A quarter of a million people in South Sudan are blind...

Restoring Sight in South Sudan...

South Sudan is a country with some of the worst health statistics in the world and services for the blind are virtually non-existent.

More than 90% of the world's visually impaired live in developing countries, and South Sudan has some of the highest blindness rates. Underlying diseases causing blindness and visual impairment, that have been largely eradicated in other post-conflict countries, are epidemic in South Sudan.  The prevalence rate of blindness is about 3 times greater than other East African countries. There is only one functioning eye center with an opthalmologist serving serving a population of 9 million people. (WHO, The World Health Organization, recommends one ophthalmologist for every 400,000 people.) For every blind person, an average of 5 family members are affected, as the struggle for survival in one of the poorest agrarian countries in the world is shared by everyone. Blind heads of households cannot provide for their families, and blind and severely visually impaired children cannot go to school.
Cataracts are the primary cause of preventable blindness in South Sudan, and Onchocerciasis (river blindness) the second. River Blindness has been almost eliminated in 16 other African countries, yet it remains out of control in South Sudan. It can be eradicated whole villages and communities taking medication to stop larvae from an adult worm, which is transmitted by a black fly bite, from hatching under the skin and eventually attacking the retina. River blindness has become a major problem, as communities could not be reached during the war to take medicines simultaneously every 10-15 years - the life cycle of the adult worm.

Trachoma, caused by cramped and poor living conditions and a lack of clean water, is the secondary major cause of blindness. Less than 10% of the population has access to clean water.

Cataracts can be corrected with relatively simple surgery by an opthalmalogist. 

The other major cause of blindness and visual impairment is refractory problems, which can be easily assessed and corrected by trained eye care specialists who can provide affordable corrective lenses. 
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, globally, up to 75% of all blindness is avoidable. However, in Sudan most people do not have access to health care or education about the importance of annual eye examinations to maintain sight. Poverty, inadequate healthcare and the lack of a supply of available eyeglasses renders adequate vision unattainable to most of the population. Health is the centerpiece of development and the alleviation of poverty for returning refugees - therefore, efforts to eliminate avoidable blindness among these poorest of the poor is a moral imperative.

The restoration of sight to people with vision problems is an important step toward empowering the Sudanese people. Restoring a person's sight can enable him or her to hold a job and contribute to feeding and housing a family. It can also mean that a person can participate more fully in society, and enjoy seeing the world around them and be able to read.

Operation Nehemiah's "Sight for the South Sudan" program is responding to the need...

Operation Nehemiah Missions (www.Operationsnehemiah.org), in cooperation with "Infocus" (www.infocusonline.org), a non-profit organization that empowers communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness, will provide training and logistical support to help people in Southern Sudan provide for their own eye health and vision care needs. We have been doing Eye Care Outreaches since 2007, and our plan is to establish "Vision Stations" in the capitol, Juba, and in rural areas of
Eastern Equatoria. Families can receive eye exams, quality eye glasses at affordable prices and referral for treatment of underlying medical conditions. We will arrange for cataract surgeries to be done during short term medical mission trips to our clinic in Borongole. We will train community members to serve as eye care specialists serving in our outpatient clinic in and our Mobile Medical Unit. Using equipment available through In focus, trained nationals will be able to assess for refractive errors in vision and provide eyeglasses. They may use the proceeds of spectacle sales to defray operating costs and support themselves and their families. We will be able to provide eyeglasses at about 5% of retail cost in U.S. dollars.

The cost of equipping each Vision Station is approximately $3,500.00. Please consider supporting a Sudanese Christian by giving him the opportunity to serve his community and provide for his family! Click on the "Donate Today" button on the right, or sending a check (note "Vision Station")  to;

Nehemiah Medical Missions
57 McKinley Terrace
Pittsfield, MA 01201

Who Are the Real Peacemakers in South Sudan?

"For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil work will be there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."  James 3: 16-18

In spite of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the Islamic North in 2005, and the hard won independence gained this past year, South Sudan continues to be torn by animosities. Even an cursory view of South Sudan's history over the past three decades would cause any of us to wonder if there has ever been more of a need for true and authentic peacemakers. We see varying degrees of internal political, tribal and economic tensions. Once again, the Northern Islamists have declared that the South Sudanese are their "enemies". Emissaries from the United States, the U.N. and regional governments shuttle about in diplomatic efforts to avoid all-out war, but all they seem able to accomplish is superficial "peace faking" agreements that temporarily mask underlying antagonism and hostile agendas. All of this occurs within the context of a post conflict society and a culture traumatized by two generations of persecution and war. In South Sudan's civil administration, the highest honors have been reserved for the veteran fighters and war makers. These former fighters in the war have been rewarded with the choicest positions as civil authorities, with little experience or background in the negotiation or conflict resolution skills needed for their new roles of "civil servants." From a rational human perspective, it appears that South Sudan may be a simmering pot about to boil over. It would be reasonable to conclude that peacemaking efforts have largely been utter failures, occasionally interrupted by some moderate successes in bringing the worst conflicts to a brief stalemate.

The above description of the situation in South Sudan reveals how formidable the task is for Peacemakers who aim to reconcile groups or individuals that are in conflict. The difficulties inherent in this effort are significant: 1) A Peacemaker must keep his own biases and prejudices from influencing or exacerbating the tone and tenor of the dispute between the adversaries. 2) A Peacemaker helps adveraries finding common ground and interests from which an agreement can be built. This can be troublesome because some people are highly competitive, contentious, stubborn - driven to "win" regardless of the cost. Some will sacrifice any other interest just so they do not appear to "lose." 3) A Peacemaker seeks opportunities to change the views of adversaries to encourage a change in former mutually exclusive positions... Daunting tasks, indeed!

But I believe there is another, more fundamental cause for the failure of well intentioned efforts at securing peace in South Sudan. Most of us are not very accomplished at reconciling warring parties, but that is not the kind of peacemaking our Lord is concerned about for us now. He is more concerned about the way in which we live and the manner in which we conduct ourselves. It was Adam and Eve's conduct that shattered the peace between man and God. Cain's conduct shattered the peace between him and Abel and God. And so it is for all of us - our conduct makes or breaks the peace with God and man!

In God's economy, a person cannot truly make peace with other unless he is first at peace with God. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). In describing mankind, Paul says, "The way of peace they have not known" (Romans 3:17) When we become reconciled to God He dissolves our enmity and He developes peace in our character. Until then, we cannot truly be instruments of godly peace. Paul also claims  "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Roman 5:1) Here, peace implies a cessation of hostilities and a tranquillity of mind. This replaces an almost continual agitation because of the carnal mind's inborn hostlity toward  toward God and His law. These verses paint a clear picture of the horrible contention and enmity that sin causes - for where there is no strife, there is no need for a peacemaker. All of us were at war with God. "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." Before our conversion, we each needed a peacemaker to mediate and make reconciliation for us.

God's servant Paul tells us plainly, "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are Ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  II Cor. 5:18-21

We play a part in becoming Peacemakers by becoming reconciled to God by His grace. This is the first step and the primary criteria for becoming a true peacemaker. Paul tells us that he had been given the word and ministry of reconciliation as his function as an apostle of Jesus Christ. But he tells us that we, as followers of Christ are called and being prepared to assist in causing the reconciliation of the world to God. This step toward being a peacemaker is the result of His working in our lives over time. This sanctification process creates within us the ability to be a peacemaker by His definition, as He conforms us to the image of His pattern Son. The process is painful -our human nature clings tenaciously to our attitudes and behavior, providing a constant challenge to maintaining peace with God and others. Paul describes his battle with it in Romans 7, and in numerous other exhortations to us to employ self-control and love for God and the brethren. This leads us to understand that peacemaking involves more than mediating between disputing parties. Peacemaking is a constant responsibility and lifestyle. Its achievement is possible, but more difficult than it seems at first because of many factors - not just from without, but from within.

The church is a spiritual body, the body of Jesus Christ. It is an assembly of people called to prepare for God's Kingdom and participate in and support the church's work in feeding the flock and preaching the gospel of peace to the world. The church has two primary duties - To provide a means of calling others to reconciliation and peace with God, and to provide the full counsel of God to help the called know God and become holy. This is the vocation, the work, of all Christians. I am reminded here of a Boma chief who recently told me, "In every village where there is a church, I have no need for policemen."
Although as Christians we may have little or no control over others in mediating peace between disputing parties, this should not dissuade us from living in the conduct of peacemakers and Ambassadors for Christ. In and of itself, this is our Godly calling and vocation. Peacemaking is indeed a high standard and our worthy vocation, yielding a wonderful reward that is worth bending our every effort and will to submit to God and seek to glorify Him.

Who then, are the real Peacemakers in South Sudan? They are those who may never sit at a formal negotiation table. They may never have the opportunity to issue declarations, engage in public rhetoric or sign agreements and treaties. They may live out their lives farming their fields or selling in the marketplace.  But in their interaction with others in the daily course of their lives, and through the sanctifying process God is working in them, I am convinced they are the ones through whom God will establish His peace in South Sudan. They may be the meek, largely unnoticed by the world, but our Lord says that the meek will inherit the earth. I am proud to know them.

I am convinced from God's perspective that they are blessed according to Matthew 5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers pea, for they shall be called sons of God". This is why I am convinced that God is moving in South Sudan. These are the people I want to teach, exhort and encourage in the Gospel of Peace, in their churches, over the radio, and in the fields and marketplace. It is truly my great privilege!

By God's Grace,
Bob Kirkman

In the minute it takes you to read this...

Malaria

In the minute it will take you to read this, 4 children will die from Malaria in Africa.

Over one million people die from malaria each year, mostly children under five years of age, with 90 percent of the cases occurring in Sub Saharan Africa. In the area we serve in Eastern Equatoria, malaria makes up most of the cases we treat are malaria and most are children. This mosquito borne disease is one of the biggest threats to health, with data indicating that one in every five children under the age of five suffer from malaria at some time each year from a simple mosquito bite.

For those children who survive, malaria hampers their schooling and social development. Many ot the children who survive a serious attack of malaria develop physical and mental impairment.Malaria is also particularly damaging to pregnant women and their unborn children. It often results in maternal anemia and low birth weight - the single greatest risk factor for death during the first months of life.


     How is this relevant to our mission? Effective drugs for the treatment of malaria make up a significant portion of the requests I just receved for medicine from our team on the ground. The rainy season is upon them, and it is the time when children are most vulnerable. 

   Our Sudanese partners on the ground know exactly where and how these medicines are most needed and distributed. Among them is Dr. Luka Benson. He serves on our Board, and has been faithful in helping to supply the medicines we desparately need. He does this at his own cost. We are very grateful for his partnership.We need $500 per month to keep our clinic supplied with enough medicine to serve the surrounding area.

   Please help us secure these medications by clicking on the "Donate Now" button on the right, or by sending a check of any amount - made out to Nehemiah Medical Missions, 57 McKinley Terrace, Pittsfield, MA, 01201.
Thank You!

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KALA AZAR - Outbreak anticipated in South Sudan

The World Health Organization has reported that more than 1.5 million people are at risk of contracting Kala Azar disease in South Sudan. Kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis) is contracted through the bite of a parasite carrying sand fly. Symptoms include an enlarged spleen, fever, weakness and wasting tissue. It thrives in poor and remote areas. Children are at highest risk. If untreated, it is fatal in almost 100% of the cases. However, there is up to a 95% cure rate with proper medication and treatment.



A sandfly carrying the Kala Azar parasite

WHO officials are concerned that the severity of this outbreak will be exacerbated the forced repatriation displacement of South Sudanese from the north.Three-quarters of the people of Soth Sudan are unable to access basic medical care and the weak health care system cannot cope with emergencies. This is in an area that the WHO has already described as having a “confluence of the worst diseases on the planet”.
The severity of this outbreak is dwarfed by the wider medical humanitarian crisis facing the entire region, including malaria, measles, meningitis,typhoid and tuberculosis. The influx of refugees from the North will add to the largest population of displaced persons in the world. This will place additional strain on already limited resources, including the lack of adequate food, clean water, and medicines. 


Rob Kirkman with the Sudanese medical team in Borongole

Our Sudanese indigenous partners on the ground know where the need is greatest and how it can be most effectively met in the area we serve. These young men, Dr. Luka Benson and Samuel Koma Levi, are prepared to meet this challenge through our clinic serving the population in and around Borongole and the "Madi Corridor" of Eastern Equatoria. We need to ensure that they have the medications they need to meet the challenge.

Please consider helping by making a contribution by clicking the "Donate Today" button on the right, or sending a check to "Nehemiah Medical Missions", 57 McKinley Terrace, Pittsfield, MA  01201
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try spending a night in a closed room with a mosquito"   African Proverb

Forgiveness...The Key to Our Unity in Ministry

Upon being referred to the attached article by Paul Tripp from the Gospel Coalition, I feel compelled to share it as an to encouragement to my friends & co-laborers in Operation Nehemiah here and in South Sudan, and to my fellow Elders...

In His Grace,
Rob Kirkman

 

Forgiveness: The Key to Pastoral Unity

Posted By Paul Tripp On March 4, 2012 @ 11:59 PM In Articles of  Interest,Commentary,Featured,Opinion | 5 Comments

^[1]

One thing you can know for sure, pastor, is that in the course of your ministry you will be sinned against. You'll be misunderstood, falsely accused, and unfairly judged. Often this will happen in your relationships with those with whom you are ministering. When that happens you can choose to carry a list. You can give way to the temptation to punish the other person. You can choose for disappointment to become distance, for affection to become dislike, and for a ministry partnership to morph into a search for an escape. You can taste the sad harvest of relational détente that so many church staffs live in, or you can plant better seeds and celebrate a much better harvest. The harvest of forgiveness, rooted in God's forgiveness of you, is the kind of ministry relationship everyone wants.
Forgiveness stimulates appreciation and affection. When daily we forgive the people we live and minister with, we do not look at them through the lens of their worst failures and biggest weaknesses. As we talk honestly, weep and pray, and repent and reconcile, our appreciation for each other grows and our affection deepens. We quit looking at the other person as the enemy. We stop protecting ourselves from those who work and live nearest to us and begin to work together to build walls of defense against the many threats to ministry relationships that exist in this fallen world.
Forgiveness produces patience. As we respond God's way in a daily lifestyle of confession and forgiveness, we begin to experience things we never thought we would see in our relationships. We begin to see bad patterns break, we begin to see one another change, and we begin to see love that had grown cold becomes new and vibrant again. When we experience hard moments and God gives us the grace not to give way to powerful emotions and desires that would take us in the wrong direction, we experience the practical help and rescue his wisdom gives us again and again. All this means that we no longer panic when a wrong happens between us and those with whom or to whom we minister. We no longer take matters into our own hands in the panic of hurt and retribution. We no longer try to be the other's conscience or judge. No, we are much more relaxed in the face of failure and willing to patiently follow God's commit-confront-confess-forgive plan. The hardships of ministry relationships have helped us practically see that his grace is bigger than any difficulty we will ever face in our relationships. So we are able to rest and wait, knowing that God is at work, even when ministry relationships have left us exhausted and discouraged, and that he will not quit working until his work in us and our relationships is complete.
Forgiveness is the fertile soil in which unity in relationships grows. When as a pastor you are living every day in the confession and forgiveness pattern of the gospel, you are forsaking your way for a better way. Your relationships are no longer a daily competition for who has power and who is going to get his way. You no longer see the other person as a threat, wondering just when hewill once again get in the way of your ministry desires or goals. You are not obsessed with your comfort, pleasure, and ease and with the fear of how or when the people near you will interrupt them. No, forgiveness puts you on the same page with each other. You have both submitted your desires to the desires of Another. You no longer try to build your own little ministry kingdoms. You now work together for God's kingdom. You now live with the same set of expectations and rules. You now have the same way of thinking about and addressing problems. And together you celebrate what God has given you, together being aware that you could never have done it yourselves. You now experience unity like never before, because forgiving grace has liberated you for a higher purpose and a better daily plan.
Remember, God put people in our lives not just to help us expedite our ministry plans, but to show us the better way of his grace. So we learn to make war, but no longer with one another. Together we battle the one Enemy who is after us and our ministries. As we do this, we all become thankful that grace has freed us from the war with one another that we used to be so good at making.

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Article printed from The Gospel Coalition Blog: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc
URL to article: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/03/04/forgiveness-the-key-to-pastoral-unity/
URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/files/2012/02/Paul-Tripp-Headshot3.jpg

Preventing Loss of Life on the Road in South Sudan

The staff of Operation Nehemiah have witnessed destruction and loss of life on an almost daily basis on the Juba Nimule Road. On our recent trip we buried friends and relations as a result. With your help, Operation Nehemiah's Medical Missions hopes to deliver a mobile medical unit to transport accident victims quickly to the hospitals in Juba or Nimule. This is our promise and committment to the people traveling this road. Please see my comment following this article from AllAfrica.com. Thanks.

 Sudan: MPs Express Dismay Over Traffic Accidents in Juba-Nimule Road

By Staff Writer, 24 March 2012
Two Ministers of Parliament from constituencies in Madi sector of Magwi County, Eastern Equatoria State, Veronica Redento Undzi and Aventore Amure Bilal from South Sudan Legislative Assembly and Eastern Equatoria State Legislative Assembly respectively told The Citizen yesterday that they were shocked by the high rates of death from traffic accidents on Juba-Nimule road.

"The death toll might have reached over 100 in the last few months," said Bilal, "and it will continue unless drastic steps are taken by those concerned to stop this." He said because of the completion of the road from Nimule to around Kerepi measuring about 55 miles towards Juba and having it now tarmac, drivers of various types of vehicles race along the road in unimaginable speed and resulting to fatal accidents.
He said they have met the undersecretary of Ministry of Roads and Bridges in Juba to explore means of how the Ministry can help solve this problem. In their discussion the undersecretary expressed sorrow for the many lives lost in the highway through reckless driving by some drivers of the different types of vehicles and promised the role of his ministry to curb the accidents.
He said his ministry was only concerned with planting of signs along the highway, drawing of zebra crossings and other symbols and constructing bumps so that these can guide the drivers when using the highway and that direct control of the drivers in the highway was the responsibility of the traffic police under the Ministry of Interior.
The two MPs afterward visited the Ministry of Interior where they met the Deputy Minister General Salva Matok and explained to him the high toll of deaths in Nimule-Juba Road especially in the part from 0 to 55 km between Nimule and Kereppi which had been made tarmac. The Minister expressed sadness to learn about the loss of so many lives and promised that his Ministry would soon send some police personnel who are currently under training on technique of controlling traffic in highway for deployment in the road to check on drivers using the road.
MP Veronica said the Minister also suggested that the fight against the traffic accidents should be shouldered by other sectors besides his ministry and that the media should enlighten the communities living along the highway and school children whose schools are near the road about how to conduct themselves to avoid accidents.
The MP said the minister also stated that the chiefs of the areas should sensitize their subjects about the presence of the highway and challenges related to it so that their people do not face dangers. The Minister was reported to have blessed the suggestion made by the chiefs in Madi sector that uniformed traffic police personnel board buses to ensure that they don't speed between the two points, Nimule and Juba.

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  We have witnessed destruction and loss of life on an almost daily basis on the Juba Nimule Road. We have buried friends and relations as a result. Operation Nehemiah's Medical Missions hopes to deliver a mobile medical unit to transport accident victims quickly to the hospitals in Juba or Nimule. Please pray that this will come to pass soon!

"Tiny, invisible moral forces..."

Upon reflecting upon my recent seven weeks in South Sudan, I find myself resonating with my favorite quote from William James...

"I am done with great things and big things, great institutions and big success. I am for those tiny, invisible moral forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water. Yet, if you give them time, they will rend the hardest monuments of man's pride."

Each time I return from South Sudan, I am reminded how we Americans tend to be inclined toward the "bottom line" and obsessed with results and "outcomes". We often envy the accomplishments of others. For me, I find "acomplishments" are summed up in the words of a village chief who says, "Many of us are alive today because of your clinic." My "bottom line" has become the look of a child who finds he is well enough to get out of his sickbed and go home. These things have become enough for me. They speak to a sense of relationship and trust between people of different cultures. God has used them to render the hard monument of my own pride.
The area we serve in East Africa is remote and hard to find... even on a good map or a GPS.  The climate is harsh, and the World Health Organization has described it as an area that has "a confluence of the worst diseases on the planet." However, I find myself compelled to "creep though the crannies of the world" to Eastern Equatoria. I cannot go empty handed. I need to bring medicine, and Michael Levi, the elder of Borongole, said "Next time you come, bring reading glasses."

Would you be part of those "invisible moral forces that work from individual to individual" by joining this blog and making a contribution of any amount so that I can creep back there soon? If so, just click on the Make a Donation button on the right side of the page, or send  a check to "Nehemiah Medical Missions", 57 McKinley Terrace, Pittsfield, MA  01201.

a boy with measles...measles kill in South Sudan.   

Discharge Day!

A Young Defender of Health in Borongole...

        "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with mosquito."
                                                                                                          - African Proverb
    During my recent 7 weeks in our compound in South Sudan I had the pleasure of shadowing our young nurse, Samuel Koma Levi, in his duties in our clinic. I did my best to keep up and do what I could to assist. Samuel is a dedicated young man who makes himself available to address the staggering health care needs of the surrounding population on a 24/7 basis. He lives a few yards from the clinic in a thatched mud hut with his young wife and infant child. I was struck that I have seen such a schedule stress out a "first world" health care worker, including myself, in no time at all. I mentioned this as I was helping him hang an IV bottle on a light fixture for a 4 year old with typhoid (he had no more IV poles), and he simply stated that the work was his greatest joy. On a typical day we found ourselves dealing with multiple cases of malaria, typhoid, trauma, Buruli ulcers, breast cancer, River Blindness, Hepatitis B and a young boy who had suffered trauma with significant tissue loss. An virulent intestinal virus swept through the surrounding villages for about a week, followed by an outbreak of conjunctivis. Samuel's response was simple gratitude "for the medicine that had arrived before the sickness visited". Samuel is visited a few times a week by a young medical resident, Irra Celestino, who works in another clinic miles away. They sit together, pouring over medical texts, and consulting on particularly difficult cases. During my last night in Borongole, I noticed a light in the clinic at about 3am. I entered to find Samuel sitting with a 3 year old girl and her distraught father. She had malaria and typhoid. He had just started an IV and was holding her hand "to help the medicine work, because medicine works best when one is relaxed". I am humbled and grateful to know and work with such young men. Most are young because the war has wiped out so many who are older.  Of course, I come home with a note from Samuel, listing the things he needs to keep the work going. (Near the top of the list are more IV poles!) It is my delight and responsibility to obtain what I can to help him before I return in a few months. I also need to attend an intensive tropical medicine course before I go. To that end, I am appealing to my friends and colleagues to participate with a donation - either by clicking on the donation button on the right side of the blog, or by sending a check to "Nehemiah Medical Missions", 57 McKinley Terrace, Pittsfield, MA 01201.
Thanks,
Rob Kirkman