Jacob, Africa Sunrise Communities’ Executive Director, has told this story before, but it is a good one to reflect upon again:

On January 22 I was walking along a road in the town of Bor, Jonglei State–my home state. I saw two boys selling water they had collected from the Nile River. I asked them how long they had been doing this business and if they went to school. They told me they didn’t go to school because they had no parents and nothing to eat. They were not working for money–just for food. When I asked how I can pray for them, they said, “Pray that the donkey doesn’t die. Pray that the owner of this donkey doesn’t fire us. If he does, we will have no food.”  I did pray, not just that they would keep their meager job, but that God would provide them and others like them the opportunity to live a full and happy life.

Prayer is an important part of our Christian faith, but God has given us the ability to make our own decisions and with His help we find solutions to our problems in prayer.  Mark (2:4 NIRV) tells us that one time some friends brought a crippled man to see Jesus, but so many people were there, “. . . they could not get him close to Jesus because of the crowd. So, they made a hole by digging through the roof above Jesus. Then they lowered the man through it on a mat.” The friends of the crippled man show us another way to not lose heart, and to know God through our creativity as well as our persistence. Consider the effort these men made for their crippled friend! They carried him to the meeting place. The lifted him to the roof. They dug through the straw and thatch on the roof.  Then they lowered their friend the floor of the building. What rejoicing there must have been among these men, when Jesus healed their friend?The boys with the donkey are working hard to make a life for themselves even though they really shouldbe in school.  They need some help finding other solutions to their life problems. We have prayed for them, but we can use your help to help them!You could say that Africa Sunrise Communities is like the cripple who needed friends to bring him to Jesus. We need friends to bring our mission to new generation of South Sudan. Help us with a prayer. But also help us by spreading the word of our work and making a donation to support our work._________________________________________________________Follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@africa_sunrise). 

Nearly 100,000 South Sudanese fled from their homes into Uganda when political disputes within the ruling party in South Sudan led to the breakout of violence.Within the settlement camps in Uganda, South Sudanese refugees are using their agricultural skills to raise funds for their children’s school fees. Among these concerned parents is James Maker Ter. He works every day to clear weeds from his farm. During their holidays, his five children work alongside him to expand the land they are working. Although the United Nation refugee agency is supporting him, “I have to do more,” he says, “in order to support my family. I see this land has a lot of opportunities and I have decided to cultivate and I know doing this job will strengthen me.”Last year he produced 50 bags of maize, each weighing around 25 pounds. He intends to produce more this year. Out of those 50 bags last year, he sold 20 of them to buy school uniforms for his children and to pay their medical bills.He is encouraging his fellow refugees in the displaced camps to take up their hoes and begin cultivation. Farming, he pointed out, does not require lots of capital. “When you produce more food, you will not have any problem. By engaging yourself into agriculture is likely to make you richer. If you sell clothes it may not work out in the hunger time, but if you have more grain stored and then your business can still boom,” said Maker.Another refugee, Mary Nyaber Koryom, who cares for 10 children in her house, says it has not been easy to provide for her children’s needs, like school uniforms and fees. “We have so many challenges to do this job. We lack tractors and buying pesticide become very expensive. We lack support to practice agriculture; we do this work for the sake of our own surviving in the camp,” she said.This is one of the two major thrusts of Africa Sunrise Communities – to help refugees in the Ugandan camps to take up gardening and agriculture, both for their own food source and for them to be able to afford schooling for their children. Your gift to our foundation can help to provide the means for these refugees to get started in providing for themselves and their families.(Information for this article was adapted from an article from the Sudan Tribune, March 6, 2016.)    

 Two recent articles from the Sudan Tribune newspaper tell of worsening violence and the dire need for food among people in South Sudan.On February 17^, 2016, one of the articles described the urgent need for food for 86,000 people in two counties of Jonglei state in South Sudan. Officials from the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) reported that an assessment of conditions among returnees and among Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) indicated that the people needed both food and non-food support. The RRC organizations were urged to act swiftly in light of the plight of these thousands of people.James Jok, the state acting RRC director, said that he organized a meeting of RRC humanitarian organizations to assign each agency specific roles to intervene in curbing hunger and in developing a comprehensive strategy for aid. He also urged the South Sudanese government to provide needed infrastructure, especially health facilities and schools.Agencies say that over two million people were displaced during the 21-month-old conflict, which broke out in the world’s youngest nation upon its establishment in mid-December 2013.The second article, dated February 16^th, described renewed clashes in South Sudan’s Wau state between the army and the armed opposition faction. Hundreds of people have been forced to flee from their homes, residents and eyewitnesses have said.The incident took place in the western part of the state capital, Besilia, forcing hundreds of people, mainly women and children, to seek food and shelter elsewhere. According to multiple residents who arrived in Wau town on Sunday, people on both sides of the conflict participated in burning huts to the ground. The most affected areas were Abushaka, Kapi and Safa, initially suspected by government forces to be opposition-held territories.The armed confrontation between the two main warring parties came a day after a delegation of ceasefire monitors arrived in Wau town to access the security situation in the region. The armed opposition leader in Wau state denied that their forces were the first to attack government troops in the specified areas.We urge our Africa Sunrise Community supporters to pray for the needs of the refugees and displaced persons and for the hostilities in South Sudan to cease and the ceasefire to be observed. Also, Bweyale refugees in Uganda have expressed their fears concerning the scheduled elections now going on. They need prayer particularly for peace.  Read the Sudan Tribune Articles Here:86,000 Urgently Need Food in Jonglei State

New IOM clinic provides critical care for displaced in Upper Nile