2007 Report to Congregations participating in
Solidarity with Southern Sudan

To all of you, who have supported Solidarity with Southern Sudan during the past year, thank you.  The project has grown more quickly than anyone could have imagined and has become much bigger and complex than expected.  The scriptures, written so long ago, have meaning for us in the new year.  "Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago.  Watch for the new things I am going to do...it is happening already.  You can see it now." (Is. 43)

What follows is a summary report of Solidarity with Southern Sudan in the past year, 2007.

Solidarity with Southern Sudan is the coordinated participation of several religious institutes with their diverse traditions and charisms in cooperation with the bishops of the region. Solidarity with Southern Sudan collaborates with the local Church under the leadership of the Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference in the promotion of human capacity development. By agreement between the Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference and Solidarity with Southern Sudan, this human capacity development is promoted through the setting up of a Teacher Training College based on a distance learning model, a Health Training Institute and the support of agreed pastoral services.

It is the result of an invitation from the bishops of Southern Sudan to the USG/UISG to work in  solidarity with them as they rebuild their society and church after 21 years of civil war.

It is also a response to the call of the 2004 Congress on Religious Life with its theme Passion for Christ Passion for Humanity.  The Congress called for new paradigms for mission in our globalized world and called for greater collaboration among religious congregations:

Consecrated life has structures, organization, and functions of government that correspond to its history, but the future is what we should be building.  This requires a profound change in institutional mentality that would make possible the emergence of new institutions and forms of government in which this new life would not be suffocated.  Consecrated life in all its forms appears in the Church like a series of energies that is not always taken advantage of, is sometimes wasted, and at other times is repetitive. The internal reorganization not only of each institute but of all institutes, inter-congregational dialogue, and bridges of collaboration and integration are clear initiatives to which the Spirit is leading us. (#112)

At the close of the year, 2007, 60 religious congregations had made pledges of financial or personnel support. As of the end of December, 2007, $683.159,04 and € 950.159,63 had been donated. 

Highlights of the past year (2007)

During the year 2007 steps were taken to respond more fully to the invitation of the Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference (SCBC).

The following is a report of developments in the year 2007.

January- Congregations who had expressed interest in a collaborative project were invited to a meeting in Rome. Twenty four congregations with Generalates in Rome responded.  At the meeting, the Steering Committee, created in July of 2006, presented a proposal to develop a  Teacher Training College and a Health Training Institute in Southern Sudan.  Interest was expressed in investigating this possibility as well as remaining open to congregations who were interested in other pastoral works.    

February- At the World Social Forum in Nairobi, members of the Solidarity with Southern Sudan Steering Committee met with Bishops Mazzolari and Macram Gassis to discuss further the proposal for a Teacher Training College and a Health Training Institute.  The bishops responded enthusiastically and endorsed the idea and suggested that perhaps a network of teacher training centers could be developed.

March - A 5 member delegation revisited Southern Sudan.  This time their visit included visiting the two dioceses that were not visited the previous year, Wau and Malakal.  The cities of Wau and Malakal were considered to be part of northern Sudan during the war.  With the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord in January of 2005, they went back to the political jurisdiction of the  South.  The bishops suggested that Wau be considered for the Health Training Institute and Malakal be considered for the Teacher Training Institute.  It was during this visit that the idea of a Teacher Training Institute based on a distance learning model was suggested.

May- A second meeting of congregations interested in working together in response to the invitation of the SCBC was held.  Twelve congregations were present.  A report of the March delegation visit was given.  There was a consensus among members of the group to gather information and continue exploring the idea of distance learning for teacher education.

July- A third meeting of congregations interested and committed to a collaborative effort in southern Sudan was held.  Twenty congregations were present.  The purpose of the meeting was to form a legal structure for Solidarity with Southern Sudan with decision making authority. However, after discussion, it was felt that more information was needed before a legal entity could be formed and a future meeting date was set.  At the meeting 11 congregations committed personnel for the TTI or HTI.  A draft of a Mission Statement was presented and discussed. 

September- Solidarity with Southern Sudan established an office at the UISG headquarters.  

October- A third meeting of congregations took place.   Twenty-three congregations were represented. A provisional Governing Board was elected to move the project forward.  A Personnel Committee and a Fund Raising/Finance committee were appointed.

November- Amilcare Boccuccia, FSC, Johann Eigner, MCCJ, and Jimmy Parata, a layman from Uganda spent 5 weeks visiting the dioceses of Southern Sudan assessing diocesan buildings that might be used  for the TTC or the HTI.

December -  The Governing  Board of Solidarity with Southern Sudan met at an all day meeting on December 19.   Maureen Mc Bride, RNDM was elected President of the Board and Josep Abella, CMF, was elected Vice-President. It was agreed that this arrangement is provisional for one year.  A "provisional" Mission Statement was also approved.   Other provisional documents were also approved: Statutes, a Memorandum of Understanding between the SCBC  and Solidarity with Southern Sudan, and, A Letter of Understanding between Solidarity with Southern Sudan and Religious congregations who will be sending personnel.  Based on the Building Assessment Report, the Board approved the building of a residence for staff on Malakal and the repairing of the convent in Rimenze. 

Unfortunately, the legal document for the property of the Health Training Institute (HTI) in Wau is still not settled.  The Building Assessment Team and the two Comboni Sisters who will work with the HTI recommended that a change be made and that a hospital be built first and then the HTI because a place of practice is needed for the students of health care training.  The recommendation was made to begin a conversation with the German Leprosy Rehabilitation Association, which built the hospital in Agok, 12 km from Wau, about the possibility of re-opening the hospital for the HTI.  The hospital has been closed because of the war but is in good condition and would not require much investment to get it functioning once again.

 The Board also accepted the applications of 21 persons who will be going to Southern Sudan during the 2008 calendar year.  A decision was made to open an office in Juba, Southern Sudan, to begin implementing the project.

Plans for 2008:

Cathy Arata, SSND, will begin working in Juba, Southern Sudan as Administrative Secretary. Joseph Callistus, CMF will also be in the Juba office handling all the accounting.  Amilcare Boccuccia, FCS, and Vincent Ssekate, FIC, will work together as a team in the Rome office.

The Comboni Sisters will name two sisters to begin working with Bishop Rudolph of Wau to secure the legal documents for the properties and to investigate the possibility of using the hospital in Agok.  Once the ownership of the properties is settled planning will begin.

The Christian Brothers, Anton de Roeper, Marco Antonio Moreno Siqueiros and Agustin Rachel  will go to Malakal in February to begin developing and implementing the plan for teacher education. Also on the team to develop the plan for education is S. Ninet d'Costa, FMA.

During the year, 21 people are planning to go to Southern Sudan to begin implementing the project. Many details still have to be worked out.  

As this new year begins, Solidarity with Southern Sudan takes another step in faith.  It will be challenging enough to build buildings and to plan programs.  Perhaps the biggest challenge we face will be in building relationships of respect, trust and love among us and with the Sudanese people.

Let us join in prayer to our founders and foundresses to intercede for us as we carry on the work they began many years ago.