Friday, September 2, 2011

Cattle Raiders Killed Two Widows

Two Active members of Women of Hope Mission (WHOM) were shot by cattle raiders on their way to fetch water. The ladies had also lost their husbands in the same way-through the barrel of guns. One of the victims was Susan Okore. Her husband was killed 2004; in 2008 she remarried to a brother of her late husband Hillary. Okore left behind five children, the youngest is 3 months old.
The second victim, Icerer Oloi, lost her husband last October in the same circumstances. She did not remarry until her brutal death on June 3th, 2011. She left behind four children. The youngest child is four years old. Inter and Intra tribal cattle raiding in eastern Equatoria State (EES)between members of the Otuho, Boya, Logir, Toposa, Lopit and other ethnic groups killed a great number of young men and women. Of recent, the number of women killed has tremendously increased. There have been numerous raids, but this is the most violent of the other major incidents since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. For the second time WHOM has lost all 8 trained oxen in the hands of warriors.
The CPA was signed by North and South Sudan in 2005, ending 22 years of civil war. South Sudan was officially declared an independent country in July. Bringing cattle raiding attacks under control will be a significant challenge for the new country. This cattle raiding should not be ignored because the raiders are well armed. These guns were gotten during the civil war.
Last February, conflict erupted in Budi County between police and local residents of Boya ethnic group (pastoralists). The state government responded by requesting assistance from Torit, the capital of Eastern Equatoria State (EES). The governor of Eastern Equatoria State, Louis Lobong Lojore has made repeated requests to the ethnic groups in the state to maintain peace and involve in other better productive ways of survival. There is an observation that police force is needed to be well-trained so that they are better prepared to deal with insecurity, particularly cattle raiding.
Competition between South Sudan ethnic groups over scarce resources continues to spark violence, often in the form of deadly cattle-raids. Some minority groups and ex-combatants feel that their interests are not being represented within the political system, and that resources have been diverted to individuals and more populous ethnic groups. In most parts of the ten states of South Sudan poverty can be identified as one of the main factors exacerbating existing cattle raiding. Violent incidences are more increased during dry seasons, where cattle herding communities clash over same water points and existing grasslands. As such, Evangelical Church of South Sudan (ECSS) appeals to Christian Community all over the world to drill boreholes and build water catchments that will ensure more access to water points by herders as a mechanism to reduce tension among the pastoralists. If the people of South Sudan can feed themselves and even sell some vegetables in the market, they will not be so dependent on food aid or on raising cattle. This cut down on the existing violence. Pray with us on how we can help this situation.
An Appeal: In Eastern Equatoria State alone, there are over 90,000 vulnerable orphans. We will appreciate all of our friends who will help us top care for very few most vulnerable precious orphans. Deut. 24:19, 20, 21. FEED THESE ORPHANS! Pray and act! Send support for the ministry to: WorldVenture, get details for fund acct # on this blog
DOMINIC & REJOICE OLLURU

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Preparations for Easter during Holy Week

Dominic writes "Easter week, that is from Monday to Sunday, we spent most of our time in Church activities. Let me brief you on the most of the areas of prayers during Easter week. The theme was "THE SUFFERING OF JESUS CHRIST ON THE HANDS OF UNGODLY ROMAN GOVERNMENT". I just translated from Juba Arabic we used. Many people especially children attended the church services throughout the week. We also spent time to pray for peace in Sudan, particularly during the time of the coming elections.

Monday, March 29: We reminded the church gathering that it was on the Monday that he cleansed the temple, driving out the money-changers and the sellers of sacrificial victims. Then Jesus didn't stay in Jerusalem because it was not safe for him to do so.

Tuesday, March 30: On that day, according to the Gospel narrative, four deputations came to Jesus. The first demended to know on what authority he acted as he did (Matt 21:23-27; Luke 20:1-8). The second sought to con him into making dangerous statements about the paying of the tribute money to Rome (Matt 22:15-21; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26). The third was the deputation of the Sadducees who sought to entangle him in questions about the life to come (Matt 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38). The fourth demanded that he should tell them which was the greatest of the commandments (Matt 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34). In each case Jesus dealt wisely with his questioners and defeated thil intentions. It was on Thesday that Jesus also told many parables.

Wednesday March 31; We narrated the story where a woman came to a house where Jesus was sharing a meal and anointed Him with expensive perfume and the thing that made this day a bitter day was that Judas Iscariot went out and negotiated the betrayal of Jesus...

Thursday, April 01; The story was told to Christians that Jesus ate the Passover meal on Thursday night and went out into the garden where he was arrested. We were then able to count at least four times Jesus was on trial through Thursday night and into Friday morning.

Good Friday, April 02; At 9am our time, Jesus was nailed to the cross. At 12 noon darkness descended and at 3 pm Jesus committed himself into his Father's hands and died. They then had to have him off the cross and sealed in the tomb before 6pm because the Sabboth began at sunset. Some Christians at this time wept and we had to take more time for prayer than we had had planned. This was really a prayer week. I have seen that there are lots of changes in ECSS this time than the last two years.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Watch in 2010


from WORLD magazine--January 16, 2010
Hope remains tenuous for South Sudanese leaders marking the fifth anniversary in January of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed with leaders in the predominantly Islamic North. The 2005 CPA ended two decades of civil war waged by Muslim in the North against Southern Christians who refused to submit to Islamic law. The war left more than 2 million people dead and some 4 million Southerners displaced.
The CPA promised autonomy to the South, with guarantees that the North would share the country's vast oil wealth. Southern leaders say the Northern government has failed to abide by many of CPA's terms, and the South continues to struggle to provide basic services in its frontier towns.
Still, both sides say they are tentatively ready to proceed with nationwide elections scheduled for April. Voters will choose a president, governors of states, and members of assemblies in the North and South. Many fear the elections could be corrupted: The Northern president--Omar al-Bashir-- is a wanted war criminal who perpetuated genocide on Sudanese in the country's western region of Darfur. Despite his promises of fair elections, many believe Bashir would never allow a rival to win the presidency or threaten his National Congress Party's (NCP) power. But NCP remains unpopular with many Northerners, leaving some election observers wondering what would happen if they voted for a Southern president.
Election results are critical for another reason: They could affect a referendum scheduled for January 2011 to decide whether the South will declare its independence. And experts say the April contest will be another critical test of Bashir's willingness to abide by the agreements he signs. That may be an unlikely prospect: So far, the defiant leader hasn't shown much intention of keeping his word.
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Dominic's comments----(Nov. 7, 2009)
Sudan is preparing for next year's elections. Voter registration is going on. This will be the first democratic exercise in decades. Refugees from the camps in Uganda and Kenya are returning daily to their villages and towns.

(Jan. 10, 2010) Truly it is difficult to remember dates for Sudan elections because they keep on changing from time to time. Even for us Sudanese, we doubt whether the central government in Khartoum will be serious of April's schedule. They may keep on pushing the date ahead in order for them to hang onto power. They are also preparing to make the referendum difficult for the Southern Sudanese. They anticipate that Southerners will definitely choose to have a separate state/country than to be governed by Islamic laws.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

ECSS Continues To Provide Hot Lunch to School Children in South Sudan

TBC continues to assist a total of 1,601 pupils in Eastern Equatoria State (EES), South Sudan. These pupils are in schools run by Evangelical Church of South Sudan (ECSS). Because of this year's drought and crop failure, there is hunger and children are starving. The pupils will be having hot meals of a cup of porridge or beans even during and after the Christmas holidays. The head teachers anticipated that the upcoming academic year 2010-2011, starting the last week of February that the total number of pupils will extremely increase. It may become necessary to place a limit on the number of students in order to provide better education and reduce the class size. The hot meals significantly boosted school attendance. We give glory to Him.
In order for the hot meals to continue to be available for school going children, TBC funding source is very crucial. ECSS is embarking on TBC to raise funds for this important feeding program. We count on TBC support.
ECSS faces problems of the increasing food prices in local market and it has greatly impacted on feeding activities as well as Evangelism. ECSS evangelism activities are not well resourced, resulting in the pastors and their families facing horrible challenges. They are unsupported.
Evangelical Church of South Sudan (ECSS) continues to welcome any contributions from individuals as well as Churches who will like to support the elementary school feeding program in Sudan. Contributions can be channeled through:
WorldVenture
Attn: Receipting Department
1501 W. Mineral Ave
Littleton CO 80120-5612
Fund acct #6423918 NEGST Alumni Church Planting (Olluru-ECSS)
Website giving is also available at www.WorldVenture.com

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Feeding program at ECSS schools


Here are some pictures of the feeding program.  Through your faithful support, Trinity has been able to help subsidize this project, and in doing so provide a hot meal to the children in the area.



Monday, October 19, 2009

ECSS Feeds Starving School Children


Dear friends, thank you very much for helping to feed hungry children in South Sudan and encouraging them to attend school, improve their academic performance and have a brighter future.

This month or October 2009, The Evangelical Church of South Sudan (ECSS), in partnership with Christian friends in USA, has been providing daily lunch to over 1000 pre-school, kindergarten and primary school children in four schools in Eastern Equatoria State (EES), Southern Sudan. The objectives of this kind of feeding are to help starving children because of crop failures caused by drought this year in Sudan, to help the children's nutrition (malnutrition is killing childre) and to increase attendance, reduce dropout rates and improve overall academic performance, especially among girls.

This year in Sudan (and most probably also next year 2010) hunger and malnutrition continue to be a national pandemic affecting thousands of Sudanese population, particularly children. For teachers, school feeding gives them more gravitas. "Sometimes parents find it hard to understand why schooling is important for their children as it doesn't provide any immediate benefit to their lives," says Joseph. "Now at least they know that their children will be fed even if they didn't catch a fish that day." "We come to school for the food," said Joyce Avelino a young girl in Torit town, "and we also get to learn too" she continued.

One of our school head teachers, Barnabas Oller Anthony described school feeding as being "to attract poor and hungry children to school and ensure that they get the food, education, health and other basic services they need to thrive. Food for Education can bring children into school and out of hunger," he told us.

In fact starvation rates in children seem to correspond to school attendance rates, Jenthy Amal says. We have no doubt those Sudanese families who can't get food are less likely to send their children to school. Surprisingly, these two weeks the number of school going children in ECSS elementary schools has tremendously increased!

Please Continue to Help! Help us to feed vulnerable school children in South. You may send your contributions immediately to the address in the contact information section of ECSS blog. It is sent to WorldVenture in Littleton CO and be sure to include the account number and note designating for the Feeding program. Online giving is available also.

2 Cor8:3-4 "For they gave according to their means, as I can testify and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints----"

Friday, August 28, 2009

July 23, 2009 -- Dominic Reports on Current News


Dominic writes "I heard over radio (BBC frequency) on how Pres. Obama is planning to change American healthcare. It may not be an easy venture. He has to convince the parliamentarians/senators on how the government is going to meet the huge cost. Most leaders in African countries had a great expectations from Obama but it seems he is losing popularity especially in his father's country, Kenya. Kenyans was expecting Obama to visit the country and may solve some economic burdens but that did not work. Some people still have hope for him to visit Kenya. South Sudan and people of Darfur have negative feeling about Obama's administration. The administration is very much compromising with the Khartoum Islamic government. The government is continuing in killing the people of Darfur and intimidating the people of South Sudan and opposition parties in the north but the Obama's administration is saying things are improving in Sudan. We hope someone may advise him that he is playing with snakes.
North and South Sudan governments had a dispute on border demarcation in the oil rich Abyei region (the border between northern and southern Sudan). Each party wanted to control the available oil fields in the area As a result, there was lots of tension and even last year the two armies clashed in the area. The case was taken to court. Yesterday, the court of arbitration in Hague declared the findings of the demarcation of the border of 1905 and 1956 that the two major oil fields were to belong to the north (Arabs). The two sides accepted the results. In fact there was lots of tension in the whole Sudan for the last two weeks. Since Monday this week, Arab shops in the South were all closed. The owners feared that there was going to be conflict in Abyei which would spread to other towns in northern and southern Sudan. This morning friends in Torit, where I live, report that things have returned to normal and people have gone to work. We pray that God will continue to give peace in the hearts of war mongers."