A story in the shadows

By Tohru Inoue | Sudan and South Sudan in East Africa

Photos by SIM Stories East Africa.

How about some good news?

Four years ago, insecurity in Doro, South Sudan forced SIM members to huddle in their houses for two days. An evacuation flight managed to get in after the 48-hour long wait for dawn. The SIM secondary school, run in conjunction with the church, was looted. A plastic model heart from biology class, not valuable enough to take, was left broken in the dirt. It summed up how we felt about the whole thing.

After that, our team shifted our attention to primary education. We hoped that it would be more sustainable and held small, church-run classes wherever the church could hold them. The emphasis for our team was training, training, training. Something, we hoped, that might be more durable and resilient than cement mortar buildings. Training is impervious to looting.

 

Seventeen churches came to life based on this idea. SIM helped get them going with small stipends.

But last year, with funds drying up and a team dwindling in size, we had to end the stipends. Most of the schools fizzled out. Then COVID-19 happened, causing our entire mission team to leave Doro for several months.

I know … I said this was good news.

It started with a letter. Good news often starts that way.

Something came in the mail. God was stirring.

A church leader wrote: “As of February 1st, we have opened our school, and our children are learning at the Doro church property. Our community is very pleased in seeing their children now attending school … We ask you and the SIM missionary community to pray for us as we begin this work.”

 

God has always been active in the business of expanding his church. Even in the beginning, when there was nothing, God hovered over the waters … stirring.

What is SIM asking from you?

Well … Only what this pastor is asking: to pray.

I can hear the teachers saying it now: “Hand me the chalk... Could you do me a favor though? Could you pray?”

Yes, I think we can do that.

SIM Asset Publisher Portlet

Agrégateur de contenus

SIM Asset Publisher Portlet

Agrégateur de contenus

Related stories

Voice of truth to Sahel nomads

Read how SIM workers Phil and Carol have been sharing God's plan of forgiveness and bringing 'MegaVoices' of truth to desert communities forgotten by Christian mission.

Phil Bauman est le nouveau directeur international du SIM

Phil Bauman prendra la relève en tant que directeur international de SIM lorsque Joshua Bogunjoko quittera ses fonctions à la fin du mois de février 2024. Nous attendons avec confiance et foi ce que Dieu fera avec le SIM à travers le leadership de Phil dans les années à venir.

Gospel bears fruit in hard-to-reach places

SIM writer Lee Forland shares the joy of seeing how the good news is spreading and bearing fruit among the Yao people in the hard-to-reach rural areas of eastern Malawi.

How did he make you feel?

SIM Kenya director Dr. Peter Okaalet sadly passed away last year, having made a significant impact in the field of HIV/AIDS medicine, as well as in the lives of the people around him. SIM stories writer Tohru Inoue remembers his personal experience of the man behind the medic.