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Relationships: the key to transforming communities

Two encouraging stories from South Sudan showing lives changed through Tearfund’s Transforming Communities work.

Written by Tarryn Pegna | 11 Jul 2024

Jenifer, a young South Sudanese woman wearing a dress with bright flowers and a short headscarf, sits at a table with a sewing machine, sewing a bright blue garment.

Jenifer got involved with Tearfund’s Transforming Communities training through her local church, did a tailoring course and is now helping provide for her family by making and selling clothes

Restored relationships can be the key to freedom from poverty and to transforming lives and whole communities facing deep and devastating levels of need! But how does it work?

‘I have learnt from the book of Genesis chapter 1:26–31 that God has the intended purpose for creating us in God’s image, not to depend on handouts or others since our God is an independent God,’ says Jenifer from Mundri in South Sudan.

Like many others across the country, Jennifer’s community has been struggling to recover from the impact of ongoing conflict in South Sudan which has left people in poverty and without access to vital infrastructure and education. A UNICEF report states that in South Sudan this year, ‘9.4 million people, including 5 million children, 2.2 million women and 1.3 million people with disabilities will require humanitarian assistance.’

But if, as Jenifer says, we believe that God has created us with a plan, then we must also trust that there is a solution to the struggles we face. How we see, think about and relate to God, to who he made us to be, and to who and what he has placed in the environment around us, can hold the solution to many of our problems. And, restoring these relationships can be the key to unlocking freedom from poverty and bringing transformation.

Jenifer’s story

Jenifer is 31 years old. She has six children of her own (two sons and four daughters) and also takes care of her late sister’s two children. It’s a full house with a lot of financial pressure. ‘I was just a housewife who expected all that was needed to be provided by my husband,’ Jenifer tells us. Things were difficult for the family.

Then, Jenifer got involved in Tearfund’s Transforming Communities programme run by our local church partner. That’s where she started to see things differently. Through the Bible studies and training, she began to look at what was around her and what she could do to bring change in her life. ‘This propelled me to join tailoring school,’ she says, ‘and now I can do the same as a man can do to support our family, relatives and community.’

Jenifer has started her own business making clothes and school uniforms to sell, which helps financially, but the training has also changed how the family relate to each other. ‘Our family relationship has been improved,’ says Jenifer. ‘We go to church services together – including my husband, which was not the case before taking part in the Transforming Communities programme. I will continue to attend the training as well as sewing clothing of different fashions to earn a better living.’

Brightly coloured items of clothing and school uniform that Jenifer has sewn hang in a row on a rail, ready to be sold.

Clothing made by Jenifer. Her tailoring business is helping the family provide for their needs

Hellen’s story

Hellen has also found new solutions to the challenges she was facing after taking part in the Transforming Communities training.

At 19, Hellen is still in education – which she values highly. But, for some time, Hellen didn’t think she would be able to continue her schooling. When her parents died a few years ago, Hellen was left on her own to fend for herself. She says, ‘I thought I was not going to continue with my studies since I had no one to pay my school fees. Then, when the Transforming Communities training was introduced to our church, I was one of the students who took part. During the Bible studies, the story in 2 Kings 4:1–7 inspired me to look around my environment to identify what resources God had given me. I noticed that we have lots of firewood, which could help to pay my school fees. Every weekend, I collect firewood and sell it. This helped me to pay my school fees for a few years. I also kept on praying. Now, I thank God that, for this year, one of our church members willingly took it upon himself to pay my school fees!’

Hellen sits outside on a blue chair in the shade of a large tree.

Hellen thought she would have to drop out of school when her parents died, but Tearfund’s Transforming Communities training helped her see a solution

A brief explanation of Tearfund’s Transforming Communities programme

Instead of simply dropping in and providing a handout (which is not sustainable) or deciding on behalf of people facing poverty what the right solution is for them (which is not particularly respectful and could miss the mark if there isn’t sufficient understanding of the local context), Tearfund’s Transforming Communities programme is a process that enables people to come up with and carry out their own strategies to address the issues their communities face.

The church is central to this work as, in many locations where Tearfund works (including this one in Mundri), the church has significant influence in and understanding of the local community. Through this programme, the church motivates people to: take charge of their destiny without having to depend upon external support; restore broken relationships; and address material and spiritual poverty in a way that is long-lasting and far-reaching.

As the community honours and worships God together, poor relationships that had limited their ability to work together are repaired, providing an opportunity for the church and community to find solutions to the issues they face and bring peace and security and open the way for development.

Please join us in prayer for this kind of work, and if you’d like to give financially to help enable more lives to be transformed, please do so here.

Pray for South Sudan and Transforming Communities

    • Praise God for the testimonies of Hellen and Jenifer and the transformation that is happening in families in Mundri. Ask God for his blessing and favour on each of the people impacted and pray that the positive changes will spread widely as they have a knock-on effect.
    • Pray for South Sudan and the complex and very difficult humanitarian situation there. Ask God for peace and an end to violence. 
    • Lift up each local church running Tearfund’s Transforming Communities programme in South Sudan and around the world. Pray for good results and for lives to be changed for the better. Pray that this work would empower many more people and communities to find long-lasting solutions to the challenges they face.

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Written by  Tarryn Pegna

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