August 13, 2007

Dear Friends,

When you think about the news you hear from Sudan I imagine it is likely to be a pretty grim picture: the genocide in Darfur continues to rage, the comprehensive peace agreement is moving forward at a frustratingly slow pace and inter-ethnic conflicts are prevalent. But there are also many amazing things happening in Sudan which seldom capture the media’s attention. These stories need to be told as well, so we would like to share how God is at work in the midst of these very difficult conditions through the ministry of RECONCILE.

Workshop participants in Anyidi preparing to process with the cross to which they had attached their descriptions of situations in which they needed to grant or seek forgiveness.

In our last prayer letter I wrote that the Reverend Christopher Banja and I were preparing to go into Anyidi, South Bor, to train church and community leaders in trauma healing, and I asked for your prayer support. Thirty participants attended this two-week workshop. All of them had been severely impacted by the Bor Massacre, in which over 2,000 civilians lost their lives. One third of the workshop participants were former “lost boys,” and 42 percent showed evidence of suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The stories they shared and pictures they drew illustrate the symptoms they were facing:

• “Tanks crushed civilians and shot down many people. I have many nightmares about tanks crushing people.”
• “In prison I was tortured. I was accused of overthrowing the government. We were all beaten. Others were killed. I have flashbacks of this.”
• “Dinkas make traps for animals by making holes in the ground. The animal would fall in the hole and then it would wait for us to come and kill it. I felt like that animal in the pit. I felt sure I would die. That I would be next. We didn’t mourn death—we expected it.” 
• “Losing one’s loved ones one after another makes a person unable to mourn. We stopped feeling. The sorrow was overwhelming.”

If the workshop had ended after hearing such testimonies, there wouldn’t be much good news to report. But we went on to explore what trauma is, how it affects individuals and communities, and how we can take positive steps to lead individuals through what we call the trauma healing journey. After traumatizing events all of us have a choice to either go down a negative path, which takes us through the “villages” of denial, anger, and revenge, leading to more violence, or that we can choose the difficult uphill path that leads us through “villages” of acceptance, forgiveness, justice, and reconciliation. It was clear that the message of reconciliation was getting across when, in reference to the ethnic group they were having serious tensions with, one of the participants said “Some say we must remove the So-and-sos for all they have done to us. But we cannot do that. The Bible says we cannot do that. It’s like removing our eye. We need them. We must forgive them and unite with them like we did with the Nuer.” My heart sang!

Although almost half the workshop participants showed evidence of PTSD, many of them have moved from being victims to being survivors. They now help others make it through the same process by serving as "wounded healers."

We use experiential processes to make the material “come alive” and to give space for the participants to share their insights. One of the activities we did, after sharing material and Biblical passages on the concept of forgiveness, was to have the participants write down situations in which they needed to grant or seek forgiveness on a piece of paper which they then nailed to a wooden cross. They then made a procession, singing as they marched, and brought the cross to an area where prayers of forgiveness were offered, and it was burned amidst jubilant singing and dancing.

We also spent considerable time helping participants who have learned to move from victims to survivors to serve as “wounded healers” and assist others. We did this through use of role-plays, which also covered how to deal with traumatized children and victims of rape.

Thanks for your support and prayers which made it possible for RECONCILE to be in Anyidi with these dear people.

In Christ,

Del and Debbie

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 323