SUDAN - Surviving against the odds
01/11/05 - The Southern Sudanese church is growing in strength and numbers despite fierce opposition over 50 years
Within hours of his birth, in May 1955, Elias Taban, was whisked away into hiding in the bush. It was the first day of the Sudanese Civil War, and 50 policemen in his southern town of Yei had just been gunned down by order of a Northern Sudanese Muslim police officer.
Christian missionaries were banned from the country and mission schools were taken over. At age six he was forcibly Islamised when he was recruited into the local school. Given the Islamic name, Mohamed Ali Monsur, he recited that ‘Allah is the greatest’ five times a day as part of his prayers, went to the mosque on Fridays and had to study at school on Sundays. He dressed in Islamic clothes, sang Islamic songs and received free meals.
Elias comments, “The ruling President Ibrahim Abboud was very clever. He didn’t use violence or persecution, but I believe he would have Islamised the South very successfully, if he hadn’t been overthrown by fellow Muslims who thought he was far too soft.” President Ibrahim Abboud was in power from 1958–1964.
At age 12 Elias became a child soldier. He relates, “Mostly we were used as spies, sent to look for government convoys and count the number of men and trucks, from the top of trees. Obviously, if we had been seen, we would have been shot down immediately; but it was a bit of a game to us.”
The first civil war ended in 1971, only to erupt again when sharia, or Islamic law, was imposed throughout the country in 1983, by President Gaafar Nimeiry.
At this stage, Elias had become a Christian when he was 23, after meeting a team of Kenyan evangelists. However, he says that Christians have experienced horrendous suffering in Sudan:
“Small militia groups are sent by government forces to arrest Christians – men, women and children – and take them as slaves. Some of the men taken as slaves by Muslim militia raiders have been able to escape and have come back with tales of torture. They pierce the back of some believers’ heels and chain them unless they deny Christianity and become a Muslim.
Other forms of torture include being beaten almost to death and having your back completely burned with a boiling hot iron.”
Christian women are routinely raped and all forms of mutilation abound.
Christian churches, crops, homes and villages are burned to the ground. Christians are denied aid unless they become Muslims. Christian children are often abducted and forced to attend Islamic schools in the North, never to see their families again.
Elias recounts, “At one time I was put in prison, betrayed by my own brothers. People weren’t allowed to bring me food, and even my wife was not allowed to see me. I expected to be shot by a firing squad, but I was miraculously released after 12 days.
“We have also narrowly missed death on several occasions where there have been plans to raid our villages because we are Christians, but plans changed at the last moment.”
Others not so fortunate to escape the raids on their villages were the many Christians that Jenny Wales, met on her trip to Sudan earlier this year. Jenny is Co-ordinator for the Open Doors women’s ministry. Mary, Jasmine, Anna Wawa, Adaye, Rose and Joy are just some of the women who told her their almost indescribable tales of suffering as they were forced to flee into the bush with their young children.
Mary describes how she collected all the edible leaves she could find in order to feed her nine children during the first few weeks living in the bush. She had no means of lighting a fire so any food that was gathered had to be consumed raw.
Mary desperately watched her children grow weaker and more exhausted as they had to stay on the move all night and during the heat of the day, in order to escape the government forces wanting to kill her and the children.
Soon, Mary was forced to endure the heartbreak of watching first son, and then a second one, die. Grieving and almost at the point of despair, Mary struggled on, hoping to save her remaining children, when she noticed that one of her daughters was sampling leaves from bushes that were not a normal source of food. However, instead of getting weaker, as Mary was dreading, the girl started getting a little stronger. The other children followed her lead and also regained some strength.
Sadly, her eldest son died, refusing to eat the new ‘unsafe’ leaves.
Fourteen weeks after she had fled her home, Mary found a Christian orphanage which gave them a place of refuge. She still mourns for her lost children and for her husband who, unable to cope with the atrocities he had witnessed as a conscripted soldier, had taken his own life. However, her faith and her hope are in God.
As Elias reports, “Persecution has made the Church in southern Sudan much stronger. Christians remember how Christ has suffered for them and they are prepared to suffer for Christ. When people become relaxed and everything is easy, you don’t think of God; but persecution has really strengthened us.”
According to Operation World, the church in Southern Sudan has grown from 5% of the population in 1960 to perhaps 70% in 2000, with the greatest growth amongst evangelical Christians.
“Thank God that Open Doors came to us in 1996,” exclaims Elias, who is now a Bishop in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. As well as strengthening the Church, Open Doors has helped equip leaders to pastor the fast-growing churches and bring unity amongst Christians. Elias explains, “Christians from tribes that had been fighting each other are now eating, studying and praying together.”
Sarah and Martha, whose tribes have been warring for many years, are co-workers with Open Doors. They work together to teach Biblical truths to women, who in turn bring their new-found knowledge and understanding of God’s love back to their villages.
Elias continues, “Many Bibles which people just couldn’t afford to buy have been distributed, and leaders have been trained. If you hand a Bible to a person who hasn’t had any Biblical teaching and do not help them to interpret it properly, you could be encouraging cults. That is why Bible training is so important to us.”
Open Doors also helps provide livelihood projects such as the cultivation of vegetables, production of lulu butter, sewing and knitting projects etc, to help Christians sustain themselves and provide for their families.
In Sudan, a peace pact made on 9 January 2005 between the Southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the government, officially ended the 21-year civil war in the South of Sudan. It brings a measure of hope for Christians who have fled their homes to escape murder, rape and slavery by paramilitary forces and guerrilla groups attempting to control the oil resources in the area and trying to forcibly Islamise Sudan.
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Ends. 1,191 words.
Open Doors strengthens persecuted Christians in over 45 countries across the world by
1. Training Church leaders and Christian workers
2. Supplying Bibles, hymnals, Sunday School materials and other Christian literature
3. Providing livelihood training and self-help opportunities
4. Visiting, comforting and encouraging those who are suffering
5. Raising awareness of the difficulties persecuted Christians face and mobilising prayer for them throughout the western world.
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http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/press/releases/
http://www.opendoorsuk.org/media_photos/world_watch_list_pics/html/index.htm
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