Arrival in Arua
Stories from the Education Conference
Today we had a great day at the education conference with 177 individuals there including children, parents, CRESS staff and 2 Bishops! There were various talks, Jane and Pippa spoke on health, Becky on Parenting for Faith and I spoke with the CRESS staff and Nicholas from Compassion on the boundaries around child sponsorship.
The food was excellent, we ate a second breakfast around 11.00am and then a full delicious lunch at 2pm. During these meals we could mix and meet up with children, adults, CRESS staff while loud Hillsong Worship music was played – this gave a great atmosphere and at times we felt we were at a party. So many of the children came up and introduced themselves to me and the team met and talked with them.
Today we will share with you a couple of stories.
I first met Beatrice 7 years ago Bellameling refugee camp in northern Uganda. She was the saddest person I had ever met. She had fled her home in S Sudan several months earlier and she was in despair about her situation without hope for the future.
I met her again this weekend at the CRESS conference. What a transformation!
She said that meeting the CRESS team in 2017 changed her life. Her eldest son Isaac was sponsored through the CRESS scholarship programme and this lifted a huge weight from her shoulders. She was also able to speak with our CATT supervisor, who helped her to overcome her depression. In turn Beatrice trained as a CATT counsellor herself. She has helped many south Sudanese refugees who have been suffering from the trauma as a result of the war.
She is also helping the family nutrition by rearing poultry and growing vegetables, which is a battle with the chickens and other domestic animals damaging the crops.
She is involved with a group of other women from her church in the camp helping others in the community who are struggling.
Andrew also interviewed Beatrice. She proceeded to tell me of her joy in the CATT ministry, of supporting her husband, a pastor, in caring for the 100 or so people who came to their church and joy of planting a garden so that they might eat better. When she finished she thanked me for the prayer of the previous year, and told me how she had felt the spirit settle upon her, giving her confidence in God mercy and providence when she had hope for little.
She says that she has benefited from CRESS helping her and she wants to give something back to help others.
Jane Guy
I met with this group of young graduates – they were all SO delighted to have been through the CRESS sponsorship system and to have then either been funded for their diploma or Bachelors degree and ALL have secured a job. Here they are full of joy and life – all South Sudanese and all working for NGOs ( they earn good wages doing this and they are reasonably secure in employment ) They are all working in South Sudan.
They are a rare breed of South Sudanese as the country has some of the lowest tertiary education rates in the world particularly for women.
I felt so proud of what CRESS has achieved
Caroline
