We are past the half-way mark of 2024 and there is so much good news to report on from South Sudan. This update is intended to share some of the stories of hope that our work and your support is accomplishing on the other side of the world. While many of our valued supporters will likely never set foot on the ground in South Sudan, please know that the work you are a part of is transforming many lives.

Our Spring 2024 update was focused on our education and leadership development programs. This update will focus on other areas of the ministry, specifically Pastoral Training and Women’s Empowerment.

The Growth of the Church

Since 1999, when he returned from a refugee camp to his homeland of South Sudan, James Baak has been planting churches. Training up leaders for these churches and equipping them with formal training to serve as pastors has been a core focus of SMARD since its inception. Today in 2024, we continue to equip pastors with formal training to increase their capacity to lead and serve in the local churches. Gogrial East County where Lietnhom is located has experienced explosive growth over recent years and the need for high quality pastoral training to serve this region is as strong as ever.

In May of this year, 25 pastors gathered in Lietnhom from the surrounding area for an intensive week of equipping. These pastors convene 2-3 times a year for 1-2 weeks at a time to progressively work through a 3-year curriculum that prepares them for effectiveness in ministry. The focus of this one week intensive was on community engagement and evangelism.

Pastoral training will reconvene in the fall this year for another 2-week intensive when our teams from the USA will join the pastors in Lietnhom.

Women’s Empowerment Programs

Earlier this year in March, SMARD organized and conducted a refresher training for 60 women both young and old that had been given loans to start a business. Microfinance programs have been a key part of our women’s empowerment initiatives and have provided financial resources and training to develop female entrepreneurs in the community.

Our women’s coordinator Hellena Marol who helped to conduct the training reported the following after its completion:

“I have witnessed firsthand the positive impact that microfinance has had on the people of Lietnhom. It has been instrumental in transforming their lives by providing access to financial resources that have helped improve the living standards of women and their children. Women are now able to pay school fees for their children, provide food for their families etc.

Through the provision of microfinance programs, the women in Lietnhom have been able to start and expand their businesses, which has led to increased income and economic growth. The microfinance programs have also provided financial literacy training, which has helped to improve the financial management skills of the participants.  It is truly inspiring to witness the transformative power of microfinance and its role in empowering communities. The dedication of the hard-working partners who have made this possible is commendable, and we are grateful for their efforts. We are confident that the positive impact of microfinance will continue to be felt in the community for many years to come. All the glory to God.”

Hellena Marol

Prayer Requests

  1. Our Clinic: Please pray for our medical clinic that it will be able to adequately meet the needs of the community. Earlier this month we had our highest ever volume of patients in a single day and with the arrival of the rainy season in July, those limits will be tested again.  
  2. Our USA Visit: James Baak and Dr. Angelo Deng have interviews scheduled with the USA embassy in Nairobi in late August. The purpose of the interview is to obtain a visitor’s visa to come to the USA in October to meet with donors and supporters. Please pray that both visas will be granted. We are especially excited about the opportunity for Dr. Angelo to have his first ever opportunity to visit the USA.
  3. Communal Fighting: Last November a group of neighboring communities near Wau began fighting among each other and surprisingly, the unrest remains to this day. Please pray that the fighting would come to an end and that opportunities would emerge for these two communities to reconcile their differences. Not only has there been a significant loss of life due to this conflict but our access to the nearest city of Wau has been severely restricted because of this unrest.
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For our friends in the USA

SMARD is known as
Transform South Sudan
in the USA

For our friends visiting in the United States, please navigate to transformsouthsudan.org.