OVERCOMING OBSTACLES to SUDAN

Volume 2 1996

Our mission had been invited to present a series of sermons at a Church Conference in Southern Sudan. Thereafter, we were to conduct a Pastor’s Training Course and hold various chaplaincy services amongst the armed forces in ¶he area.

As we had a large quantity of desperately needed Bibles and Christian books to deliver to the Churches, we first considered driving overland through Uganda and Zaire. Then word came through of a relief column that had been ambushed on the very road we needed to travel over. This brought to 240 the number of people killed in ambushes on the Northern Ugandan roads in the previous 4 weeks. This was the work of the so-called “Lord’s Resistance Army” (LRA), which pretends to be Christian but whose members pray five times a day towards Mecca! The LRA has been heavily armed and supported by the Muslim government of Sudan. The LRA’s main activities have been attacking the supply lines of the Christians in Southern Sudan. In this, the LRA has been clearly serving the cause of Khartoum. When the Ugandan government closed the Northern roads to Sudan, our only option left was to fly into Western Equatoria.

After a hectic morning in Nairobi, we drove off with flight authorisations for each of our team members to depart at 6am the next morning from Lokichoggio. It took our heavily laden diesel truck 15 hours to reach Lokichoggio. The scenic route took us over the Great Rift Valley and through a dozen police checkpoints and army roadblocks. The last 200 km was through bandit territory notorious for violent attacks on cars and hijacking after dark. With our flight leaving the very next morning we had little choice but to press on in faith.

As it happened, all we encountered were stray camels and zebra on the road. When we finally arrived in Lokichoggio at 3 AM, the frustrating task of locating the mission compound from which we were to depart began. When at last we tracked down the compound, we found the people there somewhat edgy. We were informed that their compound had been attacked by armed robbers 6 times in the previous two and a half months, including 2 nights before.

When we finally laid out our sleeping bags it was less than 2 hours to dawn. As it happened, I set my alarm and rose early in vain. The UN had cancelled our flight - without any explanation being given!

The Church conference was only 2 days away, so we seriously prayed about chartering a private aircraft to fly our team and Bible shipment in. What made us hesitate was more than just the cost - the UN was warning that the Sudan Air Force had recently stationed 14 helicopter gunships in Juba to shoot down any unauthorised (i.e. non-UN) flights over Southern Sudan.

Breaching the Blockade

As I prayed through the various aspects involved in this dilemma, the Lord’s leading became clear. We could not allow our mission to be guided by the UN or the Islamic government of Sudan!

God’s people had invited us to this church conference, they desperately needed the Bibles and the Lord had repeatedly confirmed that this mission trip was in His will. No matter what the cost, no matter what the risk, we had to improvise, adapt and overcome all obstacles to fulfill our commitments to the believers in Sudan, breach the UN blockade and deliver the precious cargo of Bibles and Christian books.

We swung into action and by dawn the next morning we were flying into Sudan with the Christian contraband - 1 200 Bibles in 5 languages and several boxes of Christian books and teaching manuals. As we flew over rolling hills, rocky mountains, the wide expanse of the Nile river and adjacent swamps, we were reminded of why aircraft are so important for travel across this vast country.

Soon we were bumping across the bush landing strip. Within ten minutes, the charter aircraft was soaring off again leaving us amidst piles of Bible boxes and our bush kit. We were then berated by some local official because they had had no prior knowledge of the flight. “You might have been shot down!” He was clearly agitated. After calming him down, we were able to begin our journey by road to the site of the church conference.

Camouflaged Church Conference

We were welcomed by an enthusiastic choir of singing and dancing Christians. They said that they had scarcely dared to believe that we would be able to make it. It had been many years since they had last had an outside visitor to the churches in their district. We were informed that the front - the nearest Muslim garrison - was a mere 15 miles away. Because the last church diocese gathering had been subjected to an aerial bombardment (6 bombs had been strung across the town, one bomb landing in the church compound), they had constructed a special conference venue in the bush outside the town. It was carefully camouflaged under tree cover and would not be visible to Muslim aircraft.

The town was an important centre for spiritual revival and Christian leadership training. The pastors pointed out to us where previous bombs had exploded and the trenches we were to use for cover in the event of an air raid. Every home seemed to have its own trenches for cover.

The next morning an enthusiastic choir and soldiers escorted us through the bush to the conference centre. It was beautifully constructed in a shady clearing covered by tall trees. It was clear that a lot of hard work had gone into this venue. Hundreds of cheerful Christians were converging on the site from all directions. Many were singing, some wore or carried crosses.

The Commissioner of the district (who is also a church elder) officially welcomed us to the conference. He said that “This is a war for religious freedom. The Khartoum government has made it clear that only Islam will be allowed in Sudan.” The SPLA in New Sudan (the South), was fighting for the freedom to hold church conferences like this. He said that they could not guarantee our safety from air attacks but they would do all they could to ensure our safety whilst their guests. Throughout the conference military patrols circled the area and vigilent soldiers scanned the surrounding jungle.

We learned that all of the people in this town were displaced people. Just a few years ago their town had been overrun by a Muslim offensive. They had then built this temporary town until they could move back to their homes.

We were impressed with the high standards of civil administration, church structures, community organisation, hygiene and spiritual fervour maintained in the district. The Commissioner explained that the reason for all this was that a Scottish missionary couple - Dr Kenneth Fraser and his wife Eileen - had come and firmly planted the Gospel in Moruland in 1920.

From Scotland To Moruland

Dr. Fraser had run away from home at the age of 14 and had joined the British army. Whilst stationed in South Africa, he was converted to Christ. When his unit was sent to India he met his future wife, Eileen, who was the daughter of an Irish pastor. Eileen had a strong sense of call to pioneer missionary work in Africa and she communicated this vision to Fraser. Soon he returned to Scotland determined to emulate Dr. David Livingstone - so he began to study medicine and theology.

No sooner had Kenneth and Eileen married in 1914, than the First World War broke out. Dr. Fraser returned to the army as a major and was sent to Turkey where he was involved in some of the fiercest battles. By the end of the war he had been promoted to Major General and was much loved and admired by his men. For her part, Mrs Fraser enrolled as a nurse and cared for the war wounded in France.

The Frasers were reunited after the war, completed their training, joined the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and travelled up the Nile to Sudan. They felt led towards Moruland and were welcomed by Chief Yila at Lul on 22 December 1920. The local people, having suffered at the hands of the Turko - Egyptian empire, the Mahdists and Arab slave traders, were very suspicious of any foreigners.

Within 18 days, Dr. Fraser was presented with a test case - a woman and her child who had been badly mauled by a lion. By God’s grace, the patients fully recovered and Dr. Fraser’s healing ability was established!

The news spread like wildfire and soon the Frasers had constructed a mud walled hospital to cater for the growing number of patients. By 1926 a new concrete hospital was built. Already in 1921 the Frasers began the first school for boys. These pupils later became the pioneers of education and the church in the country. By 1927, seven of the pupils had qualified to be teachers. They then were sent out to start new schools. Similarly nurses and medical orderlies were trained and sent out.

By the time Dr. Fraser passed away in 1935, he had laid a solid foundation for continual growth and expansion. The Gospels and Acts had been translated into Moru and those he had discipled and trained were vigorously multiplying churches, schools and clinics throughout Moruland.

The Fruit of Faith

The legacy of the sacrificial and far sighted work of the Frasers is still clearly evident today:

• More than 80% of the Moru people claim to be Christians.
• The largest and most vigorous sections of the Episcopal Church is the Mundri Diocese (Moruland).
• The highest literacy rate in the country is amongst the Morus.
• The lowest incidence of leprosy and other diseases is in Moruland.
• More than half of all the doctors of Sudan are Morus (Most of them are in exile however).
• The largest engineers, artisans, politicians in Southern Sudan come from the Morus.

The Church planted seventy-six years ago by Dr. Fraser has proven to be incredibly resilient to survive and flourish in spite of severe persecution and debilitating wars.

Today, the evangelical Episcopal Church alone in Moruland comprises 24 parishes, 130 preaching centres, 45 pastors, 65 lay preachers and 300 000 church members.

Hunger for the Word

The enthusiastic responses to our presentations from many at the Conference confirmed the vitality of the Episcopal Church in Moruland. And when we brought out boxes of Gospel literature to distribute, we were literally mobbed. Hundreds of eager pressing people almost knocked us off our feet as they desperately grabbed some of the precious pamphlets. Seemingly, in no time at all, the large boxes were emptied and silence descended as percentage of lawyers and Sudan have the people stood, or sat and carefully read the publications. Some read the messages aloud to eager listeners around them.

After the church conference concluded with a joyful celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we began to conduct a Pastors Training Course. Twenty ministerial candidates gathered under the thatch roof of the church each day from 8am to 3pm to receive instruction in Biblical principles for ministry. They were very grateful for the Discipleship Training Course manuals and other resources which we had brought up for them. The question and answer sessions went on for hours - sometimes they invited us to sit around the fire at night and answer their many theological questions.

Each day we distributed Bibles and Gospel booklets to different pastors, teachers and church members in the district. Petrus walked to a remote village of 5 000 people to distribute Bibles and proclaim the Gospel message.

On another day, Rob and Petrus visited the local clinic and ministered to the patients and staff. We also visited a teacher training facility and presented Bibles to each of the trainee teachers. That evening, we presented the Biblical principles for education to the trainees and staff.

On virtually every night of my time in Sudan, I spent the evenings answering questions at fireside discussions. On some occasions, it was with pastors and deacons, on others over a hundred youth crowded around asking many questions ranging from warfare and suffering to sickness and demonic activity. We will never forget the joyful, wholehearted singing around the campfire and the probing questions late into the night. Sometimes only the rain put an end to our discussions. Clearly the people we dealt with in Sudan felt desperately cut off from the rest of the world and were hungry for more knowledge.

Some of the youth were despondent about their prospects. They questioned the viability of studying at all when the only education available to them was basic primary school. The devastation and destabilisation caused by the Muslim bombardments and offensives had left only 3 functioning secondary schools in the whole of Western Equatoria (at Yambio, Maridi and Mundri). Most schools had a blackboard but few had much else. Pens, writing paper and textbooks were scarce - many schools having no materials at all. Many of the teachers expressed their frustration that they felt ill-trained and ill-equipped to meet the educational needs of their communities.

The destruction of the economy and infrastructure of the South has drastically reduced the standard of living. Most of the people have only tattered clothes and no shoes. Even the soldiers seldom have uniforms and shoes. We saw many operational soldiers wearing only sandals.

The absence of adequate medical facilities is also keenly felt. Many minor infections and wounds become major problems and can even be fatal because of a desperate lack of medicines and trained medical personnel. Many soldiers have died unnecessarily from wounds because of the great distances which need to be covered before any medical attention at all can be given to them.

The only two hospitals in (SPLA-controlled) Western Equatoria (in Maridi and Yambio) were barely functioning and ill-equipped to cope with surgery. Wounded soldiers and civilians often have to endure a week or more of transportation and waiting before being airlifted to the Red Cross Hospital in Lokichoggio. For this reason, we were requested to bring in medical teams and equipment to assist in surgery and the training of local personnel. Many lives could be saved if we could restore the local hospital.

Celebrating Life and Liberty

On 21 March, we joined thousands of jubilant dancing and singing citizens of Maridi as they celebrated the 5th anniversary of the liberation of Maridi from the Arabs - in 1991. The governor officially thanked those of us who were assisting their suffering people. We were also told of how the Muslim forces had herded civilians at gunpoint and then had them crushed under their tanks as the frustrated GOS forces were fleeing Maridi in 1991.

Soldiers for Christ

The next day, 22 March, we held the first official FF chaplaincy service amongst the SPLA. The captain and his NCO’s were immaculately dressed up for this occassion and the clamour for Bibles afterwards was encouraging.

After this we were invited to conduct a chaplaincy service for the 7th Division. We rose before dawn and trekked through the bush and across the town, then up the hill to the barracks. Long before we could see the base we could hear the singing of the soldiers whilst they ran. The barracks were battle scarred with walls pockmarked with bullet holes and torn roofs where mortar shells had exploded.

The unit was in high spirits as they had just heard of the fall of another key town on the Ethiopian border - Pochalla - to the SPLA forces.

Approximately 1 500 men of all ranks were gathered on the parade ground singing Christian hymns as the Chaplain - holding high a wooden cross - led them in praise to God for their victory. Many soldiers had crosses pinned to their uniforms. As l presented a Gospel message to the division, they responded enthusiastically. In fact, I had some trouble maintaining the flow of the message as they constantly interrupted with applause and cheers - a very receptive audience indeed.

Afterwards we were mobbed for Bibles and ran out all too quickly. Fortunately we had more boxes back at our camp which we could carry over on our next outreaches to the base but even the other 12 boxes of Bibles would prove insufficient to satisfy the intense demand for Bibles in their various languages. We would need to bring in many more Bibles on our next trip.

“These Bibles that you have brought are a very great achievement” declared the Chaplain. "We know that if is very difficult to bring them in. The UN and the Arabs do not want us to receive the Word of God because they know that it will be the most powerful weapon for our freedom. This is a great day. These are the first Bibles ever distributed amongst our soldiers. You have been the first foreign visitors to take a Chaplaincy service in the SPLA.”

Medicine for the Soul

I also received permission to distribute Bibles to each of the war wounded patients at the Red Cross Hospital in Lokichoggio. This was an unprecedented and strategic opportunity for ministry. As the ICRC facility is the only hospital for the South Sudanese, patients come from every corner of the war-torn country. After they recover they will be able to return to their areas with their precious Bibles.

I was mobbed by a virtual stampede of patients - many on only one leg or with one arm - desperately pleading for a copy of the Word of God in their own language. Afterwards silence descended upon the hospital tents as the hundreds of patients sat reading their own copy of the Bible - many for the first time.

The opportunities for ministry in Southern Sudan are so great. The suffering is so intense. The needs are so desperate. The largest country in Africa in the grip of the longest war of this century requires our greatest missionary efforts. The oldest community of Christians in Africa, suffering the most severe persecution in the world demands our most urgent and
wholehearted assistance. Frontline Fellowship needs your help to rise to this challenge:

Please join with us in fervent prayer that the sufferings of our Christian brethren in Sudan become known to the whole world, that the persecutors be exposed and opposed, that peace - with justice - be firmly established.

Help us to make known the plight of Southern Sudan. Write letters to your local newspapers, write to your elected representative, urge that diplomatic and economic pressure be brought to bear upon the Government of Sudan to stop their atrocities. Encourage your local Christian magazines or radio stations to report on the incredible testimonies of suffering and Christian courage in Sudan. Make copies of our newsletters, distribute them as widely as you can. Pin them up on your church notice board. Ensure that Sudan is regularly remembered in prayer at your church.

Pray with us for the necessary resources to finance more Bibles, medicines, flights and field trips to meet the desperate spiritual and practical needs in Sudan. Pray also that the Lord will lead more of the right kind of dedicated missionary to join us in literature distribution, chaplaincy services, emergency medical work and leadership training courses in Sudan.

“Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Matthew 25:40

Peter Hammond

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