South Sudan

Our Lord opened a door for me in November 2012to serve  HIM in South Sudan. When I received a call from a friend,  I prayed that I should obey HIS call, if it's from HIM.Juba, South Sudan’s capital, is not the best place to live as the living conditions were not good.  Besides, the cost of living was high and the weather conditions were extreme with no electricity. In fact, it is one of the expensive towns for expatriates in Africa. An Anglican Church from Newcastle England funded the program. 

We were working in partnership with Episcopal Church of South Sudan, on Women Empowerment, by helping them with micro-credit program.We formed small groups of women mostly from the Mothers Union, in partnership with the local church pastor, helping them to have a small saving as small as 5 to 10 $USD equivalent to local currency. Based on their savings, we gave micro-credit to help them to start and sustain small enterprises. 

I used this opportunity to share the faithfulness of our Lord to our clients and encouraged them to be faithful in return. Although they are Christians by defaults, not all are by conviction.  

The progress which they made both spiritually and financially after sharing the love of Christ and the Gospel was astonishing! I have observed women and widows broken from the bondage cycle of indebtedness and poverty. I have seen our Lord blessing them when they were faithful to  HIM. 

Besides micro-credit program, we were into  Evangelism and WASH (Water and Sanitation Health). Unfortunately, the country’s leadership failed in their responsibility and made people experience unbearable sufferings.  Because of the war and unsafe situations the funding agency called me back.I thank God for using me for  HIS glory in South Sudan.

After The Persecution

A Brief Report On Dongria Khondo Ministry After The Persecution.

Background:

On August 25th, 2008 persecution broke out in the Kandhamal area, Odisha. Around 110 pastors/ evangelists were martyred. More than 50,000  christians had become IDP (Internally Displaced People) for over a year. 

We were (myself and Vasanthi) in Sambalpur, Westen Odisha where we spent 2 years busy in our CSR work (Corporate Social Responsibility) for two well known  Indian manufacturing companies Hindalco and Jindal, respectively earning for our bread and partially supporting the ministry.

In the year 2012 November, God called me to South Sudan, East Africa to work among the war widows and destitute women to start a small business by giving micro-credit program. I was heading the country for the program, which was funded by an Anglican Church, England.

As the war situation worsened and the security risk increased in 2015, I was again called back to India.  By God’s wisdom, having prepared the local leadership, the transition was not difficult. While I was in Africa, my wife constantly visited Odisha as her heart was longing for our Dongria Khondo people.