Women gather grass to build traditional tukul homes in Jonglei, South Sudan. The town of Boma has received more than 2,400 people displaced by recent fighting in Jonglei. Photo by Renee Lambert/CRS

By Renee Lambert,

My colleague, Jane and I, flew in a small eight-seater plane from Juba to Boma Town in Jonglei, South Sudan. We were on our way to see how Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Internationalis might assist thousands recently displaced by conflict. In recent weeks, Boma, a small verdant mountain town of around 7,000 had swelled with the arrival of roughly 2,400 people displaced by inter-communal violence between two ethnic groups the Lou Nuer and the Murle. The U.N. estimates that more than 60,000 Murle fled their homes when around 8,000 armed Lou Nuer youth raided towns in search of stolen cattle and kidnapped children.
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People travel by boat to the flood-affected community of Agok in South Sudan. Photo by CRS staff

George Okoth,

The mid-September rains completely washed out road access to the town of Agok, South Sudan. This is the same area that only a few months ago received a wave of mass displacement after conflict sent thousands fleeing from the contested area of Abyei. Just as things began to settle, the rains once again forced people from their makeshift homes.

We arrived by car, by boat and by foot. The muddy roads only allowed our 4x4s to venture so far before we had to rely on the boats that would take us from one side of a vastly swollen river to another. The end of our trek consisted of a 3-mile walk to the town of Agok. Our walk was slow, hindered by the mud that stuck to our gumboots and made each step a heavy one.
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Andy Schaefer, CRS technical adviser for emergency coordination, was in Agok, Sudan working to assist some of the more than 100,000 people displaced by recent violence in the contested border area of Abyei, Sudan. He shares with us his impressions from the field.

One thing that has become apparent to me while working to meet the needs of those displaced from Abyei is that the Church’s presence really is a symbol of hope.

A few Sundays ago during Mass, local parish priest, Fr. Biong gave a speech about helping people to rebuild their lives and the need for continued support during this difficult time. This is such an important message for everyone to hear: the displaced, host communities, and those working to help meet their needs.

Priests like Fr. Biong help people to feel that they have not been abandoned. He continues to be with his people seeking refuge in Agok, by ministering to their spiritual and physical needs. To watch him work is very affirming. The sense of solidarity he fosters is palpable.
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Please click the play button in the box below to read the transcript of our recent live, 1-hour chat with Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of southern Sudan. Bishop Kussala chatted with Catholics from around the United States about the current situation in Sudan, the upcoming independence for South Sudan and the great work Catholics in the United States have done on behalf of our brothers and sisters in his homeland.

The first miracle in Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala’s life happened when he was just a few months old. During a military raid on his village in southern Sudan, soldiers entered his family’s house and killed his mother and sister. They left baby Eduardo unharmed and didn’t burn down the house.

Now, 47 years later, he is the Bishop of the Diocese of Tombura-Yambi, and he continues to devote his life to bringing peace to Sudan.

You can help make that possible.

“My message to the Catholic population is their brothers and sisters in southern Sudan have been under oppression and have been suffering, and they need to be free” Bishop Kussala said. “We need the prayers of the Catholic population, the Christian population. And we need their support, materially, spiritually and morally. And we need them to walk along side us.”

After a 22-year civil war that killed more than 2 million people, against all odds, the people of southern Sudan held a peaceful referendum to declare their independence.

On July 9, The Republic of South Sudan will become Africa’s newest nation.

“The birth of a new country I think has to be a gift to everybody,” Bishop Kussala said. “And everybody should be happy about it.”

Stay with Sudan. Build a future.