Developments at GTC

When I got back to Melut in the middle of January, I was greeted by a large team of Australians doing building work on the Donker's house - the missionary family who moved here in January. They were here for 4 weeks and we had a really good and blessed time together. Chris and Bev Rupke from FAR (Fellowship of African Relief), who are building on our compound now, have already become part of the GTC team and it feels like having a family in Melut now.

Once I got back to Melut, we had an academic meeting soon after and it was decided that we would postpone the start of the academic year until the beginning of May. On the one hand, this is because of elections in April and the disturbance this would cause to the teaching schedule, on the other hand, it was because only 8 students passed the entrance exams so far and we decided to wait until some more would qualify to reach our target of 26 students. Please do pray for this as we don't want to go ahead with just a handful of students, but English requirements and tuition fees seem to discourage many from even trying to come. Since I didn’t have to teach, I dedicated my time to my other role at GTC: librarian. When GTC moved from Khartoum to Melut 3 years ago, the books were simply put on the shelves without organising them, which meant that anybody looking for a book had to look through the whole library first!! The library also hadn’t been cleaned in 3 years – in a whole, there is plenty of work for me to do here even if I’m not teaching :-).

I would like to express my deep gratitude now to all of you who gave towards my house. All that I asked and prayed for has been given now and even more!!! I'm amazed and thankful for your generosity and your support. Right now, most of the contractors are busy with the FAR houses and offices, but my house will be started around the middle of March, once the first FAR house is completed.

Sudan Elections and Visit to the UK
On the 11th of April, we will have the first presidential elections in Sudan in 20 years. The elections are very important for next year’s decision on the separation of the country and for the future of Sudan in general. However, it is very difficult to organise elections in a country with 80% illiteracy, hardly any infrastructure and no means of mass communication other than the radio. Yet these elections are historic and will set the scene for a peaceful implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which was signed in 2005. Yet, many issues cause people to fear that elections will not be peaceful. Omar al-Bashir, the current president of Sudan, was charged with war crimes in Darfur last year by the International Criminal Court and a second count of genocide was added a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, he decided to stand for elections again. The elections will also bring the north/south difficulties to the forefront again. I can only urge you to pray for Sudan during this time of need and upheaval.

Because violence is very likely around elections, AIM has decided to mandate a precautionary leave for a few weeks for the whole Sudan team around elections until we can assess the situation and move back in. Since I had planned to be in the UK in June anyway, we all agreed that I would simply extend my stay for another month, which now means that I will be coming to the UK from the 22nd of April to the 21st of June. I will be at Elim Conference and look forward to connect with many of you there. While this is not my official furlough, I’ll take some speaking appointments. Unfortunately, all my Sundays are already booked, but if you would like me to come and speak during the week, please contact either myself or Elim Missions at Kathy.Cooper@ELIMHQ.NET


Prayer Requests
- for peaceful Sudan elections on the 11th of April and the time around it
- for more students for GTC
- that the building of my house will commence well
- that the time in the UK will be blessed and fruitful