We are overjoyed to share with you the community building and restorative work happening in the South Sudanese refugee camps in the Gambella region. In an area that is often overwhelmed by challenges and under resourced, there is a fledgling hope for healing.

For more than a decade, leaders of the Eastern Upper Nile and Nasir Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan have been divided. The two administrations built a figurative wall between them. They had given up on each other. But God never gave up on them.

For many years, The Outreach Foundation has worked with partners in western Ethiopia in six United Nations refugee camps. Hundreds of thousands of refugees remain in the camps. Through partnership with U.S. churches and donors, we have been blessed to minister to and provide hope through trauma healing, Bibles in the Nuer language, and Christian education. A retired Outreach consultant recently traveled to Ethiopia and was given permission to visit several camps. He was hosted by the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) West Gambella Synod. Here are excerpts from the report:

For decades, civil wars in South Sudan have forced hundreds of thousands to flee to camps in neighboring Ethiopia. The village of Nasir was particularly affected. But as the conflict has declined and security has returned, the request from these refugees is, “We just want to go back home. Please help us get back to our homeland.”

The Presbyterian Church of South Sudan (PCOSS) is eager to welcome them home. In addition to basic needs, the people greatly need sanctuary, a place to worship. Therefore, a priority is to complete the historical Nasir Church destroyed by war.