Supporting the Sudans Always

The South Sudan emergency Lent appeal launched by Bishop Nicholas earlier this month has now topped £20,000 – a remarkable total in just a few weeks, especially as fundraising to support regularly projects in South Sudan and Sudan continues.

Bishop Nicholas launched the appeal after UN and international agencies declared a famine, with 100,000 facing starvation, a million on the brink of famine, and more than three million – a quarter of the population – displaced internally or refugees in neighbouring countries.

Bishop Nicholas has set a fundraising target of £50,000 for the appeal. “UNICEF estimates that could feed around 2,500 children for a month”, he wrote in the current edition of our Diocesan e-magazine, Grapevine.

So far just under £9,000 has come in by cheque, with over £11,000 coming in either by text message or the JustGiving online fundraising page at www.bit.ly/ssudanappeal.

Beyond the famine appeal, already scheduled projects continue. Bishop Edward, known to be an enthusiastic peddler, is getting on his bike to help Chalke Deanery buy bicycles the their link Diocese of Cuiebet in a Tour de Chalke Vallée on Saturday 25 March.

Geoff Taylor, who is helping to organise the project, said, “Remote and under-developed Cueibet isn’t in the immediate famine zone, but many internally displaced people are fleeing there from the famine. It’s a lot to cope with for a desperately poor region. 

“The danger is that Cueibet could slip into famine in the future if support for long-term development work dries up during the crisis.  

“We have supported a number of projects in the past. This year’s project will buy bikes. That may seem a minor contribution in such desperate times, but the only major routes in the area are dirt tracks which become impassable in the rainy season. Bicycles are vital, being the best means of travelling through the bush. 

“The ‘Buffalo’ bikes come from Kenya through World Bicycle Relief (WBR), a charity which builds and distributes bicycles specially designed for rough African terrain.  

“We cannot give everyone a bicycle, but we can begin to help some of the men and women leaders. We are seeking to raise £5,000, which will deliver a fleet of 25 bikes to Cueibet”. 

St Mark’s in Salisbury deserves special praise for some remarkable fundraising. The parish has been associated with Yei diocese for some more than twenty years, and has been raising money for Bishop Allison Theological College, based in Yei. St Mark’s PCC last week agreed to send £15k to Yei via CMS Ireland who are working in Yei, and also in a refugee camp in northern Uganda where a lot of those fleeing Yei have gone.

St James’, Southbroom in Devizes has a longstanding link with Kajo-Keji, raising just over £5,000 through a concert earlier this month for CRESS (Christian Relief in South Sudan), which is based in the Chalke Valley and has strong links with many churches in the Diocese.

Here, regular work has been severely disrupted as fighting has now spread to this part of South Sudan. CRESS South Sudanese aid and medical workers have, like many thousands of their neighbours in and around Kajo-Keji, been forced to flee to refugee camps in nearby Uganda.

CRESS workers in January were forced to close their Liwolo clinic and, at real risk to their lives, managed to remove all the equipment and take it across the border. They have now reopened clinics in Arua in Uganda, where they are now attending to the health needs of the many South Sudanese refugees in the town.

Deep friendships between Salisbury and the Sudans have developed over the past 44 years. South Sudan is in a time of absolutely desperate need, which is why so many people putting such energy into raising money: when times are tough, friends help friends,

Giving to the Bishop’s Appeal for South Sudan

Online at bit.ly/ssudanappeal.

Text “SSUD17 £10” to 70070 to donate £10.

By cheque payable to Salisbury DBF SSA and send it to South Sudan Appeal, Church House, Crane Street, Salisbury, SP1 2QB.”

Second photo: Geoff Taylor examining a Buffalo bike in Nairobi with Dick Waswa of World Bicycle Relief.

Third photo: the Sapori Vocali young emerging artists helped Southbroom raise a substantial amount to support Kajo-Keji.