Burundi: community development seminar

CMS-Africa partner in Uganda Peter Seme asks for prayer as he travels to Burundi next week for a community development seminar. Pray for safety for Peter and others as they travel to and from the seminar and for a fruitful time of learning and networking.

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Uganda: support for local Christians

Hanna and Ian Spillman, now based in the UK, previously spent about 18 years serving in Uganda, initially with Tearfund and later as mission associates with CMS. Ian asks for prayer as he travels to southwest Uganda on 15 June for a month to support Kisiizi Hospital. Ian hopes to support the hospital board in planning, offer tech support, do some paediatric teaching and may also preach in the local church. Pray for safe travel, for wisdom for Ian in all his interactions and for local Christians to be encouraged by his visit. Please also continue to pray for containment of the Ebola outbreak in the region.

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DR Congo, South Sudan, Uganda: Ebola

There have been 220 suspected deaths from Ebola since an outbreak was declared in DR Congo on 15 May. Pray for ongoing protection for CMS partner Bisoke Balikenga and his colleagues, and for those they minister to through a peace centre in Bunia.

Please also pray for mission partner Martin Gordon, Bishop of Goma, and local churches as they offer healthcare and support communities.

Uganda has now fully closed its border with DR Congo, putting South Sudan at higher risk from anyone wanting to leave DR Congo.

Pray for mission partner Nicci Maxwell, a doctor who focuses on paediatric and neonatal medical care in Juba, South Sudan, and her colleagues, as they handle whatever might come their way.

Pray for protection from Ebola across all three countries, and for the virus to be contained.

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Uganda: Mission partners hand over the reins

Sarah and Simon Cawdell have recently finished their time as mission partners in Gulu. Please pray for Dr Denis Ruhama as he has taken over from Sarah and is now running the Archbishop Janani Luwum Theological College. Please also pray for distribution of coffee seedlings through the recently formed Diocese of Northern Uganda coffee cooperative. Pray for the long-term success of this initiative and in particular for rebuilding work being carried out on a greenhouse being used for the harvesting of seedlings.

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Uganda: Cawdells finishing service

After three years serving at Archbishop Janani Luwum Theological College in Gulu, Sarah and Simon Cawdell left Uganda this week and are preparing to finish service as mission partners. Pray for them as they settle back into life in the UK, and for the new principal of the college, Dr Denis Ruhama, as he and his family get established in Gulu.

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Uganda: new health clinic

CMS-Africa partner Seme Peter leads Save Life Christian Ministries (SLCM), a ministry which seeks to transform lives and promote holistic development through spiritual, social and economic empowerment in Uganda, DR Congo and South Sudan. Pray for obstacles to be removed so that Peter and others can establish a community health clinic in one of the villages.

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Uganda: new project in the Diocese of Northern Uganda

Mission partners Sarah and Simon Cawdell, who teach theology to local leaders and develop sustainability projects, have received funds from the Anglican Relief and Development Fund to establish a chicken project and farmhouse on the diocesan land. Give thanks for this money, the new project and the prospect of increased sustainability alongside other community projects such as a coffee garden. Pray for Simon to find an effective and honest engineer who can draw up good plans and oversee the work.

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Uganda: mudslides

Please pray for people in Sebei, Kapchorwa, where mudslides due to heavy rain have blocked roads, destroyed farms and crops and caused at least 18 deaths. Pray for comfort, protection, and recovery for all those affected.

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Uganda: training programmes and elections

We give thanks with CMS-Africa and Jacob Finosa, a partner in Uganda, for the success of their training programmes in carpentry, mechanics and driving. Pray for these programmes to continue to benefit young adults and open doors for them to enter the workforce. Please pray, too, for the people of Uganda in the lead-up to general elections early next year. Pray for wisdom, unity and for God’s will to prevail for the good of the nation.

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Uganda: trauma healing

Local partner Sam Malish serves South Sudanese refugees by leading trauma healing ministry in three refugee camps in Uganda, training and managing other leaders and more. As Sam is currently feeling somewhat overwhelmed by his many responsibilities, pray for opportunities for him to rest so that he can continue to serve in the way he feels called.

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Africa: training leaders

Mission partners in different areas of Africa report that teaching terms are coming to a close.

In Uganda, Sarah and Simon Cawdell give thanks for training for lay readers trained this term at Archbishop Janani Luwum Theological College in Gulu, Uganda.

Pray for these leaders as they return to their churches equipped with more biblical knowledge, further training in taking services, and some training in mission, church planting, discipleship and other necessities of church life.

Meanwhile Caroline and Dick Seed, mission partners training Bible teachers in theological institutions based at George Whitefield College in South Africa, report that term is coming to a close for their students.

Pray for the students as they return to their families and home churches across the continent to worship and serve, and pray for a good time of rest and reflection for lecturers.

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The war in South Sudan had come closer and closer, until one day Lilias saw her brother’s daughter shot in front of her.

by Camilla Lloyd

Now Lilias knew it wasn’t safe for her family to stay in Kaya, South Sudan. She went home, gathered her four children and her husband and they left.

There was no time to take anything with them – the family left with just the clothes on their backs and fled towards the Uganda border.

In the confusion of their escape, one of Lilias’s children got lost in the bush. Not knowing whether she would see her child again was almost more than a mother’s heart could bear.

But Lilias and the rest of the family had no choice – their only hope was to keep running towards the border with Uganda.

The rest of the family made it to safety and were taken to a refugee camp, but it was two weeks before Lilias was reunited with her lost child.

Trapped in trauma

In the refugee camp, things got worse before they got better. Lilias and her family were kept in a war zone by their own memories.

Things they had seen and heard in South Sudan went round and round in their minds as if being played on a loop. Repressed memories could be triggered at any time, suddenly causing flashbacks and retraumatising them.

Even while sleeping, Lilias and her family weren’t safe from reliving the trauma they had suffered. War broke into their dreams and immersed them in gunfire and bloodshed once again.

Lilias and her family had been driven from their homeland and the trauma they had suffered meant they were barely surviving.

Lilias drank more and more, trying to numb her pain. But the drinking made her treat her family badly; she couldn’t drink and still be a good wife and mother. Her marriage was already difficult, now things were getting worse. Lilias didn’t know what to do or where to turn for help.

Things got so bad that she tried to end it all – but a lady called Grace stopped her. Grace told her about the hope Jesus offers, and invited Lilias to a trauma healing group.

In the trauma healing sessions, Lilias and the others read the Bible and learned about Jesus. Lilias could feel that people in the group cared about her and over time, she felt safe enough to share her trauma and begin to work through it.

Through the sessions, Lilias found the strength to stop smoking and drinking. She accepted Jesus into her heart.

Today, Lilias is happy, full of smiles, because through Jesus, she has found peace. “Now I am alive.”

Forgiveness is the key

Lilias believes she and her family may be able to return home one day. She believes peace in South Sudan is possible. How? In her own words, “The only way we can have peace in South Sudan is if we forgive one another.”

One of her favourite Bible verses is Colossians 3:13: “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Because of Jesus, Lilias was able to work through her trauma and forgive others, even those who shot her brother’s daughter in front of her.

Because of Jesus, Lilias is alive today.

Because of Jesus, peace is possible.

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