Witness to the mission: Fundraiser for local church projects in South Sudan to feature former child soldier ...

Details: Written/Submitted by External Source; Category: South Sudan & African News From Various Sources; Published: 23 June 2014; Hits: 1989

Nick Shepherd

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June 23rd, 2014 9:13 am by Nick Shepherd

South Sudan is the youngest country on earth, achieving independence in 2011, and it is facing a host of problems that need to be addressed — clean water, medical care and education to name a f e w.

First Broad Street United Methodist Church in Kingsport, has been sending members on mission trips to the area for years to try and help alleviate some of those issues. Experiencing what the people of South Sudan have to deal with has left an indelible impression on the members who visit the country.

"I can remember in 2009 being there and we experienced watching children die from malnutrition, malaria and parasite-borne illnesses from dirty water," said Danny Howe, director of missions at FBSUMC. "I'm just amazed that in this day and time in history, even in Africa, that those things that are so preventable, before our very eyes, were killing children."

Because the vast amount of work that needs to be done in South Sudan costs money, the church will be putting on a fundraiser at the Farmers Market in Kingsport on June 28 beginning at 7 p.m. The fundraiser will be a concert featuring Lightning Charlie and a very special guest, Mandela Wani Michael.

Mandela is a former government official in South Sudan. He is also a former child soldier from the civil war that tore his country apart.

The war in Sudan has been mostly a religious war waged between the Muslim population in the north and the Christian population in the south. The conflict has raged in the country for 147 years.

Muslims in the north wanted to convert everybody in the south to Islam.

"It was rejected by the people in the country because we have to defend our faith," Mandela said. "This is a religion we don't know and is imposed on us by force. To make matters worse, they even added Sharia law in the south, which was completely unwanted by all people so it was rejected."

People in the south took up arms to defend themselves from being converted to Islam.

Oil was soon discovered in the south, which added another dimension to the war. Mandela estimated after oil was found, the reason for fighting went from 100 percent about religion to around 40 percent about religion and the rest due to economics involving oil.

All of the oil flows north now, robbing the people of South Sudan of a precious resource.

Heavy conflict took place between 1983 and 2005 before a peace treaty was reached. The conflict disrupted the lives of everyone in the country, including Mandela.

Mandela only attended school for four or five years before the war broke out. After that, there was no more school, only war.

Four or five years passed and Mandela realized fighting as a child soldier was a doomed future.

"I had to find my way to exile, to Uganda, one of the neighboring countries," he said.

Mandela traveled 26 miles to Uganda where he became a street boy and began to look for a living.

He teamed up with a couple of other boys to rent a 10 foot by 10 foot room and began doing hard manual labor, like breaking stones. Mandela did this in order to receive an education.

He would leave early in the morning and do some work, then would go to school.

Mandela would also be tasked with carrying heavy loads on his back. One day, he became sick and did not return to work for a couple of weeks.

One of the women who worked for the company realized Mandela had not been at work and went looking for him.

She asked what was wrong and where his parents were. Mandela said he was sick and had not seen his parents in two years and did not know where they were. He was 16 or 17 years old.

Mandela told her he just wanted to go to school. The woman told him she would pay for him to go to school and he would not have to work anymore.

"That was my turning point," he said. "She paid for me for three years, at least I could rest for three years."

He graduated high school and thanked the woman and said high school was the only level he wanted to be at. The woman paid for his schooling out of her own salary. She then told him to go to college and she would pay for it.

Mandela said this act of kindness didn't feel real. When he graduated, he was eventually reassigned back to South Sudan.

He went to work in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs for a number of years before leaving last May to work on other projects.

In 2009, Mandela first encountered the city of Kingsport, meeting with the vice mayor at the time to explain the political situation in South Sudan.

From there, a relationship developed between Mandela and members of the Holston United Methodist Church. This is his first trip to the United States

To date, FBSUMC has installed 32 wells, built schools and an orphanage. They have another mission scheduled to head out in August.

Mandela understands the challenges are great, but he trusts a higher power to help his country.

"If you don't have love for God, you'll never get there," he said.

Mandela Wani Michael stands with his family in his home village of Kenyi, South Sudan. Mandela, a former child soldier and later government official, will speak at a fundraiser for First Broad Street United Methodist Church's South Sudan mission work on June 28.