Category: Ministry

Wherever there’s war, all the agents of death are present and manifest their cruelty to the best of hell’s wishes. Diseases and hunger being chief, stay with the people long after the war ends, enslaving and traumatizing many. The horrors of war never end with the dead or dying, but the living battle with the challenges the dead and dying have left behind.

Since the end of the war in Sudan which lasted 21years, orphans have become a big issue in South Sudan. Many lost both parents to various life challenges occasioned by sickness, poverty and the war. Though some still have one parent alive but the challenges they face are as severe as those without a parent. Those without their mothers are worse off.

I’ve come to see that in Africa, on account of our communal lifestyle, no child should be tagged an ”orphan”. I’ll leave this thought for another time. 

Three orphanages better known as Childrens’ Home have taken on the challenge of orphans in Yei. Mama Michele of Iris said, “They are no orphans in the Kingdom of God. We are all dearly beloved children of our Father in heaven.” This is one of our core perspectives in this delicate ministry.

Dennis and Lillian of Harvesters sold all of their belongings and moved to Sudan in 2001 to begin their journey of giving orphans a place to call home. Meet them here and see the fruit of God’s zeal for His Kingdom as manifest in their obedience over the years. More than 150 kids are currently being cared for by this ministry. Many have since been helped and released back into the society as message bearers of the Kingdom.

Michele Perry of Iris Ministries arrived Yei in 2006 and currently has over 130 kids cared for collectively in their programs and 370 kids in their primary and nursery school. Meet her here. Her book, “Love Has a Face” was released in English this month. Please get it here and read the amazing story of this great woman of God.

My partnership with Sudan for Christ Ministries in Yei, led by Pastor Stanley LoNathan is youth-based. We opened Dreamland Childrens’ Home with 38 kids whose ages range from 4 to 13 in 2007. Last April, another set of 33 kids arrived at Dreamland, taking the total to 71. Our current facility can only accommodate so much. There are many more orphaned kids roaming around Yei and nearby villages and seeking a family to belong to. We wish we could take them all.

Dreamland Childrens’ home is set on a property 240X250 sqm, 5km away from our base in Yei. We have three dorms housing 71 kids with their care-givers. We have a water bore-hole that also serves the community. There’s a nursery and primary school in the premises for the kids of Dreamland and other kids in the neighborhood. Over 250 kids are already in 6 different classes. There’s much planned for this piece of land, from a pediatric clinic, a secondary school, crafts center etc.

As these children grow, we hope to nurture them and give them Kingdom exposure for spiritual exploits and impact. We will take them on short term missions and show them how to plant the kingdom of Jesus among the unreached. We will give them apprenticeships in various small scale businesses and training where necessary, to thrive in challenging regions.

Although it’s our hope that Dreamland will be largely self sustaining, we will appreciate the involvement of sponsors who we pray will develop long term relationships with the kids of Dreamland. These sponsors will be known to the kids as Uncles and Aunts. 

A few ministries like La Sea Feed the Hungry,  Victory Christian Center Lafayette USA and Global Quest Inc. have contributed immensely towards caring for these children to date. But the needs continue to mount as new kids join the family and the others grow older. We crave for support.

Our immediate needs include the following:

1.      Training for the care-givers

2.      Clothes for the kids (various sizes for boys and girls)

3.      Medication (over the counter medicines, vitamins and first aid kits)

4.      Guest rooms for visiting ministers with facilities (beds and beddings)

We strongly believe that God is fashioning for Himself with these children, tools for Kingdom advancement. These are future Ambassadors of the Light in the midst of gross darkness; carriers and preachers of that peace that passes all understanding. This is a generation abounding in the love of the Father. 

We long for partners who will serve as sponsors for these children. If the Lord is stirring your heart in this direction, please don’t fail to connect with us. It will certainly be a rewarding venture.

It seemed like a shame that after 3 months of Bible School in July 2005, which
we started with 44 students though 55 registered to participate, only 6
students graduated in the end, despite the good publicity we gave it. What
contributed to the steady decline of the students was unknown to us until few
weeks before the end. The remaining students at the time were around 9 and out
of worry and a measure of sadness I must confess,
I posed this question to the class.

“Why have many of our
friends stopped coming to class?”

The reasons given were diverse, from having other programs,
to long distance footing and others too flimsy to consider. But one reason
stood out and it really shocked me.

Someone said, “… many of us started coming because we thought
it will be like the one conducted by that Kawaja (white man) who paid students in
the Bible school weekly. There was tea and even lunch.”

“He paid the students for doing what?” I asked.

“Every student was paid 40,000ugsh ($20) weekly to attend the
Bible school.”

I was not sure I heard him right, so I asked again, “you
mean the Kawaja paid his students money so they could attend the
Bible school?”

The entire class now shouted “Yes!!”  Their loud affirmation was a statement and a question wrapped together; “why are you not
doing the same… we are disappointed.” Pastor Stanley, the Director of our Bible
School confirmed to me that a ministry ran by a foreigner in Yei few years ago actually
paid students who attended the Bible School.

Then Peter stood up and said, “I didn’t know about that. I
came here to learn about God and I think my life has changed since I started
coming here.”

His words seemed to calm the class a bit. In fact I thought
they’d be ashamed to admit such a thing as coming to school for the money. But their faces didn’t reflect shame in
any way. Somehow it seemed they were asking for their right. It never crossed my mind that someone could be paid to come for Bible
School and worse still, just come because of the money. Considering the cost we incurred
on the materials we gave freely to the students which included notebooks and
pens, paying them too was unthinkable.

The class ended with much noise. I was not surprised. It was
a sad evening for me. I needed to think. Could this be a good thing? What are the
gains? Why did that guy pay them? What did he achieve after all? Why did
he stop? Where is he now? Where are those his students today? These questions seemed to be falling on me like
rocks.

I still lack the courage to totally condemn this guy’s
approach to discipleship, given that the nation was at war, people were hungry and could not farm or work and yet had their families to feed and protect. But I have learned from working here that
though you can’t compete with FREE, the premium placed on the free goods or
services may most likely be grossly misunderstood and abused by the
beneficiaries if it’s not God-driven.