Do you remember the childhood story Stone Soup? It’s an old folk tale about a couple of hungry travelers who creatively entice hesitant villagers to fill their large cooking pot with delicious soup ingredients. After the initial refusal of the villagers to feed the hungry travelers, the two men fill their pot with stream water, Read more
Catholic bishops in South Sudan say the country’s leaders need help with peacemaking. They say the killings in South Sudan must stop. In their view South Sudanese leaders do not know how to make peace, are confused, traumatised and fear peace. Their comments were made the same day Pope Francis designated for global prayers for Read more
Amy, 28, and 31-year-old Travis Nilsson got married in January last year and spent the first six months of their marriage in Sudan, the landlocked country in East-Central Africa. And when the Tauranga couple returned home they could not continue living their “comfortable lives” and decided to leave their house, jobs and family to return Read more
Conditions in South Sudan are appalling. United Nations (UN) officials have expressed concern about the fate of the South Sudanese people. The mandate for the UN peacekeeping mission in the country is set to expire. Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the UN Security Council the South Sudanese people “have simply suffered far too much for far too Read more
Risky air drops and truck deliveries across some of the most dangerous roads in the world: To tackle what is currently Africa’s worst hunger crisis, the U.N. World Food Program is using all means at its disposal. Every month, the agency moves more than 25,000 tons of food in its war on hunger. In mid-April Read more
Mercy Sister Marilyn Lacey has received a major award for her work in South Sudan and Haiti. Regis University in Denver presented Lacey the Opus Prize. The prize includes a cash award of one million dollars. Lacey’s organisation, called “Mercy Beyond Borders,” provides educational and economic help as well as job training to over 1,400 Read more
South Sudan may have a love-hate relationship with the media, banning it one minute, calling it back the next – but it is desperate for help and needs media attention right now. Sister Yudith Pereira-Rico, associate executive director of Solidarity with South Sudan says her organization is promoting the hashtag #SouthSudanWeCare on social media. Their Read more
South Sudan is about to get US$500,000 (NZ$700,000) to help pay for two hospitals, a school and farm equipment. Pope Francis is the donor. The country is suffering the effects of decades of civil war and its people are facing starvation. Read more
South Sudan will not be on Pope Francis’s visiting list this year. The Vatican confirmed that although it has been looking into the possibility of Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, visiting South Sudan, it has decided it’s too dangerous to visit the country at present. The Church of England has not yet Read more
In an effort to save over five million people, South Sudan’s Catholic bishops have asked for the world’s help Mass starvation faces South Sudan as the country suffers from the “scorched-earth” policies of the factions fighting a civil war in the region. South Sudanese civilians are being targeted by both sides in the country’s three-year Read more