Magazine for July 2011
Birth of a Nation
On July 9th Sudan will become two nations. Please pray for this to be a peaceful change.
The Sudanese 20 year civil war came to an end in 2005. This year in January, the South in a referendum voted for separation. The South has most of the oil. The North has the pipelines, so both states will need each other. yet, strangely. the South will be one of the poorest countries of the world.
World vision says:
1 in very 7 children dies before their 5th birthday
1 in 7 women die from pregnancy/childbirth
85% of adults are illiterate
Less than 50% have access to safe drinking water
CORD is active in Sudan, and comments:
“After six years of working alongside Sudanese refugees from Darfur, CORD no longer provide handouts; instead we involve people far more in managing their lives. We work with Association of Children’s Parents in managing our schools programme.
“They have constructed fences around schools so lessons are not interrupted. They know education is the key to the future of their country and a way of breaking the chain of poverty”
CORD has also proved that small solar-powered cookers work. Women previously took up to 6 hours a day looking for firewood and thus destroying trees. A demonstration in one of the camps, and proved to sceptics they could cook rice. 100 families lined up to pilot the cookers, which cost about £130 and can be produced locally.
We at St. Mark’s support Leamington-based CORD, working to rebuild communities in the aftermath of wars. Find out more at www.cord.org.uk, and keep praying!