Sudan, Africa: ‘Tell our brothers and sisters to intercede for us’ By Susan Brinkmann
CS&T Correspondent
Damare Garang was only 7 years old when government-backed soldiers attacked his Sudanese village and sold him into slavery. He was bought by a member of a Arab-backed extremist group in Tuobon and charged with minding the camels.
According to Voice of the Martyrs Reporter Tom Zurowski, Garang, a Christian, came home late one morning from a prayer service. His master demanded to know where he had been. “To church,” Damare said.
Infuriated, his master went into the barn, grabbed a wooden board, several spikes and a hammer. He dragged Damare to the edge of the compound and forced the boy to the ground. Draping Damare’s legs over the board, he proceeded to drive the spikes through his knees, nailing him to the board. The master walked away, leaving Damare on the ground, screaming in pain.
Thankfully, a man happened to be walking by and heard Damare’s cries. Summoning help, the man transported the boy to a hospital where the nails were removed.
Damare is 15 years old today and has been adopted by a kind and loving family in Mario Kong. “He is sad that he cannot run fast like the other boys, “ Zurowski writes, “but he says he has forgiven the man who nailed his legs to the board. He knows that Jesus was nailed to a cross so all our sins could be forgiven.”
A violent civil war has been raging for two decades in Sudan, Africa’s largest country. The initial outbreak of violence occurred in 1983 following the imposition of an extreme version of Muslim law called Shari’a, in southern Sudan. Since that time, more than two million people have lost their lives and another four million have been displaced.
The country sits on an invisible border separating Arab and Black Africa, which sparks conflicts of culture, geography, ethnicity and religion. According to the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops latest Sudan Update, the ongoing conflict “has been marked by a systematic campaign of terror by the government in Khartoum against Christians and practitioners of African traditional religions.” Various relief agencies report widespread persecution of Christians who are raped, tortured, enslaved or burned to death.
Roger Winter, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees, reported seeing people crucified and beheaded. Even infant children have been nailed to trees with steel spikes.
Sudanese government forces have been known to spray civilians with helicopter gunfire to drive them off of oil-rich land. Hospitals, schools, relief centers and marketplaces are frequent targets for bombing.
An executive summary prepared by the International Crisis Group (ICG) warns that “without a rapid international response, what UN officials are already calling the worst humanitarian situation in the world today could claim an additional 350,000 lives in the next nine months, mainly from starvation and disease.”
The current crisis in Darfur erupted in February 2003, when two loosely-allied rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attacked Arab-backed Sudanese military installations. The rebels took up arms to protect their people from “Janjaweed” militias, recruited from Arab populations in Darfur and Chad.
According to ICG reports, “These Janjaweed militias have over the past year received greatly increased government support to clear civilians from areas considered disloyal. Militia attacks and a scorched-earth government offensive have led to massive displacement, indiscriminate killing, looting and mass rape, all in contravention of ... Geneva Conventions that prohibit attacks on civilians.”
Father John Lasuba is a man whose life has been deeply scarred by the violence in his country. Learn more about his life as a priest in Sudan, Africa by reading his testimony below.
For more information on how to help the suffering church, contact The Society for the Propagation of the Faith at (215) 587-3944, Aid to Church in Need (800) 628-6333, or Pontifical Mission Societies in the U.S. (212) 563-8706. For ways to contribute, see the ad on page 4.
Contact Susan Brinkmann at fiat723@aol.com or (215) 965-4615
Personal testimony: On the front lines
WITH A STEADFAST SPIRIT — Father John Lugala Lasuba pictured next to his home in the Darfur region of Sudan. He has suffered greatly for bringing the Sacraments to the broken community. Yet, his faith remains steadfast. By Susan Brinkmann
CS&T Correspondent
Father John Lugala Lasuba was raised in the village of Juba and was ordained a priest on May 2, 1993. “Sudan has a long history of tension,” Father Lasuba said.
“In the last 21 years, it has worsened. In the west, it’s mainly Muslim. Christians are persecuted there. Juba is Muslim-controlled, and I must have a permit to preach and say Mass.”
During the 1992 crisis in Juba, Father Lasuba’s parents and five married brothers were killed. He was spared only because he was a deacon at the time, and able to hide in the church.
“In 1996, problems began,” he said. “One by one, my family was being targeted.” Another brother and his wife were picked up by government authorities and have been missing ever since. “Then it was my turn. I would be picked up and kept for one, two or three days without reason, then let go.”
Knowing he was in great danger, he left Juba in the middle of the night and spent the next three months journeying across the country, walking at night to avoid being seen and taking refuge in small Christian communities along the way. He finally reached the Liberation Movement area where priests and religious are free to practice their faith. He built a rustic church out of wood and grass and began to say Mass. Covering a large area by himself, he spends several weeks at a time ministering to the people.
“Some of the communities had not seen a priest in 26 years, from when the missionaries were kicked out in 1964,” he said. In one village, he baptized 6,000 people in one day. Another time, he said Mass from eight o’clock in the morning until six o’clock that night. In total, he has 55 different places to visit to care for the faithful.
He has many horrifying memories, such as the day he entered the town of Yei in 1997, just after hundreds had been slaughtered. “Bodies were just lying everywhere. I broke down and cried for those who were lost, for the violence and the suffering being caused in my country.”
Among the dead Christians were many enemy soldiers and his first instinct was not to bury them. “But as a priest, I realize we are all one humanity, so we had to bury them too.”
He attended a program in 2002 in Kenya called “Healing the Healers,” which was given to religious and people who were helping the victims in Sudan. “This program really helped a lot. I used to cry, sometimes even just talking about it, but now I can talk about it. I feel free from it.”
Throughout his ordeal, he has found his hope in Christ. “People lose heart and kill themselves,” he said. “All of these years, we’ve had only war, no peace. People ... have been born during the war and have grown up in it and are dying in it.”
Father Lasuba asks Americans to pressure the government to intercede for Christians in the Sudan. He also asks that they donate to the mission of Juba in particular and to Sudan in general, but to do so through the Church. Why?
“They are the men and women on the front lines,” he said. “They are with the poorest and most persecuted ... The Church is everywhere, even in places in the shadows, so its better to support the Church as opposed to the World Bank and other groups — although they too have been very helpful.”
When the Sudanese faithful learned Faher Lasuba was coming to the United States, they sent this message to us through him: “Greet them in the name of Our Lord as their brothers and sisters in Sudan. Tell our brothers and sisters to intercede for us.”
Contact Susan Brinkmann at fiat723@aol.com or (215) 965-4615
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