14 February 2020

Dr. Susan Nagele with South Sudanese family.
Photo credit: Sean Sprague

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 16, 2020 

Sir 15:15-20

1 Cor 2:6-10

Mt 5:17-37

Blessed are they who choose to follow the law of the Lord

Psalm 119:1

     I was crossing the border between Kenya and Uganda on the way to Sudan with a friend.  The border official asked our address.  My friend immediately replied, “Box 10, Nimule, Sudan”.  The official wrote it down and I kept my mouth shut while my eyes bugged out.  There wasn’t a post office in Nimule let alone a post office box.  Wasn’t this a lie?  Doesn’t the 8^th commandment say, “Don’t lie”.  Aren’t details important?  Why not just tell him the truth?  Today’s Gospel says that whoever breaks one of these commandments will be least in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Later, I chided my friend about our address and he shrugged his shoulders.  “They just need to fill in the blank,” he replied. 

     The first reading makes clear that it is our choice whether or not we follow the commandments.  If we so choose, the commandments will save us and we will live. 

     I was visiting the San Egidio Community in Rome many years ago with a Maryknoll priest and at the Eucharistic liturgy an Italian lay man gave the homily.   Only a few weeks earlier, the pope had announced that lay people could not give homilies.  My priest friend asked the other Maryknoll priests in Rome how this could happen with the recent papal announcement.  One of them chuckled and said, “This is Rome.  There is the law and there is life”.   There we were, right in Vatican City State, and it looked like the pope’s order was being flagrantly violated.  But laws and legal systems change over time.  It also takes time to change.  Jesus, himself, said he came to fulfill the law.  That suggests interpretive process, movement and change. 

     I was crossing another border from Sudan into Uganda on my way to a hospital.  I was sick with dysentery and the police were shocked as I dragged myself into their office and asked to use their latrine.  They quickly pointed me in the right direction and hastily wrote out permission for us to enter with our vehicle, encouraging us to go quickly and wishing us a safe journey.   Police at border crossings in East Africa are better known for intimidation and their need for extra cash rather than kindness.  They didn’t ask for my passport, check the car or any number of other details the law required.

     The commandments are guidelines written in black and white and can only give parameters to the spectrum of gray along which life is lived.  Jesus fleshes out some of the commandments and other laws in today’s gospel.  Killing can begin with anger and refusal to reconcile.  Adultery can encompass lust and disrespect.  Rather than making false oaths, just be straight forward and clear about what you want to say. 

     The Gospel last week came from this same passage in Matthew and told us to be salt and light for the earth.  How do we do that?  Let our righteousness surpass the letter of the law of the scribes and Pharisees.  Let the Spirit, ‘which scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God, illuminate those parameters and grey areas that reveal themselves in the day to day living of our lives.  In a nutshell, love determines the essence of the law.  That police officer who chose to care about my welfare, expedite my border crossing and wish me well was following a higher law than the rules in Uganda and the usual behavior of police officers at border crossings.

Blessed are they who choose to follow the law of Love

https://maryknollogc.org/resources/scripture/sixth-sunday-ordinary-time-1

01 February 2020

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".

https://www.aciafrica.org/news/735/lay-down-weapons-give-birth-to-children-south-sudan-christian-women-to-child-soldiers?

     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.

file:///C:/Users/susan/Documents/South%20Sudan/Women-south-sudan-peace-processes-300120-en%20Jan%202020.pdf

     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! 

01 January 2020

SUDANESE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS 2019 IN KHARTOUM

HAPPY NEW YEAR

     For the first time since 2011 the Sudanese have celebrated Christmas publicly.  The civilian cabinet named Christmas a public holiday.  The Minister for Religious Affairs apologized to Christians for discrimination under the previous government and promised more equality in the future.  Amna Azari, 18, visited a church for the first time in her life.  "We are becoming more tolerant and loving towards each other.  This is the legacy of our great revolution," she said.

     My first Christmas in Sudan was in 1991.  I stood at the back of the Catholic church in Torit. Shortly after the liturgy began a man named William Nyuon entered with his body guards, all dressed in civilian clothes.  He stood quietly behind me and I would later learn he was a high ranking officer in the Sudanese People's Liberation Army.  That same night I met Muslims and other Christians, all celebrating together.  Later on in the year, I attended Muslim celebrations of their holy days.

     As we begin another year and a new decade it is hopeful to see how the Sudanese have used a totally nonviolent process to remove a dictator and move towards a more democratic government.  They have a long way to go but I am impressed with how far they have come.  Other countries are using violence to bring about change and they seem to get more media coverage.  I am keeping my eye on the Sudanese and the path they are forging, hoping that the rest of us will follow in becoming more tolerant and loving.

PEACE OF THE SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF JESUS 

AND

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE

ON JANUARY 1ST

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/peace/documents/papa-francesco_20191208_messaggio-53giornatamondiale-pace2020.html

01 December 2019

Steven Mom Pepper Susan

   

Dear Friends,

     I am now back in Urbana Illinois for the whole of this past year and have settled in well.  I work as a Maryknoll lay missioner doing medical consultancy, advocacy with the Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns and mission education and fundraising in the mid-west.  I’ve travelled to Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Chicago and it has been fun to learn more about my own country after being away for so many ears.      

May 2000

I received a great gift about a month ago.  In May 2000, I was working as a family physician in a remote village in Sudan.  A very sick little boy, Adimo, was brought to our clinic by his mother.  She had taken him to traditional healers but he kept getting thinner and thinner. The last town they visited was being bombed by the Antonov plane which was sent by the government to terrorize people.  They were afraid and had heard that there was a clinic deep inside their home area.  In desperation, they walked 120 miles to Nanyangacor where he met the first white woman he’d ever seen…me!  They didn’t know his age.  He looked about nine years old but he only weighed 20 pounds, the weight of a one-year old child!  Kala azar was killing him.  The little shepherds would sit in the shade of ant hills while tending the livestock.  Sand flies would come out of the ant hill and bite the children and pass on a little worm that would cause them to waste away until they died if they didn’t get treatment.  I was sure he would die but I was wrong.  We began to treat him with a painful daily injection in his tiny little muscles.  Over the next month he improved and lived.  Last month he found my email address and wrote to me.  He now weighs 140 pounds and wanted to say thank you. He gave me permission to share his story with you.

         

     Before I left East Africa, I went back to Adimo’s home area to say goodbye.  I failed to find him until now.  I am thrilled to hear that he is still alive and struggling to improve himself and his country.  He taught me never to give up on a sick patient and he continues to remind me how blessed and fortunate I am here in the USA. 

     In some ways, life is so much easier here.  The electricity and water work.  Drivers usually follow the rules of the road and it is a pleasure to get in the car and not be stopped by the police over and over again for no good reason.  It is wonderful to be with my family and enjoy meals together, a walk in the park, the changing seasons and reconnecting with friends in my parish and community who share this journey of life with me.  Unfortunately, we have a lot of consumerism and violence in our society too.  I feel like I need this time of Advent more than ever to focus my attention on love and the coming of Christ once again into my life.  I am very grateful for you and will pray for you during this season.  May it bring you joy, peace and love.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

                                                                                      

01 November 2019

     I was recently asked to write an essay on the Sudans to clarify how they came to be and what is currently happening in both countries.  For those of you who are interested hope this helps!!!

GOVERNANCE IN THE REPUBLICS OF

SUDAN AND SOUTH SUDAN

     Sudan was a collection of small kingdoms until 1820 when Egypt conquered the territory.  They unified and controlled the north but the south was full of swamps and disease.  This area remained fragmented, difficult to access, and was frequently attacked by slave traders.  In 1881 the Mahdi, a Muslim religious leader, led a revolt to unify the western and central regions.  His followers continue to this day as the largest political grouping known as the Umma party. 

     In 1882, the British invaded Egypt and seven years later agreed with Egyptians to rule Sudan as a joint protectorate.  Both countries ceded independence to The Republic of Sudan (ROS) in 1956. They reneged on an agreement to set up a federal system between the north and south.  This ignited civil war because southerners demanded more representation, regional autonomy and, for some, complete separation.  With the exception of an eleven-year cease fire, fighting continued until 2005 when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was ratified to guide development in the south.  This culminated in a national referendum in January 2011. 98.8% of the population voted to secede from the north and the Republic of South Sudan (ROSS) was inaugurated on July 9, 2011.

     The world’s newest nation began with little infrastructure, devastation from 45 years of war and ecstatic jubilation.  Almost all citizens were hopeful a new day was dawning. 

     In December 2013, ROSS President, Salva Kiir, alleged that a faction of the army loyal to Vice President Riek Machar attempted a coup d’etat and put it down within one day.  This sparked the South Sudan civil war that continued intermittently until September 2018 when the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed.  This war is far more complicated than a conflict between two men.  Several powerful groups are suppressing other groups and excluding them from mediation efforts.  For six years 200,000 displaced people have been living in church compounds and Protection of Civilian Sites secured by the UN.  Additionally, two million people are refugees in Uganda and the ROS.

     R-ARCSS requires Kiir and Machar to form a transitional government by November 12, 2019.  They must agree to the composition of the number and boundaries of subnational states and unification of the army.    While faith-based groups are praying and working for peace, few people are relocating from exile.  Some men cross back from Uganda into the ROSS to join a rebel group and increase its numbers.  But the reintegration of all combatants into one united army with a common purpose is far from reaching the goal.

     Meanwhile, the ROS also suffers from division and violence.  The former President, Bashir, was removed in April and on September 11^th the Sudanese Sovereign Council was formed to provide a transitional government.  Eight months of peaceful civilian protests culminated in this development under the guidance of Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and the 2019 Nobel Laureate for Peace.  Hamdock, the new Prime Minister for Sudan, made his first official visit to Juba, ROSS, signaling the importance he places on good relations.  He seeks to integrate trade, allow visa free access from the ROSS and offer dual citizenship.  These meetings led to the ROS allowing the World Food Programme to visit Kauda in the Nuba Mountains for the first time in eight years; a hopeful development.

     Both countries must combat corruption.  The Sentry has recently described the hijacking of the ROSS by South Sudanese military elites, international corporations, banks and governments.  A case in point is oil which provides 95% of revenue for the ROSS.  Several countries, including Russia, South Africa and China, have invested in this sector.  Dar Petroleum is the largest exporter of oil from the ROSS.  This company has funded the lavish lifestyles of government officials and provided direct support to militias causing mass atrocities.  Hazardous waste has been dumped around the oil fields, thereby contaminating drinking water, while the number of people suffering from cancer, birth defects and lung damage in those areas increases.  The largest shareholder for this company is the China National Petroleum Corporation.  Government leaders and their commercial partners enjoy personal gain without fear of retribution because the state has been captured and will not hold them accountable.  The international community could combat this by sanctioning not only individuals, but networks and companies.

     The United States has accompanied developments in both of these countries for decades, most recently with $4 billion in aid to the ROSS since 2013.  It needs to support the nonviolent change of government in the ROS which took the lives of hundreds of civilians.  Civilians in the ROSS have even more reason to protest but are in survival mode and are unable to organize and resist corruption, negative ethnicity and inept governance.  

The advice of Bishop Kussala of Yambio/Tombura diocese can suggest a path forward…

     In South Sudan we have come to know that most of the people who are fighting are in the government and they have the weapons, so to initiate the process of justice, first we need to stop the war, organize the government, and then gradually the people can have the security to be able to speak out.

https://allafrica.com/stories/201910090094.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Sudan

file:///C:/Users/susan/Documents/South%20Sudan/TakingOfSouthSudan-Sept2019-TheSentry.pdf

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/506c8ea1e4b01d9450dd53f5/t/5d95e3f68bb633646340bd85/1570104322464/South+Sudan+-+Dan+-+October+2019+-+FINAL+update.pdf

https://time.com/5700917/south-sudan-bishop-peace/

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwDrldhbHHwPKdtfKFkqzTKlxNx?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1

10 October 2019

AN EXTRAORDINARY MISSION MONTH

    This is a very busy month for me and I am already behind with this blog!!!  October 20th will be World Mission Sunday and Pope Francis is trying to get us going with the theme...

THE CHURCH ON A MISSION 

IN THE WORLD

The Logo 

The logo of the Extraordinary Missionary Month October 2019 is a missionary cross where the primary colors refer to the five continents. The Cross is the instrument and direct sign of communion between God and man for the universality of our mission, and through its vibrant colors, a sign of victory and resurrection. The world is transparent because the action of evangelization has no barriers or boundaries, it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Christian charity and the world transfigured in the Spirit overcome distances and open the horizon of our minds and hearts. The words Baptized and Sent next to the image indicate the two characteristics of every Christian: baptism and proclamation. 

The Colors of the Logo 

The primary colors of the Cross are referred to the five continents: red for America, green for Africa, white for Europe, yellow for Asia and blue for Oceania. The red recalls the blood of the American martyrs, seeds for a new life in the Christian faith. Green is the color of life and symbolizes growth, fruitfulness, youth and vitality. It is also the color of hope, one of the three theological virtues. White is the symbol of joy, the beginning of a new life in Christ: this is the challenge that the old Europe is facing, so that it may be able to regain the evangelizing strength from which it was generated thanks to so many churches and saints. Yellow is the color of light, which nourishes itself with light by invoking the true Light. Blue is the color symbolizing the water of life that quenches our thirst and restores us along the path to God. It is the color of heaven, a sign of God's dwelling with us.

The Pope is trying to get us to put our faith into action and get out of our comfort zones.  That's the best way to grow.  One of my big challenges was working in Sudan with diseases I had never heard of before, let alone treated.  The need was so great that I knew I could offer something that was better than nothing when I was absent.  So I stuck with it and did my best.

In May 2000, a very sick little boy, Adimo, came to our clinic in Nanyangacor Sudan.  He had seen several witch doctors in another place without success.  In desperation, he and his mother walked 120 miles over one week because the Antonov bomber had made the town where he was unsafe.  He might have been 8, 9, or 10 years old but he only weighed 20 pounds.  This is the weight of a child at one year of age!!!  He had a disease called kala azar.  It is a parasite that is spread by a sand fly that bites shepherds when they sit in the shade of an ant hill tending their livestock.  It causes the person to waste away and die without treatment.  He was so sick I thought he would die.  The treatment was a very painful injection of a heavy metal every day for one month.  He had almost no muscle to put the medicine into!  His mother left him at the mission compound and walked three days to get home.  He didn't see her for several years.  We fed him nutrition biscuits along with the medicine and he lived.  Then he went to school.  And then he sent me an email last month.  He is now about 28 years old and weighs 140 pounds.  He has become an community health worker and wanted to say thank you.

I feel very grateful that I could be a conduit for healing that helped this little fellow to survive and now thrive.   Let us remember that each one of us, by virtue of our baptism, is a mission in the world.  We can do amazing things if we open ourselves to be a healing channel for the love of God who works through us.

BE EXTRAORDINARY THIS MONTH!!! 

01 September 2019

MALARIA – A MASTER OF DISGUISE

Maryknoll priests working in northern Uganda witness repeated outbreaks of malaria annually every June and July.  Why is this disease so difficult to control, let alone eradicate? 

Worldwide, 88% of malaria infections and 90% of deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa.   Uganda can illustrate the challenges to controlling this disease. With 42 million people, 100% of the population is at risk for malaria, the leading cause of death is malaria and 50% of these deaths are in children less than age five.

In Uganda, treatment of a single episode of malaria can cost US$9.   Additionally, a worker may miss 5-20 days of work and cognitive function in children can be impaired by as much as 60%.  Often, people are infected multiple times annually, further decreasing productivity.  A poor family may spend 25% of their household income on prevention and treatment.

Uganda began a targeted malaria control program in 2018 with the goal of reducing malarial deaths by 40% in 2020 and 75% in 2025.  Total deaths in 2017 numbered 5,100 and decreased to 3200 in 2018. However, from June 2018 to June 2019 the number of cases increased from 1 million to 1.4 million, an upsurge of 40%, mainly in West Nile, North and Central regions.  The prevalence in Kampala was about the same, but severe cases increased by 60%.  The National Malaria Control Plan (NMCP) identifies the reasons for these increases to be:

1.       Climate change

2.       Failure to use Long-Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLIN)

3.       Failure to use prevention in highland areas where people have less immunity

4.       The rainy season is April to June when the mosquito vectors increase

The NMCP provides mass distribution campaigns of LLIN to the entire population every three years via programs for pregnant women, childhood immunization programs and schools.  Unfortunately, only 64% of pregnant women and 62% of children less than age five have nets, the nets are not used properly and they may be of poor quality and tear easily.

Movement of people who are uninfected, or partially infected, leads to outbreaks when they enter an endemic zone, since they have decreased immunity and poor access to treatment.  This could be a significant factor in northern Uganda where refugees have migrated from South Sudan.  This marginalized sector of Uganda has been greatly impacted by the re-occurring, multifactorial stresses of war and insecurity in South Sudan.

The NMCP attempts to provide malaria prevention to pregnant women by giving two doses of Intermittent Preventative Therapy (ITP) with sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP).  However, only 45% of pregnant women attended two clinics before delivery and received both doses.  The NMCP also supports prevention, diagnosis and treatment through Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM). 

Not surprisingly, drug resistant strains have developed.  One study in Gulu, northern Uganda in 2018 reported that the resistance may have originated in Africa.  In south east Asia, resistance is well documented to first line drugs, occurring in 50-90% of treatment regimens in some regions.  There is great fear this will spread quickly to Africa where treatment options are limited. 

China has a project to eradicate malaria in Kenya since 2017.  It uses an artemisinin drug enhanced with piperaquine to give mass treatment of the population and attempts to eradicate the human reservoir of the parasite.  The drug costs $17 per dose and resistance to piperaquine has already developed in East Asia.  Evidence for the success of this approach is questionable.  There is concern that it could also lead to development of more resistance.

Development of a vaccine began in the early 1980s and progress is slow.  Malaria is a parasite and most vaccines have been made against bacteria and viruses.  Vaccines for parasites require a different process.  The malarial parasite has four different species with constantly changing antigens, the markers used to make a vaccine.  The parasite changes its appearance as it moves from the blood, to the liver, and then again to the blood.  It is a master of disguise.

A Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap has been developed by more than 230 experts in 100 organizations from 35 countries.  Their goal is to develop a malaria vaccine by 2025 that would protect against 80% of clinical disease for more than four years.  The RTS,S/A S01 vaccine is the most advanced candidate for use and was 47% effective in reducing mortality in Phase III trials in seven sub-Saharan countries.  The Pilot Project Phase IV trials began in 2018 in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi, with hopes that it will bring a new vaccine into production when completed.

If the malaria parasite develops resistance to treatment regimens and the mosquito develops resistance to vector control mechanisms, eradication is impossible.  Control of the disease can be successful, but it requires long-term strategies that target various points of infection and transmission.  The challenges are significant and will require uncompromising commitment for the long road ahead.

Today begins the SEASON OF CREATION which continues to October 4th, the Feast of St. Francis.  I accept that even mosquitoes have their place in creation but we must all learn to live in harmony!!!

PEACE OF THE CHANGING SEASONS TO YOU!!!

 http://www.health.go.ug/programs/national-malaria-control-program

https://www.pmi.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/malaria-operational-plans/fy19/fy-2019-uganda-malaria-operational-plan.pdf?sfvrsn=3

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/24/4/17-0141_article

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/07/22/742674941/study-malaria-drugs-are-failing-at-an-alarming-rate-in-southeast-asia

https://www.who.int/immunization/research/development/malaria/en/

https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/simon-draper-progress-in-malaria-vaccine-research

https://www.malariasite.com/malaria-vaccines/

https://www.kbc.co.ke/china-adopts-strategy-to-eradicate-malaria/

https://allafrica.com/stories/201908190111.html

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/scienceandhealth/Uganda-war-on-malaria/3073694-5238934-hkj8l1z/index.html