From Christianity Today-
The voter registration process has been difficult. "You'll find that a big portion of the diaspora never registered, because they didn't have their proper documents," said Jimmy Mulla, president of D.C.-based Southern Sudanese Voice for Freedom.
"Southern Sudan has been denied for years," said William Deng, a native of the region and now a seminary student at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Pennsylvania. "Before the war, it was two million people and one clinic. A lot of children are born there in their houses; there is no record."
A birth certificate is required to register to vote. Deng, one of the "Lost Boys" relocated to the U.S. as child refugees, is among those denied.
Church leaders such as Archbishop Daniel Deng (no relation) of the Episcopal Church of Sudan have struggled for a role in the election process, appealing to the international community to safeguard the cpa in the face of violations.
"The position of the church is to make peace," said Deng. "Sometimes we can't make it, because we don't have power." The elections could transform the role of the church by allowing Christians—long punished for their faith—to finally have a voice in historically Islamic-controlled Sudan.
In the meantime, the Christian diaspora is slowly returning to Southern Sudan and rebuilding burned-out churches, even as the region passed Darfur in deaths last year. "People come back home," said Deng. "They start [by having church] under the tree; maybe next to the tree is where they will build [the new church]."
More here-
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/aprilweb-only/24-21.0.html
No comments:
Post a Comment