Rebuilding lives in Southern Sudan

Father Dalura [Annie Bungeroth]

Following Sudan’s long civil war, Father Dalura explains the importance of giving shattered communities the means to rebuild their own lives

When Father Severino Dalura first arrived in Lasu, southern Sudan, he found a community devastated by the effects of the country’s 20-year civil war and living in the shadow of rebel forces.

The SPLA (southern rebel group) had barracks on the hill overlooking the town, which they had taken from the government forces. The one road out was also bad so communication or escape was extremely difficult.

The people were effectively trapped, and forced to live, as Father Dalura says, “like animals in the bush”.

He says: “During the war, people lost all hope because they thought they were going to die. Many people here started taking opium and really gave up on life.”

Desperate community

Lasu is a small settlement of more than 20,000 people, just one kilometre from the Congolese border. Father Dalura arrived in 2002 to find a desperate community facing a myriad of problems.

He says: “People here were really in a desperate situation when I first came. They were unable to farm because of the war and it was difficult for them to plan for themselves.

“There was no school, no work, no medicine, no seeds, no houses and no clean water so people had really lost all hope.

“Children were dying because they had been collecting dirty water from the river in their traditional clay pots.

“People were eating wild plantain and vegetables that you have to boil for three days before they are safe to eat.

“They felt nobody cared about them – that the government only cared about the war.”

Reviving hope

With the help of CAFOD partner SCBRC, Father Dalura decided the best place to start was to organise a self-reliance workshop.

“During war you just think about survival, but they wanted to move on and they asked me what they could do. “

“The workshop gave them some hope that the future will be better and that they will live long in this world.”

The community decided to elect its own committee to tackle the problems it was facing.

The first decision of its 12 members was to build some proper houses. They also made a blackboard and repaired the school building.

There were no books or teachers so they encouraged anyone who knew English and Maths to teach.

Former teachers volunteered their services, and evening literacy classes were also provided for adults who had missed out on schooling.

SCBRC ran follow up workshops and provided hoes, axes and sickles as well as cabbage, carrot, aubergine and tomato seeds – so the people can go further by saving the seeds from their own vegetables to plant more.

As Father Dalura notes, a new mentality has begun to develop out of the desperation of just a few years ago.

“Once you begin to help someone then they begin to help themselves. If I am suffering and a neighbour comes to see me then I feel much better and I will become stronger.

“It is helping people become much more confident to do something by themselves. “

take action

Join us for a sponsored event Take part in one of the CAFOD Challenges, or join Team CAFOD for a run. You can have some fun while supporting our life-saving work across the world

Set up a direct debit A regular donation or gift from you to support CAFOD's charity work can help end poverty. Give regularly. Transform lives

Shine a light in the dark Please sign our petition calling on the world's largest mining company to listen to communities in the Philippines worried about the effect mining will have on their land