Update: Mid-Year Reflections from Robin Denney

From Robin Denney, Sudan:

Dear Friends,
I’m half-way through my first year in Sudan.  So I thought I’d reflect some on the journey thus far.  (my more traditional monthly reflection is posted on my blog, “God can revive us” June 1).  This is technically my June update, I’m a bit behind schedule!

I have been blessed in my work to see a vast amount of southern Sudan.  I have visited 19 of the 24 southern dioceses, and logged more than 150 hours on the wild pot-hole strewn dirt roads.  It is a tremendously diverse landscape, from black rock mountains in Eastern Equitoria, to dense forests in Western Equitoria, to the tree scattered grassland of Lakes state, to the flat dry plains of Jonglei to the largest seasonal swamp in the world that stretches across several states.  The wilderness of southern Sudan is vast.  You can drive hours without seeing a single hut.  

There are hundreds of people groups and languages in Sudan. There are tribes that are solely agriculturalists, and tribes that are solely livestock herders.  There are villages placed on top of rocky mountains for security, villages along fertile rivers, and villages of huts spread far apart on the plain.  I have seen the houses of the fabled three little pigs, made of grass, sticks, and bricks:  grass walls where people fear attack so they can escape through the walls, houses of sticks in IDP camps with a roof made of a tarp, houses of bricks in villages that have security and prosperity. 

It's hard for people in the developed world to imagine what life in a village of huts is like.  Most people survive on subsistence agriculture or livestock herding, but there are always shop keepers as well.  Living in a hut does not make someone impoverished.  Many of the bishops here live in huts, because no other housing is available.  It is the lack of schools and medical care which deeply affects people's quality of life.  No matter how far out we have gone, even days of driving past nothing but wilderness and occasional villages of thatched huts, to the most rural areas, you still find the same influences from the outside world: coca cola, western clothing, cell phones, plastic bags, and guns.

Life in Juba is different.  It is busy and there are traffic jams, lots of shops, buildings springing up everywhere, but it still has the feel of a country town, a country town with a million people.  On my way to work I pass some nice air-conditioned shops, and shops in sheds, and a man who has a copy machine on a rickety table under a tree.  There are piles of garbage along the streets, which slowly get cleared only to be replaced.  Juba is spread out enough that people grow some food in the open spaces and yards. There are only two paved roads in juba, not more than 2 miles long, which are also the only paved roads in south Sudan.  Everything that is sold is trucked in from Uganda, over the most impossible dirt tracts with potholes the size of elephants that fill with water, and rickety bridges, which means prices are highly inflated.  Juba is one of the most expensive places to live in Africa.  There are a couple Chinese and pizza restaurants, and even a large-scale brewery that just opened outside town, though drinking is discouraged among most Christian denominations.  The city feels quite safe during the day, but it’s not a good idea to go walking after dark, which is 7pm year-round, this close to the equator.  Most of the year it is hot, 90 degrees inside or outside, day or night, which means you get used to it.  But this time of year cool spells come with the rain.  

Conflict in south Sudan continues, though we don’t see it in Juba, we hear about fighting in the rural areas near by.  Occasionally we hear of someone’s relatives, or church members who have been killed, or children abducted.  The UN announced that the fighting in south Sudan is now more violent and deadly than what is going on in Darfur.  Death from treatable diseases also continues to be high, with child and maternal mortality rates some of the highest in the world.  Without peace there cannot be development.  Pray for peace!

I am still loving my job.  I am inspired by the bishops and pastors of the church, who work tirelessly without pay.  I love giving workshops on sustainable agriculture.  I love making connections between organizations working in agriculture, and dioceses who want to do agriculture projects.  I love the process of developing the details of a plan for the ECS Agriculture Department, when the vision came from the bishops and the people.  I love working in the demonstration garden I’ve started.  I love the enthusiasm for agriculture I encounter at every turn.  There are challenges too.  Banking issues have prevented us from receiving donor funding for our department, so I am still the only staff member of the department, and we haven’t been able to start our larger scale production projects.  I struggle to keep up with the daily tasks of the office, often falling behind, and getting overwhelmed.  I struggle with loneliness from time to time, it is difficult to be so far away from family and friends, especially when there are people graduating (congrats Jordan and Colleen!) and having babies (welcome to the world Reese!).  

Learning what life is like for other people in the world, realizing that more than half of the world’s population lives on $2 a day or less… this is important.  It’s not about guilt.  I don’t think that guilt helps.  But I do know that Jesus leads us by his example, out into the world, into relationship with people who we think are different from us.  Jesus broke the rules of society to cross the barriers his culture put up, to embrace the outcast and the suffering. Christ came not with wealth and power, but as a poor manual laborer who started life as a refugee.  He radically challenged the established, the wealthy, the powerful, and the comfortable.  He spoke strongly for justice peace and reconciliation.

When we open our eyes, and our hearts, we see that every last person on earth is the same, a beloved child of God.  Fixing or changing people or the world is not our work.  Our work is to be agents of reconciliation, love, peace, and hope in everything we do, in the way we live our lives!  And it is a calling of great joy!  I struggle with this as much as the next person.  It’s good to remember that being the love of Christ to the next person who walks into my office, is probably more important then my project planning!

Peace,
Robin

--------

See my blog: http://robin-mission.blogspot.com
New this month: A joke!  Reflections from another trip with the Archbishop, and a photo from my trip to Egypt, among other tidbits.

Want to know more about the Episcopal Church of Sudan? Check out their website: http://sudan.anglican.org .   Also check out the Agriculture Assessment and visioning document I’m working on implementing for ECS at: http://sudan.anglican.org/files/090520agriculture.pdf

I’ve decided not to post my financial reports online, but I would be happy to email it to anyone who would like to see.  I will also submit a full detailed report to each of my sponsoring churches at the end of the year, and email out a summary as well as post it online.  So far my mission fund has paid me a stipend of $500 per month, covered my travel expenses around Sudan and to Kenya and Uganda (mission related trips and one R&R trip).  And it has covered small needs as they arise like tools, seed, transportation of other people, vehicle maintenance, etc.  A big thank you to everyone who has contributed!!

Help Needed With Birth Expenses

From the Rev. Jerry Drino, Hope With Sudan:

Ajout, wife of James Majok Deng is about to give birth to their first child.   She lives in Australia and he in San Jose.   While she visited last year for four months they tried desperately to get immigration papers for her because he is a U.S. citizen but they did not succeed.   James is finishing at East Bay State University (Hayward) and only has a part-time job because his other job was terminated.   Ajout and James would appreciate any support you might give to help with the medical expenses.    Checks, which are tax deductible, can be made to Hope With Sudan, 5038 Hyland Ave, San Jose, CA 95127 or given to the Cathedral Office made out to Hope With Sudan.

Additionally, five of the Sudanese have been laid off because of the economy.  Any knowing of a part-time or full-time job can call Fr. Jerry Drino (408) 259-2111 or email jdrino@hopewithsudan.org.

San Jose Sudanese Graduates

From the Rev. Jerry Drino, Hope With Sudan:

Gabriel Makuei Tor arrived as a refugee four and a half years ago from Kenya.   He had watched as his friends left in 2001 for the US never thinking that he might never be called.   In the meantime he followed his vocation to ministry by teaching English and leading Bible classes for over a hundred Sudanese widows in Nairobi.  Then his day came to be relocated to San Jose.   This last Saturday he graduated from De Anza College with plans to enter San Jose State University in the fall in pre-nursing.  His ultimate goal is to be a priest.  He is a gifted choir leader, hymn writer and poet.   This is one of his poems that appears in the recent De Anza Journal, The Red Wheelbarrow:

Deep Down Beneath
Gone are the dead
Leaving with no pain
Leaving the pain behind
With remnants to bear
Missing nothing
But being missed
Deep down beneath the reach
Dead is dead
Not only dead
Dead has paid the debt
Under the world of no obligation
Wit no hand to give
In the dark, idle corner
The silent remains
Gone forever are the dead
Taking nothing more than wisdom
Were all ages and races meet
To live in peace then piece
Where sexes do not belong
Is where one lives again
Here,lay the dead.

Dean David Bird reflects on visit to Diocese of Gloucester

From the Very Rev. David Bird, Ph.D., Trinity Cathedral:

Dean’s Desk, June 2009 issue of The Carillon (reprinted with permission)

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” asked some of Jesus’ critics. “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household," said Jesus.

A strong current of tension runs through the gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry and never more so than when he is at home. For such reasons I have often wondered whether it is indeed a good idea, as so many of us do, to go back home when we begin our ministry or whether we should start afresh somewhere else.

Faithful to tradition, however, I began my ordained ministry in the very diocese in which I had been confirmed as an adolescent. In a little under three years I was working in the United States, initially intending it to be a short term arrangement to learn particular skills before returning home.

Almost thirty-seven years later, this May, I returned to work in England for a week and found myself enthralled by comparing our religious cultures and understandings.

Undoubtedly we have much to learn from one another. There is a sense of permanence to the life of the Church of England that is beguiling and probably false. There is, by contrast, a sense of invention and creativity to the American church—and yet, in so many ways, we live in a much tighter liturgical straightjacket than some of the inventive parishes and ministries we were privileged to visit in the Diocese of Gloucester.

To see some of our English colleagues working in beleaguered housing estates (their equivalent of ‘projects’) was heart-warming. On a Saturday afternoon, we visited one church in which one of the groups meeting there was of the Baha’i faith and deeply concerned to see inter-faith cooperation in this troubling and financially troubled neighborhood. Their goal: to establish better community relations and encourage people to live by the Golden Rule (treat others as you would have them treat you). Here was potential for inter-faith witness and even worship.

On the surface, of course, we seem so much more progressive than the Church of England. The ordination of women to all orders of ministry is something we now take for granted. Here was a national Church still struggling towards the ordination of women as bishops. And yet the joy with which they welcomed our bishop was wonderful.

From us they could learn something about the fullness of ministry when it is truly representative of God’s people. In them we saw the church acting as a community of churches called to shared ministry with their bishop rather than a set of individual parish congregations—they were living out a vision we have committed to in this diocese.

Whenever we step out of our safe and customary environment, we are able to see possibilities in our own situation and even develop ideas we already accept but are still working towards.

We also saw reasons for the parallel but sometimes different paths of our respective journeys as members of the Anglican Communion. Our individualism as parish communities has some grounding in the particularly American experience of episcopacy. For the one hundred and sixty-nine years of the American colonies before 1776, we had to do without a resident bishop. The colonies were three thousand miles away for the Bishop of London (then our only bishop), most of which meant traveling by boat for a visitation. Doesn’t it make sense that in the American Church the bishop shares responsibility with a standing committee? The development of the standing committee was essential to the management of the church in our distinctive missionary situation and led to an expression of shared ministry which we model for much of Anglicanism.

Our distinctiveness comes home when we think of some of the great Episcopalian figures in US history— Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton— and realize that together with so many of their contemporaries they had not been confirmed (then a requirement before taking communion) but were communicants of the church only through a special rule or canon which said that if you desired to be confirmed but could not be because of local circumstance you were permitted take communion. Is it any wonder that the USA adapted to the principle, enshrined in our 1979 prayer book, that baptism constitutes full membership of our church?

If I left Britain with one idea in mind it was that the companion relationship which we have with the Diocese of Gloucester, England and the Diocese of Western Tanganyika in Tanzania will locate in a fellowship of diverse church experiences which can lead to the Holy Spirit’s powerful witness among us. For that we surely thank God.

-David

World Mission Day Summaries

From Rev. Michael W. Ridgway, St. Stephens-in-the-Field:

On May 16, a gathering of over 57 people met with Bishop Mary at St. Paul's in Salinas to hear the Bishop's report from her recent trips to our companion dioceses, Western Tanganyika and Gloucester. After her presentation, which included a slide show, commentary and a Q&A session, the participants broke out into groups to discuss and gather ideas around several initiatives supporting World Mission in the Diocese of El Camino Real.

The discussion groups were self-selected into the following subject areas each with their own discussion leader/facilitator: Solar Cooking, School Tuition, Pilgrimage, Micro-Credit Loans for Sewing Machines and Seminary Tuition & Hospitality.

There was lots of positive energy and enthusiasm in each of these groups. Summaries of their discussions and contact information for leaders/participants are available here.

Easter in Bor Diocese

From Robin Denney, Sudan:

This Easter trip to Bor is actually a peace and reconciliation and evangelism trip, as well as the Archbishop’s official visit to the Diocese of Bor, and the new Diocese of East Twic, just instituted today, April 13! We are about 75 miles north of Bor, and will continue to travel the rest of the week up further, returning to Bor.
This is Jonglei State, which has suffered from a lot of deaths from cattle raiding --750 died last month, and another 40 were killed in one village on Palm Sunday. This trip was put together to talk about peace and reconciliation in the Christian context. Since 90% of the population here is Episcopalian, it has particular impact!
We are traveling with the Archbishop, his wife, Mama Deborah, three other bishops, about 30 assorted pastors and staff, and a marching, dancing choir of about 150. The choir travels in two big open trucks.  There is a pickup with a generator and sound system for the rallies, so we make quite a convoy!
In other news, there was some trouble in Juba since we’ve been in Bor. No one was hurt, but a group of soldiers under one Commander in the southern army defected to join the northern army. This is a worrying development, as it shows some of the old dis-unity coming alive. The soldiers loaded onto a barge in Juba and headed north, apparently peacefully. Prayers for peace continue to be order!
I hope you all had a wonderful Holy Week and Easter,
Robin

National Geographic, "The Forgotten Faithful"

From Rev. Michael W. Ridgway, St. Stephen’s-in-the-Field:

Followers of Jesus for nearly 2,000 years, native Christians today are disappearing from the land where their faith was born.

Read the article The Forgotten Faithful authored by Don Belt of National Geographic republished on the “Friends of Sabeel” website here.

And keep in mind that Naim Ateek, the head of Sabeel and author of the book: A Palestinian Cry for Reconciliation will be in the Bay Area July 24-26, preaching at Grace Cathedral at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, July 26.

Tell a Friend – Make a Difference

From Rev. Jerry Drino, Hope With Sudan:

Lost Boys of the Sudan Documentary

This Sunday, May 31 KTEH, Channel 54 at 6:00 pm,, will present their documentary, “The Lost Boys of the Sudan.” Facing genocide as little boys, Peter Nyok and Simon Kuir Deng will relate the flight from their villages in Sudan when they were seven, running for weeks with other boys to Ethiopia where they stayed with nearly 40,000 other boys for three years. At ten they were forced back into Sudan and down into Kenya walking over a thousand miles and confronting death by Government troops and wild animals. After five months they came to Kakuma Refugee Camp where they continued their education while living on the brink of starvation for ten years. They were resettled with sixty other former Lost Boys and Girls in San Jose starting in 2001. Tell a friend and go to www.hopewithsudan.org where you can make a donation to support the orphans they have brought down into Kenya and Uganda to get an education. Donations can also be sent to Hope With Sudan, 5028 Hyland Ave, San Jose, CA 95127

Appeal to the International Donor and Diplomatic Community in the Sudan

From the Rt. Rev. Daniel Deng Bul, Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan:

4th May 2009

I, Daniel Deng Bul, Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan and Bishop of the Diocese of Juba, am personally appealing to the international donor and diplomatic communities, on behalf of the entire Church and the entire country, for increased support and action in safeguarding the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Over the past year I have undertaken major tours of Southern Sudan, covering almost all of Equatoria, Lakes State and Jonglei State. During these visits I have witnessed first hand the suffering of my people and the increasing fear of communities on the ground because of a situation of ever-increasing insecurity. In the Church’s opinion, this is the biggest problem in Sudan today, and prevents any further material or economic development, as well as the free and fair elections desperately needed in February 2010 and the referendum on Southern secession scheduled for 2011.

Peoples in Western and Central Equatoria are being attacked, murdered and displaced by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), rumoured to be supplied by people within Sudan. A large number of civilians in Eastern Equatoria, Lakes and Jonglei states are armed. The proliferation of modern weapons has caused traditional tribal conflicts over cattle ownership and grazing rights to increase and escalate into far bloodier warfare all over Southern Sudan – warfare that is now damaging the unity of the people and the CPA process as a whole. Last week a large weapons cache was apprehended in Lakes State and there are rumours of trucks loaded with weaponry heading north out of Juba to fuel tribal violence in Central Equatoria State.

The only conclusion one can draw is that these are ancient disputes that are being deliberately stirred up into something much more damaging for the local people and the stability of our country as a whole. Who is doing this is still largely unknown, but it is evident from local reports received through the Church network that the arms smuggling, re-armament and incitement of tribal violence is being carried out by enemies of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

During Easter 2009, I visited Jonglei State, travelling from Bor right up to Ayod in the Nuer lands. Although I and the vast majority of the party I was travelling with are Dinka, we were welcomed, and I as a Church leader spoke about love and peace between tribes. On my return to Juba I was informed that following the visit all cattle raiding and violence in the Ayod area has ceased. I take this as proof that the Church is one of the most effective ground-level players in the peace process and as proof that our message of love and reconciliation is one that is most effective in peace building amongst the tribes of Southern Sudan.

The Church has a presence in almost all small villages in the South, coverage unmatched by any organisation, including the Government of Southern Sudan and the SPLA, which in most cases are no longer able to keep the peace on the ground. The army is largely absent from effected areas, the police are too few to provide adequate security to even the County Commissioners, let alone the people, and therefore the government is in danger. As evidence of this I cite the fact that the police in Twic East County of Jonglei State were not able to contain local violence even during my visit to the area.

I am therefore making a passionate and heartfelt appeal to those governments and organisations that form Sudan’s diplomatic and donor community, in particular the United Nations agencies and the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands, all of which have a major presence in Southern Sudan and are guarantor signatories of the CPA.

As guarantors you have a duty to prevent this nation from returning to war, and I urge you to consider very seriously the churches as key partners in the work of peace-building on the ground. This is a problem that requires an ecumenical approach – all churches need to be supported by international stakeholders in the CPA to be tools of peace building on the ground. With our community-level network that surpasses any other, we need to be empowered to spread peace in this land as I have been doing in Jonglei State last month. We must teach our people that they are part of much bigger politics of which they are unaware, but which they are destabilising. They must also be empowered to make free and fair democratic choices in the upcoming elections and referendum.

My worry, and the fear of many thousands of people I have spoken to across Southern Sudan in the past year, is that the current escalating violence will add to the current disputes between the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) over the North-South border and the Abyei Protocol, that are already threatening to cause the CPA to collapse. If the CPA is not guaranteed now, war can start again all too quickly, during which a return to peace will be incredibly difficult, the Sudanese people will be further devastated and the whole region will be destabilised.

If you are guarantors of the CPA, then why is the international community allowing this violence to continue? I beseech you to act now to prevent it and protect the peace of my people.

Yours in the love and peace of Christ,

The Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul Yak
Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan

Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers

From Claudia Ward - All Saints', Carmel:

In 2001 while in Kenya, a friend discovered Annah Warature and the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers through a chance encounter. Being a spinner herself she sat and spun with the ladies and when she left she shipped home a bunch of their products which we then sold, returning the proceeds to Africa. My friend and I belong to Anne’s Web, a spinning guild here in Monterey County and since then the guild adopted the ladies in Kenya as a woman to woman project and we have individually and corporately sent them money for several years. We also continue to sell their products which they ship from time to time.

At some point I discovered that Margo Sisler, a fellow member of All Saints, Carmel, was involved with a knitting group in Nanyuki that obtain their yarns from the Spinners. Margo, until recently, has gone to East Africa annually for many, many years. After our serendipitous discovery, she hand carried the money and small gifts to the ladies every time she went. Also, my friend went back two or three more times.

We discovered that Becky Adams, the daughter of the Rev. Wayne Adams, retired pastor of Cypress Community Church in Corral de Tierra, founded and runs an orphanage in Nairobi. Wayne has visited the Nanyuki ladies several times when in Kenya to help his daughter. When All Saints and another church in New Jersey sent money to buy additional grazing land, Mr. Adams handcarried the money, helped Annah, the project director, make the purchase and open a bank account to which we could wire money in the future, making it much easier to help them.

Since the Rev. Adams retired, he has founded an organization called Hands of Hope International. Its main project has been Becky's orphanage but it has other projects as well and one of those is the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers. The beauty of this arrangement is that any donation through Hands of Hope is tax deductible. They wire funds to Africa at no cost.

Now the story gets better. I am a co-supervisor of the Monterey County Wool Show. For the past several years we have had a display on this African project. At the 2008 fair a man came up to me and told me about his daughter, Megan, going to Kenya that fall on a Rotary scholarship. She is studying how to help women's organizations market themselves.

The big obstacle to financial success for this organization has been their limited access to international markets. Until recently they relied on the safari trade which was decimated after 2001. The political turmoil in Kenya in 2008 and now the world economic situation have continued to exacerbate their problems.

The most exciting news is that Megan is in touch with an organization out of Santa Cruz called Rising International which sells the products of artisans like our group from around the world. I connected Megan with the ladies in Nanyuki. She has been there, met Annah and placed an order which has now been shipped to Rising International. Pray that this organization has success in selling the rugs which have been the staple product of this organization. It is connections like this that will lead to financial success for this women’s cooperative.

If you are interested in being involved with the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers project or would like to see some of their products, please email Claudia Ward: claudiajo@redshift.com.