South Sudan Update

Many of you will be especially interested to know how the pandemic is affecting our Global Partners. Here is the news from South Sudan (as of the end of last week):

With a reported 24 isolation beds for the whole country, South Sudan has taken control measures very seriously, before there has even been one positive test in the country. South Sudan declared the emergency situation on Friday 20th March and it was made public on 21st March over media outlets.

A border closure with Uganda is now in place, and all students have been sent home from schools, colleges and universities. These closures include some of the institutions which we often pray for within the CMSI family: the newly reinstituted Yei Vocational Training College, Bishop Allison Theological College, Chaima Theological Institute, Immanuel Model Secondary School, and the Haddow Schools.

What the Church feels most however, is the restriction on meeting together. Archbishop Justin Badi wrote to the churches to reassure them that they must pray at home during lent, and that only clergy would be permitted to ‘keep the light of prayer burning in the churches’.

Read Archbishop Justin's letter.

In the meantime, refugees who had wanted to return home cannot, students who were due to return home from Uganda need to find the funds to remain there, and families fortunate to have a worker amongst them have lost their income. Although there are no confirmed positive cases of Covid-19 in South Sudan yet, the impact has already begun.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in South Sudan.