Diocese supporting the education of future leaders for South Sudan


During a parish visit to the White Nile congregation in Vaasa, Finland, last month, I met with the church council for an update on the Education Project which was sponsored last year by our Bishop's Lent Appeal, and later had a meeting with the students themselves. 

The congregation of several hundred families, led by Fr Amos Manga, a South Sudanese non-stipendiary priest of our Diocese, established the Education Project to provide English language instruction. English is the official language of the newly independent South Sudan. Through this programme in NW Finland, those who once had to flee their homeland are now being equipped for an eventual return, ready to give leadership in the new national language.

About 15 men and women have completed the first module and will be revising for an exam soon. Already I was able to engage in conversation with them, about their jobs, their family life and their hope for the future. All of them had virtually no English capacity at all until starting the programme! Classes are held twice a week for 2 hours at a time. Their principal teacher, Owen Ndoromo, himself a trained language instructor and member of the congregation judges that after 4 modules, these keen students will be competently fluent in English. An amazing and encouraging feat!  

Phase two of the project is ready to commence. Support for the Bishop's Lent Appeal 2012 will enable the participants to buy the new books and resources needed, and thus help them build a new future.


Comments

  1. Storyteller6 February 2012 at 18:53

    Wonderful! This is also great news for fostering interaction between Anglicans in different parts of Finland. I have met folks from the White Nile congregation twice, but although we did a lot of smiling there was little to no talk.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farewell to the Diocese in Europe

Image
Deacon Frances and I packed up our office yesterday and turned over our official files, emails and equipment. Thus a close working together for 22 years comes to an end. So it is hard to believe that today, St David's day, a new chapter begins, after 44 years of stipendiary ministry, 22 years as deacon then priest and 22 as a bishop.  Here are just a few memories from the last couple of months...   But now it is time to begin a new chapter.  O God, by whose command the order of time runs its course: forgive our impatience, perfect our faith and, while we await the fulfilment of your promise, grant us to have a good hope because of your Word,  even Jesus Christ our Lord. (St Gregory Nazianzus, 330 - 390)
Read more

Archbishop of Canterbury's Pentecost Letter: A European Consequence

Image
In his Pentecost letter, the Archbishop of Canterbury warned of certain consequences for provinces of the Anglican Communion which have failed to stand by the three moratoria . (No authorisation of blessings services for same-sex unions; no consecrations of bishops living in same-sex relationships; and no bishop authorising any ministry within the diocese of another bishop without explicit permission). One consequence would be that representatives from such provinces w ould not be able to participate in the formal international interchurch dialogues of the Communion. One of those dialogues is the Anglican-Old Catholic International Co-ordinating Council ( AOCICC ), the official instrument set up to deepen the relationship of communion established in 1931 between the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht . As the member Churches of the Union of Utrecht are all European, the AOCICC is effectively a European body. (I am one of the members, appo...
Read more

Bishop Austin Rios of California

Image
It was a joyful, colourful, multicultural three-hour liturgy. At Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, the Revd Austin Rios was consecrated the bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of California. I have known Austin from his time as the Rector of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Rome, where he was a great friend and collaborator with our own Church of England All Saints Chaplaincy in that city. The liturgy, appropriately, marked the multiculural make-up of the diocese, with prayers, readings, hymns and songs in English, Spanish, Tagalog, Tonga and Mandarin. The final procession was led by a Chinese dragon! I was told that there were about 300 in the procession and 2000 present in the beautiful gothic cathedral on Nob Hill San Francisco. My good friend and ecuenical colleague from Rome Fr Keith Peckers SJ was also in attenance, so the Church of Rome and the Church of England were both represented! Among the bishop friends present were Bishop Mark Edington of the Episcopal Convocation in Europe, a...
Read more