by Jeff Ritchie
In “A Brief Statement of Faith,” one of the confessional statements of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), there is a phrase that resonates with me when I think of the voices of people and nations who are not ordinarily in the U.S. news:
“In a broken and fearful world, the Spirit gives us courage . . . to hear the voices of peoples long silenced.”
The people of South Sudan are among those whose voice has been long silenced in the U.S. media. While the plight of the peoples of Syria and Iraq have been before us for five years, a civil war has been raging in South Sudan for over three years during which time several million people have fled to refugee camps outside South Sudan and to internally displaced person (IDP) camps inside the country. Millions others have fled from their homes and live in the bush without the means to sustain their lives.
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