War, natural disasters ravage South Sudan
South Sudan has experienced escalating conflicts and natural disasters this year, and the South Sudan Mennonite Church is working to procure and distribute emergency food assistance for displaced neighbors.
Conflicts in the Jonglei and Upper Nile regions, combined with floods and sharply reduced harvests, triggered widespread economic decline and forced more than 2.6 million people from their homes. On average, 104 women and girls in South Sudan are displaced every hour.
Civil war in neighboring Sudan has added pressure. An additional 2.4 million Sudanese refugees and returning South Sudanese have crossed the border.
More than half of South Sudan’s population — approximately 7.8 million people — is experiencing high levels of food insecurity. The hunger crisis is affecting women and children the hardest, with 2.2 million children under the age of 5 and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women experiencing acute malnutrition. Families are reduced to forage for wild food, with some people going days without eating anything.
Mennonite Mission Network is helping coordinate regional support, which includes ministers from neighboring Mennonite churches in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, alongside Mennonite Central Committee South Sudan for relief coordination, and Mennonite World Conference for global church accompaniment. This partnership is seeking to provide both immediate support and longer-term strengthening of the church’s witness and resilience.
MMN sent funds to assist some congregations in reinforcing their meetinghouses, many of which have deteriorated due to weather, and is making plans to increase ongoing support.
Donations to MMN’s Mobilize for Peace fund (mennonitemission.net/donate) support resources such as personnel, partnerships, programs and services to support holistic witness to Jesus Christ where it is most needed.
MMN requests prayers for an end to several years of unprecedented flooding, conflict to cease in South Sudan and Sudan, immediate support for South Sudan Mennonite Church and others to provide basic food items to vulnerable households, increased humanitarian assistance and safe gathering spaces for people who would not otherwise have shelter.