Join me in JUBA (South SUDAN)
(Sudan)
Join me in JUBA (South SUDAN)
I, Fr. Johnson Paulraj, a Salesian Priest of Don Bosco, is happy to meet you from Sudan which is the largest country in Africa and it is also the tenth largest country in the world by area. I am happy to meet you at this time when (Dormant) Peace is prevailing all over the country, which was in war for more than 21 years from 1983. Even though the country's name derives from the Arabic Bilad-al-sudan, literally means "lands of the blacks", the war came mainly due to the domination of the arabs over the people of the land on the issues of sharing of natural resources and liberation.
The country which got its independence on January 1, 1956 from the British domination experienced the First Sudanese Civil War from 1955 to 1972 and Under the leadership of Mr. John Garang, Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) fought the Second civil war from 1983 to 2005. It was on 9 January 2005 the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between the Northern national government and the SPLM/A. As per the agreement the North and South Sudan has a lot of power sharing points and in coming 2011 the people of South Sudan will go for a referendum about independence.
Just as the North and South signed the Peace Agreement, the civil war broke out in Darfur region between the western Sudan and Khartoum government. The internal conflict in Darfur is still going on taking the death toll and human misery higher and higher.
As we are praying for the peace to prevail here in SUDAN, we the Salesians went back to serve the war affected people in Juba. It was from here that the salesians were sent out due to the war in 1986. Now we are back again in the land of JUBA which was shattered into rubbles during the war. This “Juba” is the capital of the South Sudan. Your imagination and the reality of a capital can’t come anywhere close to the existing situation of Juba.
Parish of Vincent De Paul, Gumbo, which is about 8 Kilometers south of Juba by the side of the River Nile, has been given to the care of the salesians in the end of 2006. The people of Gumbo had deserted the place due to the war and the rebel attacks and were staying in the town of Juba, so it is practically a village/parish without people. It is an open land with three sections (as you can see in the google picture), the village is little far away, just now the children come here for the schooling and the people come for the Sunday services and on regular days they come here to meet the parish priest.
This vast land needs a good plan and execution of it, in order to help the people and in particular the youth of the place. They need educational, health, recreational and spiritual animation. We, the salesians are ready with the master plan for Education, Health care, vocational training, personality animation and providing various basic facilities to the people of the area. Our main concern is to train the young women and men of this land, so that they get educated and become the pillars of South Sudan in developing themselves.
For this we need your support, yes we need you to join us in reaching out to this youth and the elders of the devastated land. ARE YOU READY TO JOIN YOUR HANDS WITH US IN JUBA?
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