WOMEN PRAY AND FAST FOR PEACE
Christian women members of the South Sudan Church Council (SSCC) gathered in Juba on 25 January 2020 to pray and fast for peace in South Sudan.
The fasting and prayer initiative began six years ago (2014) after the civil conflict erupted in the South Sudanese capital Juba in December 2013. The prayer program has continued ever since. The daylong prayer brought together women from the seven members of SSCC, including the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, the Evangelical Church, the Sudan Pentecostal Church, the Sudan Interior Church, and the Africa Inland Church.
While praying on their knees, and in tears, for peace in the country, the Christian women also prayed for their cantoned soldiers, children across the country, women of childbearing age and for all the churches that seemed threatened by their own internal conflicts to have improved relations.
According to a 2018 Aljazeera report, there are up to 19,000 children associated with armed forces in South Sudan. Of these, boys are trained to fight while girls are taken as "wives".
The fasting and prayer initiative began six years ago (2014) after the civil conflict erupted in the South Sudanese capital Juba in December 2013. The prayer program has continued ever since. The daylong prayer brought together women from the seven members of SSCC, including the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, the Evangelical Church, the Sudan Pentecostal Church, the Sudan Interior Church, and the Africa Inland Church.
While praying on their knees, and in tears, for peace in the country, the Christian women also prayed for their cantoned soldiers, children across the country, women of childbearing age and for all the churches that seemed threatened by their own internal conflicts to have improved relations.
According to a 2018 Aljazeera report, there are up to 19,000 children associated with armed forces in South Sudan. Of these, boys are trained to fight while girls are taken as "wives".
When I worked in Torit in 1991 I was displaced to Palataka where I cared for hundreds of children kept in squalid conditions in a so called 'school' that was a front for the enslavement of these children.
Oxfam has just published a document entitled Our Search for Peace: Women in South Sudan's National Peace Processes 2005-2018.
I knew some of these women personally and was impressed with their courage, strength and perseverance. Slowly, their prayers will bear fruit. On 12 January the Republic of South Sudan signed the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) with a coalition of opposition groups that did not sign the 2018 peace agreement. It is known informally as the 'Rome Agreement' as it was mediated by the San Egidio Community in Rome.
Another stunning example of peaceful active nonviolence was seen in Sudan last year when President Bashir was removed from office and a Transitional Council was instituted. Women were strong and visible participants in this movement that continues to develop with civilian leadership.
PEACE OF THESE MOTHERS TO YOU!
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