WATERLOO | Five decades of civil war. A brief moment of unity at the new nation’s Independence Day. Then, another civil war.
This is the history and the reality the people of South Sudan, which gained its independence from Sudan in 2011, have been living. Packing a world of suffering into the word, The Rev. Samuel Enosa Peni describes the people of South Sudan as having gone through “trauma.”
Peni, the bishop of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan’s Nzara Diocese, has the unenviable task -- as do many faith leaders in the war-torn country -- of trying to offer a place of peace and healing.
It’s made all the more difficult because the faith leaders are living that same reality as the people they’re trying to help. Peni’s family, for example, have almost all moved to neighboring Uganda while the bishop continues work as the chairman for a justice, peace and reconciliation commission.
“We have been affected in one way or another. We are traumatized by the way, and because we are traumatized, we cannot help people who are equally traumatized if you are not healed, so we want to get healed as leaders so that we can be able to help others,” Peni said during a recent stop in Waterloo.
Peni, who studied in at seminaries in Dubuque, returned to Iowa this week to share the stories of what’s happening in South Sudan and meet with congregations that have supported the people there to thank them for their past gifts.
Peni said one of the ways faith leaders have sought to heal is by holding a retreat with leaders in nearby country Rwanda that endured a genocide in 1994 but has since emerged from that trauma as a developing nation with a democracy in place. He said it took 10 months to organize the retreat but it has given some insights to the nearly 100 attendees on how to move forward in South Sudan.
He said there were conversations about forgiveness, overcoming a desire for revenge and how to bring different groups together. South Sudan, Peni said, is currently struggling with a desire for retribution and also regional, tribal and denominational differences that make it hard to bring everyone to the table.
Still, his commission is trying and has found some success in getting the groups talking, but he acknowledges the process will take time.
“The challenge which we also ask is Christianity, we have all these Christians, and on Sundays, they come to our churches, they are full always … (so) why is it that our Christian values is not seen within?” Peni said.
Though he said church leaders sometimes describe African Christianity as being a mile wide and an inch deep, Peni also stresses that the displacement, the violence and trauma have not stopped people from going to church and taking solace in the scripture.
Peni said the Nzara county that he oversees, there are about 8,000 residents and about half are Episcopalian.
“You despair. You lose hope, but what brings courage to us is we have to depend and trust God’s timing. We have to trust God’s will for us. We have to trust in his power to bring peace,” Peni said.
Newer articles:
- Children massacred in South Sudan battles: UN - 07/11/2015 06:53
- South Sudan plane crash survivor says plane held riders as cargo - 07/11/2015 00:00
- Famine looms in S.Sudan war zones as aid agencies blocked - 06/11/2015 15:27
- South Sudan bans Russian-made plane AN-12 from airspace - 06/11/2015 14:31
- From Indiana to South Sudan: A proud immigrant’s wrenching journey home - 06/11/2015 11:15
Older news items
- Witness: Infant survived S. Sudan plane crash cradled in stranger's arms - 05/11/2015 11:58
- South Sudan plane crash baby 'conscious' in Juba - 05/11/2015 09:09
- South Sudan’s crashed plane was in no condition to fly, says maker - 05/11/2015 09:00
- Crashed cargo plane wasn’t allowed to carry passengers: South Sudan official - 05/11/2015 02:38
- UN divers search Nile after South Sudan plane crash - 05/11/2015 02:02
Latest news items (all categories):
- Hope for Christmas gift as South Sudan talks return to Nairobi - 05/12/2024 10:26
- Chinese medical team brings relief to South Sudan patients - 05/12/2024 10:18
- Sudanese bishop speaks about being brutalized by soldiers - 05/12/2024 10:08
- President Biden: Absent Principles - No Honoring Words - Broken Promises - 05/12/2024 09:55
- South Sudan’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Continues – Analysis - 01/12/2024 17:47
Random articles (all categories):
- South Sudanese Church urges the government to work together as partners in the Constitutional Review Process - 22/05/2013 13:19
- Rapes increasing in South Sudan’s Yida refugee camp - 19/07/2020 00:16
- Gen. Akol Koor Kuch, The Servant Leader, Is Who Has Served Others - 21/04/2022 10:05
- WHO supports South Sudan in oral cholera vaccination campaign to prevent the risk of a cholera outbreak in Renk - 17/11/2019 05:38
- Mistrust prevails as Sudan, South Sudan head for limited deal - Reuters - 21/09/2012 13:45
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 58417 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22215 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21357 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 18882 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 17995 times