Source: Debbie Meroff, OM News, April 30, 2014
In July 2011, Africa’s largest nation split in two. Sudan’s Christian and animist-majority people in the South finally achieved independence from the Muslim-majority North after years of violence that left over two million dead.
In June 2012, [OM field leaders] Iskander and Marie decided they could no longer put off moving from Khartoum to Juba, in South Sudan.
“The Arabs weren’t happy to have Christians in the North,” relates Marie, explaining that landlords were demanding more and more rent, and Christians were required to pay to register with the government. “I had to report every day to officials. If I’d stayed in Khartoum, I’d be in prison,” she says simply, “but we moved to South Sudan with deep fear in our hearts.”
Moving to Juba has turned out to be a nightmare for the whole family. “Up North we never saw guns and blood running in the streets,” says Marie. “People didn’t die there like they do in the South. Now many who came from the North have gone back. Others have gone to Uganda. The streets of Juba are empty. Food in the market is very expensive; there is a huge inflation rate because everything – even vegetables – is imported from Uganda. But we have decided we are not leaving. If we die, we’ll die in Juba. We are waiting on the Lord, and praying for God’s will.”
“This isn’t just a war between two tribes, it’s spiritual warfare,” Marie adds. “Pray for southerners – tribes – to have forgiveness and acceptance for each other! Pray for healing … I think that we mothers are the most concerned,” she reflects, “because we see our children suffering.”
» Read full story, see also author Debbie Merroff’s new venture, Women Without Borders.
» Also read another story describing results of the unsettled situation in Sudan, Pregnant Christian Woman Could Face Execution for Apostasy in Sudan (Barnabas Aid).