Emergency Appeal Launched

This shocking statement and appeals for help from church leaders throughout the Sudans has led Bishop Nicholas to launch an Emergency Appeal for the Sudans.

He is asking our Diocese to give generously for this desperate need and help him raise over £50,000 in a month.

Launching the Appeal with a video (view it here) and a letter, Bishop Nicholas said:

“Our own problems with Covid-19 in this country are significant, but our brothers and sisters in South Sudan and Sudan face even greater problems with even less resources.

“The pandemic has added another frightening aspect to lives in the Sudans where ‘normal’ includes hunger and the threat of disease.

“I hope and pray we will be generous.”

Throughout Sudan and South Sudan people are dying of hunger and coronavirus. There is an urgent need for improved hygiene to help stave off the virus in a population weakened by famine.

They need SOAP and FOOD and as a Diocese we want to raise £50,000 to help provide for these two great needs.

SOAP - used to describe everything linked to improved hygiene, which is just as important as food in fighting Covid 19, but which is lacking in so many areas, and FOOD - because starvation also leaves the population vulnerable to the virus.

The £50,000 will be divided equally between the Churches in Sudan and South Sudan, with whom we have had a long and close relationship for almost 50 years.

In South Sudan we are working with the Episcopal Church’s Relief and Development arm (‘SSUDRA’, based in Juba) to radically improve sanitation levels by the local provision of soap and water supplies. Just as in the UK, frequent and thorough hand washing is vital to maintaining safe hygiene levels during this global pandemic and beyond.

In Sudan, because of the rapid collapse of the economy, increasing numbers of people including babies and children are starving and they become weak and more vulnerable to Covid-19. So the first priority in Sudan is for the provision of basic food items. We are working directly with Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo in Khartoum.

Please give generously and help us reach our target.

Go to our Just giving page: https://bit.ly/sudansemergency

Or donate by sending a cheque made payable to Salisbury DBF (marked ‘Sudans Appeal’ on the back) to Church House, 99 Crane St, Salisbury SP1 2QB.

Watch Bishop Nicholas’s video appeal here,

Visit our webpage here,

View a web gallery with full-res photos here,

Download a PDF poster to email, add to your parish magazine, or print out, here.