2024 Holes Bay Walk The 2024 Holes Bay Walk, PWP's main fundraising event, raised £4,166 (plus a further £555 to be claimed from HM Treasury in Gift Aid), which exceeds our target of £4,000, the cost of adding the verandah to the new building at St John's College, Wau. This is a traditional feature of buildings in South Sudan which will provide shade for students and help to keep the temperature inside the building slightly cooler. The walk took place on Saturday 13th July 2024, led by Karen, Bishop of Sherborne. The event attracted 21 people and 2 dogs walking on the day and a further 6 who walked on a different day. Walkers set off on the 7-mile walk at 9.30 in ideal walking conditions (dry yet not too hot), but were rained on as they neared the end of the return leg. Spirits were however undampened as walkers got back to St Dunstan's Church for tea or coffee, pizza and ice cream. Many thanks to Bishop Karen and to all who took part or sponsored a walker. We continue to seek funding for the interior and exterior painting of the new building (c.£6,500). Our grateful thanks go to all our supporters and churches in Poole & North Bournemouth Deanery who have contributed generously towards bringing this project so near to completion, as well as to the Slavanka and Charis Trusts. South Sudan 'Bright Stars' compete in Olympics The South Sudan Mens Basketball team is playing in the Olympic Games for the first time ever. In a friendly warm-up tournament in London before the Paris Olympics, the Bright Stars, as they are known, beat the Great Britain team 84-81, and led the USA (the Number 1 basketball team in the world) in the Final for most of the match before finally being defeated by the narrowest of margins 101-100. https://apnews.com/article/south-sudan-usa-basketball-paris-olympics-c82d07445a8d43040915f300258c22a6 Archbishop Moses has commented on the Bright Stars’ performance on Facebook: “the Bright Stars have shown a positive image of South Sudan to the world” and added that the young people of South Sudan have the potential to excel in business or education or other fields if given the opportunity, following the fine example of the basketball team: https://www.facebook.com/mosesd.bol The team easily won their first match in Paris, against Puerto Rico, on Day Two of the Olympic Games, Sunday 28th July, but were later knocked out of the tournament. St John's students win debating prize St. John’s College, Wau won the 3rd division in the South Sudan nationwide Inter-Universities debating competition in January 2024. The College organised a day of Thanksgiving and Celebration on 27th July and the guest patron of the day was Bishop Joseph Mamer Manot, who presented the trophy to the winning debaters. Bishop Joseph comments: “It was a day of joyous and blessed celebration, attended by the Deputy Governor of Western Bahr El Ghazal State, H.E. Zachariah Joseph Garang, and many government officials. I was received warmly by Christians as their former Dean and first Principal of St John’s College.” |
Salisbury-Sudans Link Chair honoured
Canon Ian Woodward, Chair of the Salisbury-Sudans Link since 2016, has been awarded the Cross of St Augustine by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recognition of his “exceptional and tireless dedication in forging and maintaining lasting relationships between the Sudans and Salisbury Diocese, as well as with other relevant agencies, for over 25 years.” The Bishop of Salisbury commented that the award is “richly deserved. It has been largely thanks to Ian that the Salisbury-Sudans Partnership Link remains strong and valued.” Canon Woodward has been very encouraging to the Poole-Wau Partnership and was a welcome guest at a PWP Prayer Meeting at St John's Heatherlands on Monday 2nd September this year. More details about Ian and the award are available here: www.salisbury.anglican.org/exceptional-and-tireless-work-to-build-relationship-in-sudans-recognised-.php PWP sends total of £2,350 towards relief for flood victims in Wanyjok & Warrup The short-term appeal in our October 2024 newsletter to PWP supporters for funds to help with relief efforts for victims of serious flooding in Wanyjok Diocese and parts of Warrup state raised more than £1500, enough to send $1000 each to the two affected areas. A further individual donation of £750 in November will be sent to help flood victims in Warrup Town, following a request from William Majok Provincial Secretary, Episcopal Church of South Sudan Northern Bahr el Ghazal Internal Province. PWP’s existing funds are fully committed to paying salaries at St John’s College and completing the new extension there. But we are pleased to be able to send some money towards providing help for flood victims in both Wanyjok and Warrup thanks to the generosity of our supporters in responding to this appeal. We had heard from Bishop Joseph Mamer that serious flooding had hit parts of his diocese of Wanyjok: “The lowlands have been heavily affected including Wanyjok town where our Diocesan office is situated.” [See photos on left] News had also reached us from Peter Akook, Director of the Rural Development Committee Initiative, that parts of Warrup State had also been badly affected by the floods, especially Wun-Yiik and Nyieth villages in Akon South Payam. Peter appealed for funds for a project to help some 500 vulnerable households in these villages, whose houses and food stocks as well as growing crops, had been destroyed by the flooding. Conflict in Sudan
"The world's gravest humanitarian disaster" says Jonathan Freeland of 'The Guardian' [Last update: 20/10/24] It is now more than eighteen months since the civil war in Sudan started and other conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have often pushed Sudan out of the headlines. But there has been considerable news coverage in the UK press in recent weeks, largely prompted by the debate on the Sudan conflict at the United Nations in late September. They include this moving article on the humanitarian crisis caused by the civil conflict and lamenting the worldwide lack of concern about it, by Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/11/world-humanitarian-disaster-sudan Apart from the 700,000+ refugees and returnees who have fled from Sudan into South Sudan, the conflict has caused dire economic difficulties for South Sudan. The crucial pipeline across Sudan which carryies most of South Sudan's oil exports was blocked in February 2024 and dealing with this, as well as general maintenance, has proved all but impossible. This interruption to the country's main source of income has caused huge problems to the South Sudanese economy, as this article published on 18th October on Bloomberg UK's website explains: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-10-18/south-sudan-s-juba-sent-into-chaos-after-oil-pipeline-breaks Here are some links to other detailed and thoughtful articles and podcasts, which are well worth reading or listening to: https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2024/08/24/the-war-the-world-ignores https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0022kdv https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/29/the-observer-view-on-sudan-decisive-action-is-needed-to-avert-catastrophe-but-where-is-the-will https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/08/29/anarchy-in-sudan-has-spawned-the-worlds-worst-famine-in-40-years [Although The Economist magazine's website operates a paywall, it is possible to sign up for a free trial.] These sources, which are frequently updated, have more about the crisis in Sudan and its effects on South Sudan: https://www.theguardian.com/world/sudan https://unmiss.unmissions.org/ https://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/World+News/Africa/South+Sudan St John's College plays important role in developing common courses for TEU St John’s College, Wau is taking the lead in the development of common courses in Business Studies across all the colleges affiliated to TEU, The Episcopal University, the recently formed federation of Anglican colleges in South Sudan. Philip Abiel, the Principal of St John’s, took part in a recent meeting in Juba of representatives of all of TEU’s affiliated colleges. TEU is developing common courses shared by each of the colleges in several subjects and St John’s has been developing the course in Business Studies since 2023. Principal Philip has told us that, "The college already did the development of the curriculum of Business since 2023 and the curriculum was submitted to TEU." The college has now been asked to develop additional foundational and university requirement courses in this subject. Philip added: "We have also developed and submitted to TEU a curriculum for primary school teachers to train and upgrade their curriculum level to become competent teachers." It is greatly encouraging that the expertise and good reputation of St John's College in these subject areas is recognised by TEU and that St John's is taking a leading role in developing these courses. Links to find out more about South Sudan News Organisations: Sudan Tribune: https://sudantribune.com Radio Tamazuj: https://radiotamazuj.org/en Eye Radio: https://eyeradio.org Associated Press: https://apnews.com/hub/south-sudan The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/south-sudan BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=South+Sudan Radio Miraya: https://audioboom.com/channel/radiomiraya News Now: https://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/World+News/Africa/South+Sudan Regular publications: Diocese of Salisbury Sudans Link, including quarterly Salisbury-Sudans Link Bulletin: https://www.salisbury.anglican.org/mission/the-sudan-link Renewal Magazine: https://anglican.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=bc17f2b699f53a98ce265ecab&id=69d5549620 The Church Association for Sudan and South Sudan, including twice-yearly Sudan Church Review: https://www.casss.org.uk AFRECS (American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudans), including fortnightly E-Blast: https://afrecs.org Church organisations in South Sudan: St John’s College Wau: https://stjohnscollegewau.org South Sudan Council of Churches: https://sscchurches.org The Epicopal Church of South Sudan: https://southsudan.anglican.org ECSS Northern Bahr El Ghazal province: https://www.facebook.com/northerbahrelghazal/ International organisations and charities working in South Sudan: Anglican International Development: www.anglicaninternationaldevelopment.org CRESS UK (Christian Relief and Education for South Sudan): https://cressuk.org/blog/ ECSSSUP (UK-based charity supporting The Episcopal University of South Sudan, of which St John's College Wau is a constituent institution): https://www.ecsssup.org/copy-of-home Health Initiative South Sudan: https://health-initiative-south-sudan.org/homepage TEAR Fund: https://www.tearfund.org/about-us/our-impact/where-we-work/south-sudan UNMISS (United Nations Mission in South Sudan): https://unmiss.unmissions.org World Food Programme: https://www.wfp.org/stories/south-sudans-road-out-hunger ECSSSUP: https://www.ecsssup.org/copy-of-home |
