Reaching Every Village in South Sudan
Story by MAF International
On Sunday, 13th March 2016 pilot Dave Forney reported about his South Sudan trip with MAF’s wonderful partner organisation Every Village. Usually, Dave is flying our Cessna Caravan in Uganda, but this time he spent a week in the far north of the world’s newest nation, supporting Every Village’s short-term missionaries.
Missionaries, Radios and (the Living) Water
Every Village is an organisation that aims to live up to its name by reaching every village in South Sudan with the Gospel and community development.
They are using a four-pronged approach: First, they are sending short term missionaries to South Sudan, to build credibility and do survey work in the villages. This opens doors for step two, which involves the implementation of water wells to bring clean drinking water to villages. This step does not only enable Every Village to provide water for the people of South Sudan, but also to share the Living Water with them: Long-term missionaries come to the villages to live with the people, learn their language and culture, and share the love of Jesus. The fourth step is to introduce Christian radio. In order to share the Gospel with the people they erect their own broadcasting towers and simple recording studios in remote areas and provide tens of thousands of simple with solar-powered, hand-held radios so that everyone can hear worship songs and teaching. The radio station broadcasts in the local language to reach people from several isolated areas and from all walks of life.
Dave flew American short-term missionary teams to different villages, as part of the short trips that are playing a big part in the Every Village strategy. Short-term missionaries had already completed numerous projects, among them being the installation of a radio station and a broadcasting studio. They also prepared the construction of compounds for the long-term missionaries who will hopefully arrive in the village soon. Dave was moved by the love of the missionaries for the people of South Sudan.
Praying over a tower in Mvolo
Dave loved spending time with the Every Village team and the kind hearted and welcoming people of Mvolo. Mvolo is located in the Western Equatoria region and is home to the Jur tribe. The Jur predominantly work as farmers and are a peaceful and gentle people.
During their week-long trip, Dave took the team to see the progress of the new radio station that is currently being built in Mvolo. They also monitored the missionary compound which will be built soon, and inspected the area for possible water well sites. The radio tower had been set up in the past months, and a simple studio building is currently under construction nearby. The team prayed over the tower and for the future radio ministry that will reach hundreds of thousands of people from this location in future.
Lives are Changed Eternally in Aweil
At the Every Village location up in Aweil, Dave witnessed the typical scenes of families in the mud-hut villages gathering around their little blue radios provided by Every Village, and listening to the only radio station available in their heart language. Dave was amazed to see how much the people enjoyed the Christian radio: “It’s a very powerful tool that can reach hundreds of thousands of people from each radio tower. (…) One can only guess the eternal impact that the radio is having throughout South Sudan!”
In Aweil, he also met a very smart and motivated young man named Joseph. The well-educated 26 year old Kenyan is managing the radio station and other projects in the remote village of South Sudan, rather than living the ‘easy life’ in a major city, earning a high income and enjoying great public respect by influential people. Dave was very impressed with this young man and reported: “Rarely have I met a man of his age, with so much wisdom, insight, and humility, and with such a knowledge and love of the Word. This is a guy who most definitely has an eternal perspective–laying up his treasures in heaven, rather than worrying about his riches here on earth.” Joseph is surely not only inspiring Dave, but also many other people who have the pleasure of meeting him. It’s fantastic to see how God is using people like Joseph to change lives eternally and build His kingdom in the remote places of South Sudan.
The children in the village loved Dave’s camera and swarmed around him as soon as they saw it. Sometimes there were more than 50 children following him around, in hope of having a picture taken of them, and then to be shown that picture. “Most had never seen a clear image of themselves, so this was pretty exciting! They pushed and shoved and fought to get in the image,” explained Dave.
God’s love for South Sudan
Dave felt blessed by the experiences he made during the week in Aveil and Mvolo, and was impressed with the impact Every Village is having. He reported: “Us MAF pilots love flying these Every Village people around. They’re all a bunch of fun-loving, down-to-earth folks, who just happen to be living sold-out for Jesus!” What a joy to hear about these fantastic people working together in South Sudan, the incredible strength of the people of the world’s youngest country, and the encouraging stories that do take place in such difficult times after Africa’s longest-running civil war.