While the attached picture is not all that clear, it is the only one I possess of the moment I was able to pose with four S. Sudanese friends of mine. Mathew and Ding are Nuer, while John and Elijak are Dinka.
All four of these men were forced to seek refugee status in Kenya back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Colleagues who served with my sending agency helped further and deepen their education by teaching T.E.E. books in the camps, and enabling them to attend Kenya Baptist Theological College (KBTC).
After graduating, they all returned to S. Sudan and started churches in their home areas. Some of those became the centers for primary schools, and other agents of community development.
However, the fresh outbreak of hostilities in S. Sudan, starting in mid-December 2013, forced all of them, their wives and children, to once again flee to neighboring countries as refugees. Before they fled, they all saw horrible things happen. Each has a story to tell, and while they differ in their details, the bottom line result is the same: displacement, dead family members and friends, destroyed homes and churches, nightmares for children, and the arduous, frightening prospect of beginning another phase of life as a refugee.
The current conflict, which has fragmented and harmed all aspects of the world's newest country's social fabric and national infrastructure, began between two men who are leaders of their respective tribes: Dinka and Nuer. Those tribes are also the largest in S. Sudan. Certainly the back story of this current conflict is complex, involving many factors, but as time has passed, it has become increasingly clear that at the heart of the matter is a form of prejudice which can be labeled "tribalism."
So how is it that the picture at the top of this post can display Nuer and Dinka posing together? It is because the hearts of these men have been transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have a new king and Lord who died on a cross and rose from the grave, so that He might redeem people from "every nation, tongue, people and tribe" (Rev. 5:9-10). The Apostle Paul wrote in Eph. 2:14-15, "For Christ himself is our way of peace. He has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one family, breaking down the wall of contempt that used to separate us. By his death he ended the angry resentment between us..." (TLB).
Since 2005, when the CPA was signed in Kenya, I have closely followed news reports regarding South Sudan. Like everyone else, once South Sudanese voted to form their own country, I had high hopes for their future. Its citizens of all tribes hoped that in the days ahead, money gained from the sell of oil would be used to build up the country's infrastructure for the betterment of all people.
But the hopes set on oil revenue were soon dashed, because the hearts of those in the seats of power were corrupt.
Therefore our desire is to help S. Sudanese Christians reach their countrymen while they are refugees. Gospel transformed hearts, not oil revenue, will restore peace in S. Sudan
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