Prayer
Prayer is at the very heart of our link with both Sudans. One of the first things that we are asked for in any situation is our prayers. Prayers are given in exchange in a true spirit of fellowship. The Episcopal Churches span two very different countries with differing needs, challenges and attitudes towards mission. We pray daily, and occasional prayers are posted on Twitter and Facebook.
Give thanks all leaders, pastors and members of the churches as they share their faith and work to spread the gospel in their local areas. Pray that the church will grow and thrive, overcoming the challenges it faces. Pray for church’s work promoting peace, justice and equality. Political stability Both Sudan and South Sudan face great difficulties about who leads and who participates in their governments. Pray for the establishment of a credible democratic government in Sudan, to which all parties will be committed. Pray that the governments of both Sudan and South Sudan will have the interests of all their people at heart and not just certain groups.
Both Sudan and South Sudan face great difficulties about who leads and who participates in their governments.
Pray for the establishment of a credible democratic government in Sudan, to which all parties will be committed.
Pray that the governments of both Sudan and South Sudan will have the interests of all their people at heart and not just certain groups.
People across Sudan and South Sudan face food shortages. In Sudan rising food prices and a volatile economy have caused widespread malnutrition with nearly 6 million people facing food insecurity. Areas of South Sudan face drought whilst others are devastated by flooding, both the result of climate change. Nearly 8 million people are expected to need food aid. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has further strained the global food market, already affected by the pandemic and climate change; this affects the cost of food aid.
Give thanks for the aid agencies and their staff working to bring relief to the most needy.
Pray that wealthy nations will give priority to funding the World Food Programme.
Darfur has since 2003 been one of the most troubled areas of insurgency and counter-insurgency in the world, permanently in crisis. Abyei remains disputed between Sudan and South Sudan. Local attacks, associated with land disputes and cattle raids, take place in many areas of South Sudan causing loss of life, destruction of property and domestic animals.
Pray for the establishment of law and order, and that people will enjoy the basic right to go about their daily lives and to build for the future
Pray for peaceful resolution of land and grazing disputes.
Education
Our partnership with Sudan and South Sudan is based on mutual respect and concern for one another, and especially the need to pray for one another. Any financial support is offered within this spirit of concern, respecting that our partners will be best placed to know their needs and how to meet them.
Here are some examples of the varied education projects we have helped to fund: Groups within our Diocese also support Juba Diocese Model Secondary School, the most successful school in South Sudan, and provide bursaries for the fees of children in secondary and primary school.
As a basic commitment we support 4 Theological Colleges: Bishop Gwynne, Bishop Alison, Yeremeyah and Shokai. Each received £2500 in 2020 because of COVID, though in a normal year we aim to send £5000 to each to pay for salaries of staff.
We have made grants towards the salaries of the Project Team for TEU, a multi-campus university in South Sudan in the early stages of its development, that seeks to provide the teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, engineers and lawyers the country desperately needs for peace and development. TEU comprises existing higher education colleges across the country, established and run by the Episcopal Church of South Sudan. As part of the university, the colleges can continue to serve students in their regions, be nationally accredited, share curriculums and resources, and reach the highest standards of education provision. While TEU is a Christian University and will promote Christian values of love and care for others, people of all faiths are welcome.
We helped displaced children from Kajo-Keji Diocese now in refugee camps in Northern Uganda. Through the charity CRESS we supported primary and pre-schools in these camps and recently made a grant of £3000 to set up 2 Loudspeakers in Imvepi camp. Each speaker reaches around 7000 people and covers an area of 4km radius but there are around 80,000 in that camp.
The Vale of Pewsey Deanery support the St Timothy Foundation working in Yambio and Nzara. We contributed £3000 to St Timothy Foundation for training 2 teachers who returned to work in their school in Nzara.
SOMA is an Anglican mission agency that sends small teams, often including local church leaders, to Africa and Asia where there has been a request from the local Bishop. We have given grants to SOMA towards a series of Youth Conferences in South Sudan, to help young people learn about the Bible, prayer, leadership, marriage, and peace and reconciliation, and to encourage them in the face of their many difficulties.
We assisted the Diocese of Khartoum Basic School providing new classrooms and more recently a £3,000 grant for 32 x 3-pupil desks and seats. Head Teacher Mama Amal Builsos and Diocese of Khartoum Education Coordinator Revd Isaac Kodi Kodi asked us to pass on their thanks. The new classrooms and desks are much appreciated.
We contributed £3,000 toward the construction costs at The Peace Primary School in Kadugli Diocese, and this year £3,000 towards the cost of the school’s water supply system.
Medical
We fund the training of clinical officers, nurses, midwives and other staff to provide high quality care. There is an urgent need for midwifery training in South Sudan, which has the world's worst maternal death rate as well a high infant mortality.
We purchase and distribute primary health care kits (basic medicines) to clinics run by the ECSSS and some other NGOs. These kits contain basic medicines such as antibiotics, antimalarials and painkillers that often save lives as well as treating painful and crippling conditions. This equips the clinics' trained staff to do their vital work. See below how many people can be helped for relatively little cost.
We work with leaders of the Episcopal Churches of South Sudan & Sudan to provide funding for health services to dioceses ravaged by years of civil war. In both countries people may have to travel a long way to reach scarce health facilities.
We pay money directly to local pharmaceutical wholesalers and training centres so every pound can be tracked to its destination.
We supervise the medicine deliveries and ensure medicines are issued by suitably-qualified clinical staff.
We visit the clinics and training schools we support.
Medical workers trained by us prescribe and dispense basic medicines supplied by us and others to treat and cure infections including malaria, and disabling and chronic conditions where no other facilities exist.
Once trained, our community midwives will reduce the maternal mortality rate, currently amount the highest in the world.
Reaching out to the most vulnerable in the community - children - so they can survive to inherit their land.
As individuals and as parishes, pray for our work, learn more about the Sudans and pray for their people
Contribute financially to SDBF - Medical Link - click here.
Consider your parish being linked to an area in South Sudan We are entirely dependent on the support of communities in the Diocese of Salisbury.
If visiting South Sudan please download a copy of the Health Facility Questionnaire; if you visit a health facility during your time there please gather as much information as possible.
•Approximate Costs:
Paracetamol to control temperature of children with malaria. 100 bottles: £20.00
Antibiotic syrup for children with pneumonia. 100 bottles: £35.00
Antimalarials for adults. 100 courses: £80.00
Antimalarials for children. 100 courses: £100.00.
Clinical, nursing and midwifery students: £2,200 per year
Advocacy
We provide regular updates on the situation in the Sudans, which staggers from security crisis to humanitarian crisis, with cross-border fighting and inter-tribal fighting.
Security continues to be the major issue, followed by health care, education and essential infrastructure, especially roads. The ongoing border disputes in the Abbyei region, the bombing of people in Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan and fighting in Blue Nile are in a major part the result of the disputed border across which major oil deposits lie, and the unresolved delivery of oil revenues between Sudan and South Sudan.
The Link works actively and closely with the joint Sudan Unit of HM Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which welcomes the view and voices of the Churches.. We also work with Lambeth Palace and the Anglican Alliance and ecumenically with our Roman Catholic colleagues and other denominations here and in Sudan.
Deanery Links
The Salisbury Sudan link has flourished for over 45 years at Diocese-to-Province level, but early on it was suggested that the partnership could also work at a more local level, between deaneries in Salisbury Diocese and individual Dioceses in the Sudans.