Outreach to Issore, South Sudan

Outreach to Issore, South Sudan from YWAM AfriCom on Vimeo.

Venturing into the unknown

Recently two members of the AfriCom team, Bernine Stewart and Lydia Smit travelled up with Bryan and Adelson – some friends from the YWAM Muizenberg base – into Uganda and Sudan. Bernine reflects on the journey and her experience travelling into remote Africa...

The idea of doing good things in the world, living a better story and making the world a better place is a bold and courageous goal, a goal in which those who are not satisfied with the norm dream of making a difference. But what happens when the realistic requirements of these dreams hit you in the face like a hailstorm? Details. Petty details to mountainous details. Visas, boarder crossings, raising support, accommodation, sickness, culture shock, rejection, cultural differences, new foods, war, death, and treacherous travel.

After having slept on the Johannesburg airport floor for the first night, Lydia and I then met up with Bryan and Adelson and proceeded to Kampala in Uganda. We stayed there for a night and then started our journey to South Sudan. We took an 8 hour bus ride to Kit Gum where we met up with Bosco, one of the guys from the Arua base pioneering the work into Sudan. We dropped off all of our stuff other than what we would need up in the mountains. After that we took a taxi truck which
the guys had to sit in the back with all our stuff. This section of the trip was only about 3 or 4 hours but the last part the road was terrible. Back home this road would be considered impassable but somehow this truck managed. As we were driving the sun went down, the road got worse and my mind started racing. I kept thinking “What am I doing?! Where am I going?! I can't handle this!”. Remembering the words I once said about wanting to go to dangerous places, wanting to live a life that would mean something, wanting to love the unlovable and my response to that was yeah, “in theory that sounds so noble and yet in reality, this is crap!”

I was heading into a dark and unknown place, watching as rats ran through the grass in front of the truck. I would glance out the window up to the stars and internally cry out “Where are You taking me!?”

As we reached the unofficial Ugandan border a man wrote our names and information in a notebook and then we were allowed through the branch gate. Then we arrived at the Sudan border and as we drove up they started yelling at us and told us to turn off the truck and then a man with an AK47 walks up and we told him our names and information and were allowed to pass through another branch gate. Continuing on for quite some time we finally pull into Lobone and find the hut where we would be staying. Thoughts of dread continued until I got out of the truck and one of the first people to greet me was a 22 year old, 5 foot nothing (1.5m tall), cute little brunette who happened to be from Pinocha, Alberta (about a 30 minute drive from my home town Airdrie). In that moment I felt God say If she can be here, so can you. Ashley and her husband, Carl, welcomed us into their hut and allowed Lydia and I to stay there because they had just recently managed to kill all
the rats. Thank you, Jesus.

So, I found myself sleeping on a mat under a mosquito net in a hut in a remote village in South Sudan wondering how on earth I got there. As I had mentioned in my last post it used to take me an hour to work up the courage to pee in a port-a-potty – here I had no choice. I used to be a picky eater – here I had no choice (hence eating bush rat which is the equivalent of a massive gopher). I used to be afraid of the dark – here there was no electricity. I used to take drinking water for granted – here I saw its irreplaceable value.

Two days later we packed up our few belongings and started our 7 hour trek up to the even more remote villages. It was hot. Extremely hot. I really had wished I had maybe gone to morning workouts in Harpenden (UK) or maybe taken it a little easier on the biscuits. And yet, I loved it! Something in me rose up and I didn't even really struggle. This had to have been God.


When we finally reached the top we met the people who have always lived in this village. The same village which the SPLA would hide out in during the war. The Issore people spend most of their time brewing alcohol and getting drunk. They wore an expression of hopelessness. Here we prayed for the sick, prayed for the spiritually oppressed and then had a dance party with the whole village. It was such a surreal moment for me. Looking back it was one of those moments where I was standing in the middle of it all, my thoughts racing and yet everything else moving in slow motion. As though it had to slow down for me just to take in all the vibrant colors, foreign and exotic sounds, pure unpolluted smells, and the undeniable presence of God.

Chief Olwen Omona said “It looks like God is opening a light to my people because this has never happened. Even our own government has rejected us. For you to come is proof to me that God is beginning to see us. I welcome you with all my hands. If you come, I am sure the people will learn from you. They want to know of God but there is no one who will teach them. Thank you...may you open our eyes.” That made it all worth it.

After our time in Lobone and Issore we started our journey on to YWAM Arua (unaware at the time that it would take us 24 hours to complete) and having arrived in Arua it felt like we were in a 5 star resort. After the long day of travel I saw my designated foam mattress bunk bed and in my eyes it looked like a king size memory foam mattress with down filled duvet.

God is good.

Missions Communicators in Sudan

An update from our missions communicators in Arua, northern Uganda; working into South Sudan in preparation for shooting video footage to mobilize people, prayer and resources for the work of YWAM there.

"We were received by old friends of YWAM in Kampala and then met up with with our small outreach team in Lobone, South Sudan for our first location. It was great to be a united team of eight people from various nations coming together for Christ to be made known in the remote hills of this long neglected people. From the base in Lobone (YWAM is beginning a work on a plot there now), it is a several hour hike into the first village of the Issore region, and each village is quite a distance apart from any other. We were able to spend two nights, three days there, and we really sensed more of what God wants for this people. We are grateful to William and Bosco, who will carry on the work there even as we go away. We can see God touching many to come and serve alongside them in this needy region and we know the production of the video will move many as well."

Since receiving this communication, we have also heard that one of the team was detained by Sudanese authorities for an afternoon and only released after paying a fine. His crime? He had unwittingly taken a photograph of an army barracks. Missions communicators need to be savvy to make it in Africa!

What challenges are you aware of in your own communication? How are you working to overcome them? Have you been touched by videos and stories from remote places like Issore? How were you moved to get involved in some way?

Building communication at a local level

This week, some of the AfriCom team in Cape Town travelled to nearby Worcester to meet with the newly formed Communication Team at the YWAM centre there. Our connection with YWAM Worcester was strengthened at the end of last year, when we ran a week-long Effective Communication Workshop for their staff. Since that time we have visited monthly to help the communication director in her quest to mobilize a team to work alongside her in serving the communication needs of the ministry and training staff in her YWAM location.

This week we were hugely encouraged to meet 6 new Com Team members (currently all part-time) including a writer, photographer, videographer and video conferencing expert. What a great team, each person highly motivated to launch communication initiatives that will help connect missionary staff at this thriving training and ministry centre, as well as promote their work among the local community as well as nationally and internationally.

This sort of consultation and support is one of the ways regional Com Teams like AfriCom can help strengthen the work of YWAM at a local level. To find out more about how we can help YWAM in your location, email info@ywamafricom.org.

YWAMers fear armed conflict in Ivory Coast

In Ivory Coast, a nation currently under threat of civil war, YWAM has a history of discipling individuals and building communities. As well as the 6 month Discipleship Training School, YWAM Côte d'Ivoire has offered training in Christian counseling and supports a number of local pastors through their church ministries work. At times like these, when communities are under a high degree of stress, pastors and church leaders provide a steadying anchor for individuals and families who fear for their own safety.

North and south Ivory Coast have been divided since 2002 when ethnic, religious and economic disparities caused conflict that meant a united nation was not sustainable. Last year's presidential election was the first in a decade and came as the result of a lengthy peace process. In that election, Mr Ouattara, a muslim northerner, won a slender victory that has since been declared invalid by supporters of Mr Gbagbo in the south. Many international organisations, however, including the UN, African Union and EU, have recognised Mr Ouattara as the winner.

Whilst it is being reported that civil war is not inevitable, what we hear from YWAM staff on the ground indicates that there is a lot of fear that the situation is escalating towards armed conflict. "If war is unleashed" wrote Richard, YWAM leader in Ivory Coast, "there will be serious loss of life since both sides are ready to give their all for their leader."

Every day large numbers of the population are leaving the city of Abidjan for the countryside; whilst in the west of the country people are fleeing to Liberia and Guinea. The UN refugee agency reports that over 450,000 people have fled their homes because of the current crisis.

For now, although some YWAM staff have already left the country for Ghana or Togo, most YWAMers are in the city of Abidjan and for now are staying. This decision is being reassessed daily as the situation unfolds. YWAM teams in neighbouring countries stand ready to receive their fellow missionaries if evacuation proves unavoidable.

For more information about the current state of affairs, go to a news website such as this.

For Marta and the women of Mozambique

Marta Alige was a pioneer. She was one of the first generation of girls to grow up educated in peacetime Mozambique, and one of the first generation of Mozambican missionaries. When she finished school, instead of moving to the city looking for work, she was trained by Youth With A Mission, and spent the rest of her short life working as a frontier missionary in the isolated Zambezi delta.

For ten years YWAM Marromeu has worked in this delta region. Education has always been a huge felt need for the Mozambicans there, living far from the nearest schools. YWAM leaders, Shephen and Caitlin Mbewe, both trained schoolteachers, are committed to develop education in this area, where poverty and illiteracy are rife.

Several years ago, after completing her DTS in Marromeu, Marta began the first primary school in the delta. Her husband Pedrito lived with her in the delta, running a small first aid post. Slowly, with the held of a fellow YWAMer, Tiago, and a government teacher, Marta developed the school. Steady progress has now been made in teaching literacy, though the number of simple books in the local Sena language is limited.

Many outreach teams have also helped with the literacy programme, flown into remote delta villages by helicopter, generously provided by Mercy Air. With the motto, ‘Wings of love to people in need’, South Africa’s Mercy Air has accelerated the speed with which the YWAM team is able to travel, reducing three-day canoe trips to 30 minutes.

Tragically, in late 2010, Marta Alige died, after complications during a Ceasarean Section. Still today, two decades after Mozambique’s civil war ended, one in thirty seven Mozambican women die in childbirth. Thankfully Marta’s story does not finish here, however. The work she started has been continued through the lives of three teenage YWAM girls.

Caitlin, and her three daughters, Nyasha, Kudzai and Tatenda, wanted to do something special to remember Marta. They translated a traditional African folk tale into Sena, doing the artwork themselves. ‘Why does the eagle steal the hen’s chicks?’ has now been published, dedicated to the memory of Marta.

The book was recently given to children living in the delta, who Marta had taught. Fifteen-year old Nyasha comments, “Everyone loved it. Even the ones who could not read could follow the story by looking at the pictures, and could recognize words in the story from the vocabulary pages. It was so exhilarating! Everyone was so disappointed when the story came to an end - it made me wish I had more books. I want to bring reading alive for them."

The day after giving the books out in Luawe, Caitlin visited Bumbani, another village in the delta, to check on the progress of the reading scheme she had introduced earlier in 2010. She found that many of those attending the programme could already read all the word cards that she had provided. Now their great need is books.

Recently, Caitlin made an emergency trip to South Africa. Whilst there, some wonderful partnerships began. She met Anne Herbert, the Outreach Coordinator for Mercy Air, with 27 years experience teaching primary education. More people heard about the Sena literacy programme and began donating their time and skills. A team from South Africa are now creating a ‘Classroom in a box’, containing practical literacy materials that can be easily carried into remote areas.

Today the Mbewes are busy translating further African folk tales into Sena, as easy readers for the learners. Enthusiastic artists from supporting churches in the United Kingdom are helping with culturally appropriate artwork. Plans are afoot to publish short bible stories and challenging books that will help build a biblical worldview.

A generation of Mozambicans living in the Zambezi delta now have the opportunity to learn to read and write. For the women in particular, education offers the possibility of radical transformation. Marta did not have formal training, only 5 years of primary school. It was Martin Luther King who said, "One does not need a degree to serve." Marta proved that to be true, she served the children of the delta with love and devotion, and her short life will bear much fruit.

For more information, contact Mercy Air or YWAM Marromeu via email: mbeweshephen@yahoo.co.uk

AfriCom's latest video: about YWAM Angola

YWAM Angola from Miranda Heathcote on Vimeo.