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

At the very young age of 7, I became a “Lost Boy” of Sudan. This term was coined to describe the over 20,000 boys from the Sudanese ethnic groups who were displaced and/or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). I am a member of the Dinka tribe and I became one of the “Lost Boys” in 1987. We lost everything – our families, our homes, and even our country – at the hands of the North Sudanese Army and radical Muslim militants.Through God’s grace and protection, I was able to flee over 1,000 miles of barren wilderness, making life-and-death decisions most adults would shrink from. God protected me on this nightmare journey. I ended up in a Kenyan refugee camp in Kakuna and grew up there from 1992-2001, staying until I was 21 years old.Through a series of miracles, I came to the United States (Houston, Texas) in March of 2001 and was able to obtain an education, completing my BS degree in Bible, Christian Life, and Ministry and even becoming an American citizen. I am currently studying for two Master’s degrees – in Intercultural Studies and in Christian Leadership – at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. I think of myself as a modern-day Nehemiah. “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said: ‘Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.’” (Nehemiah 1:4-7 NIV).Today, actually, I am praying this same prayer because my country of South Sudan has come out of war only go to right into another one. I am in exile just as Nehemiah was and I feel the same call as Nehemiah did. Nehemiah was called to rebuild the wall in the city of Jerusalem. I, Jacob, am called to bring restoration to my people and to bring them a message of hope. In the Old Testament, Nehemiah was a captive Israelite in Babylon, one who was blessed by being permitted to return to his home country to help rebuild it. That is my dream and my desire.God has brought me through a modern exodus. Like the ancient Israelites, God used my journey from Sudan to Kenya to provide me with instruction, teach me patience, instill resolve within me, and deepen my relationship with Him. I am now an ordained Anglican Priest from the Bor Diocese, and I wish to further my walk with the Lord and return to my own promised land. My heart’s desire is to become a pastor and missionary and forgive all the Muslims who killed my family, relatives, and friends.With much help from others who came alongside me, I founded Africa Sunrise Communities to help me work within the Buyawale Refugee Camp in Uganda, where some 20,000 communities/tribes and refugees from South Sudan are living.Much of the problem we have concerns tribal warfare and killing, which is still going on in South Sudan. Late last year I lost my mother-in-law, who was killed in a rebel attack, and four of my nieces and nephews, who had traveled with her, were displaced. Africa Sunrise Communities raised the funds to get those children back to safety in a Ugandan refugee camp. Now we are raising funds to pay the fees for their education.I ask you to continue to pray for the situation in South Sudan. Also please pray that God would touch the hearts of donors who can help Africa Sunrise Communities financially, especially for the education of these relatives and other refugee children in the camp. Although I am from the Dinka tribe, I believe that the men and women of South Sudan, regardless of their tribe, are one people and need to learn to act in that way. The same justice must be available to all. God sent me to America to help me get an education so that I can help my own people. Nehemiah prayed, “Send me to the city…where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” (Nehemiah 2:5, NIV). The same prayer is within me.In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus sends out those whom he had loved, lived with, and trained. Their field was the world, and their mission was to make disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them to obey what Jesus had taught them. Our mission at Africa Sunrise Communities, in line with this Great Commission, is to go out to refugees, to disciple them, and to teach them how to live in peace with one another, through education and by supporting themselves with the work of their handsThat is my dream and my mission, and I invite you to join me in this great cause, through your prayers and your financial support.President and Founder,Jacob Guot

It seems South Sudan hasn’t seen peace since the creation of Adam and Eve. Its inhabitants may never see peace anytime soon, unless people of good conscience and benevolence would step in and help the most overlooked humans in the world. This part of the world has lost at least three generations to illiteracy due a deep-rooted civil war that started in the 1950’s as the result of oppression from the former Sudanese government of Arab Muslims.Nevertheless, South Sudan fought for decades and earned her long overdue independence from the north in 2011. Though free of its rule, there is still evidence that reveals the continuing influence of the largely Muslim country to the north. Influential elites from Sudan are determined to cause strife between southern tribes, which would allow them to seize power again. For more than 60 years, the north has tried to convert the Christian communities in South Sudan by force.This is the situation in which we at Africa Sunrise Communities (ASC) are dedicated to bringing peace. Through farming projects and education of all young South Sudanese irrespective of their tribes, we will foster reconciliation and restoration.The latest report from UN’s Refugee Agency has reported that a huge number of people have fled to the refugee camps mainly in Uganda as a result of renewed fighting in South Sudan. These refugees are women and children that have been uprooted from their country as a result of serious insecurity. They are literally running for their lives, leaving everything they own behind and living in camps with nothing.In these camps, they wait for food from the UN, which is scant and lacking in nutrition. The children are unable to receive education without funding. This is where Africa Sunrise Communities will be working to fill the gaps by providing gardening plots to encourage teamwork between tribes as well as a sustainable source of food. As we work to reconcile the older generations, we will educate the younger to raise up a generation that it educated and invested in bettering their country together.Written by Gabriel KwaiTreasurer and Board Member