that is simply because the room where we did the service was too small). Students made traditional musical instruments which are now used during morning devotions and during the weekly Communion service.

Kajo-Keji turning purple

For 5 days Kajo-Keji turned purple when all the bishops of the Episcopal Church in South Sudan and Sudan met for their House of Bishops’ meeting (20-24 November 2014). It was a major challenge for our Diocese to host and facilitate these meetings but all the bishops went home with positive feelings about our county. On the Sunday all the bishops visited local parishes and shared from the Word of God. This was very much appreciated on both sides.

Ash Wednesday service at the College

Students using traditional instruments

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The opening session was attended by the Presidential Advisor for Religious affairs, Hon. Fr. Mark Lotede, the national Minister of Finance, Hon. Aggrey Tissa Subuni, the national Minister of Housing, Hon. Catherine Juan Benaiah, the state Minister of Gender & Social Development, Hon. Mary Apayi and the Commissioner of Kajo-Keji, Hon. Henry Kala Sabuni. The House of Bishops discussed the following issues: the political crisis and the status of the peace talks in South Sudan and Sudan; the need for interreligious dialogue between Christian and Muslim leaders; the sustainability of the Church and the relationship between ECSS&S and the Diocese of Salisbury in the UK.

House of Bishops – 2014 In a communiqué of the meetings, the Bishops state: “The people of South Sudan had suffered for many years in the hands of government in the old Sudan beyond description […]. But now People of South Sudan continue to suffer in the hands of their own political leaders/government of South Sudan and Rebels. We want to inform the warring parties that our people are tired of war and they urgently need peace and development”.

Bishops lined up to receive the Archbishops

Small group discussions

Archbishop Ezekiel from Sudan arriving 

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Diocese of Kajo-Keji C/O The Episcopal Church of South Sudan & Sudan

P.O. Box 110, Juba, Republic of South Sudan Email: newsletter@kajokeji.anglican.org Website: www.kajokeji.anglican.org

To subscribe/unsubscribe: newsletter@kajokeji.anglican.org

 

Archbishop Daniel greeting the bishops 

Many bishops came with their wives

A large crowd gathered to welcome the visitors to Kajo­Keji Government leaders waiting to receive the Bishops