Water needed

I have told you about how we need water on our land to create a farm in Sudan. The photo is a good way to see how dry and hot it gets there.



Keep pray for our partners and for our water project we are only $10,000.00 short at this time. I plan to put in two wells while in Sudan this Feb and March 2010.

Photo

Rick

Cool Water by Burl Ives http://www.bobnolan-sop.net/Weeds%27n%27Water/Water%20-%20Recorded%20mp3s/Ives.mp3

U.S. Says Sudan's 2010 Elections in Doubt

U.S. Says Sudan's 2010 Elections in Doubt

Sudan may be unable to hold credible elections in coming months because the ruling party and opposition cannot agree on ground rules for the polls, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.
28 November 2009
WASHINGTON, 27 Nov 2009 (Reuters) -At the end of a trip to Sudan by President Barack Obama's special envoy Scott Gration, the State Department said it saw little movement on issues such as voter registration and border delineation between Khartoum and the semi-autonomous South - endangering plans for national elections in April 2010 and a referendum on southern succession in 2011.

"Without immediate resolution of these disputes, we are concerned about the chances for conducting credible elections and referenda," it said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, the parties have not yet demonstrated the political will necessary to achieve resolution on these difficult and sensitive issues."

Gration's trip to Sudan was his first since Washington announced in October it would keep economic sanctions on Sudan but would also offer Khartoum new incentives to end violence in Darfur and the South.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), former southern rebels who are now junior partners in the governing coalition under the terms of a 2005 peace deal, have accused the North of stalling on a democratic transformation and undermining plans for free elections.

The SPLM and other parties said on Wednesday they would delay a decision on whether to boycott April's elections in part due to a week-long extension of the voter registration period.

The strains have raised fears the north-south civil war- fueled by issues including religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology between mostly Christian southern rebels and the Islamist Khartoum government - could reignite.

Gration visited voter registration centers and urged people to sign up for the polls "as it is the only way for the Sudanese people to maintain their right to participate in the national elections in April 2010," the statement said.

He also visited Darfur, where the United Nations says more than 2 million people were driven from their homes and some 300,000 people died in a crisis that saw non-Arab militias take up arms against the central government. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.

Gration's meetings concentrated on the security situation along the Chad-Sudan border, with the State Department noting lawlessness and banditry were heightening tensions yet again.

"Addressing these ongoing security concerns is crucial for achieving a lasting peace in Darfur," the statement said.

(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; editing by David Alexander and John O'Callaghan)

AU Security Council assures to respect people’s choice in South Sudan referendum

Friday 27 November 2009 03:30.

By James Gatdet Dak

November 26, 2009 (JUBA) – The African Union’s Peace and Security Council has pledged to respect the choice of the people of Southern Sudan in the outcome of the referendum on secession scheduled to take place in January 2011.


AU Peace and Security Council ambassadors (R) meeting with South Sudan cabinet (L), Juba, November 26, 2009 (Photo by James G. Dak, ST)
Peace and Security Council is the body charged with the responsibility to deal with peace and security in Africa.

The Council’s delegation comprising 15 ambassadors of the African Union arrived in Juba on Wednesday to assess the security situation in Southern Sudan in particular and implementation of the 2005 North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in general.

They met with the Government of Southern Sudan’s cabinet in a meeting chaired by the Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny.

The Peace and Security Council delegation was headed by the organization’s ambassador for Rwanda, Professor Joseph Nsengimana.

The delegation was briefed by the cabinet about the current general situation in the country, urging it to be vigilant as the country enters into major political events.

The meeting mostly dwelled on the issues of elections, referendum for Southern Sudan and Abyei and popular consultations for both Southern Blue Nile and Southern Kordufan.

The delegation assured the government of the African Union’s position to respect the choice of the people of Southern Sudan in the referendum.

The meeting also stressed the need to bring peace to Darfur and participate in the democratic transformation in the country.

The people of Southern Sudan will choose between confirming the current unity of Sudan and creating an independent country in January 2011.

Kiir urges Uganda to lead recognition of independent South Sudan

Thursday 26 November 2009 05:30.

By Ngor Arol Garang

November 25, 2009 (JUBA) — General Salva Kiir Mayardit, First Vice-President of the Republic of Sudan and President of the semi-autonomous region of Southern Sudan, has on Wednesday 24, in both Moyo and Adjumani Districts of Uganda, urged Ugandans to lead recognition of the independent state of South Sudan if referendum votes favor secession.


Sudan’s First Vice President speaking at Moyo, northern Uganda on Tuesday 24 November 2009 (photo by Larco Lomayat)
"If referendum favors southern secession from the North to become an independent state, South Sudanese in Uganda expects Uganda to take the lead in recognizing South Sudan as an independent country if South Sudanese voted for secession in the 2011 referendum," Kiir said.

The Sudanese First Vice President, who left Juba for Uganda for bilateral talks on border dispute, after an official invitation from Ugandans President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, further said, Ugandans and Southern Sudanese are the same and one people.

"Ugandans and South Sudanese are people of one common objective; and that they have to work together so that they get set goals," he said.

Commenting on the issue of border disputes which necessitated his visit, he said misunderstanding arising from territorial rivalry should not divert us from the joint Southern Sudanese and Ugandan vision.

"I think we can find solutions to whatever misunderstanding that might have occurred," he commented saying South Sudanese in Northern Uganda and elsewhere in the country, should live with Ugandans as one people without giving in for ill separation, the President said. The same applies to Ugandans in any part of Southern Sudan, Kiir added.

Kiir is further said that the border conflict and insecurity in southern Sudan started after the peace agreement peace in 2005; it was not there during the war.

"Not only in Moyo (northern Ugandan near Sudan’s border) that we are having problems; there are also tribal wars in Southern Sudan; all these conflicts are happening because someone is behind them, their aim is just to create chaotic situations for reasons best known to them, that means there are some people who are working day and night so that there is instability in South Sudan. Let us not allow it. Let nobody agitate you so that you quarrel amongst yourselves," he stressed.

Kiir who seems turning his back on Sudan’s unity after four year of a peace deal signed with the National Congress Party in 2005, tried during his European tour to campaign in favor of separation and to draw EU support for southern Sudan independence.

However, last month his government dismissed remarks where he called for southern Sudan independence describing vote for a united Sudan as voting for "second class" citizenship.

Ugandan President, Yoweri Kaguta Musevesni, stressed that what is happening in the border area is not a dispute, "it is simply misunderstanding which will be handled and solved by the brothers and sisters of our two sister countries amicably." He is further reported having said misunderstanding

mayatima 2009

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My Sites and videos

H All,

I hope all is going will with you!

Here are other pages and videos you can look up:

http://web.me.com/rickdianawilson/WILSONS_PROJECTS/About_Rick_and_Diana.html

http://web.me.com/rickdianawilson/Mayatima/_MAYATIMA_.html

http://web.me.com/rickdianawilson/_PHILIPS_HOUSE_/Welcome.html

http://web.me.com/rickdianawilson/SudnaVenture/Welcome.html

http://rickdianawilson.blogspot.com/

http://www.worldventure.com/ads/cyclone_Nargis/Update.html


We thank you for your prayers and support.

God bless,

Rick and Diana Wilson

Islamic laws in Sudan

Sudanese girls including Southerners get 10 lashes for “provocative dressing”
Monday 13 July 2009 05:52.
July 12, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — A number of Sudanese girls including Southerners were arrested by police last week on charges that they violated the public dress code, one of them told Sudan Tribune today.

Photo showing Lubna Hussein’s clothing when arrested by Public Order Police

Lubna Hussein, a journalist and a public information officer at the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) was one of nine girls taken by the Public Order Police (POP) on Sunday from a ballroom in an area east of Khartoum.
The only thing in common between all those taken into custody was that they were wearing trousers, she said.
Hussein said they found four girls ahead of them waiting for interrogation by a judge in Al-Sagana court.
Among the detained were four from Southern Sudan, three of whom were under the age of eighteen, she added.
The Sudanese journalist said that no representatives from the Non-Muslims commission were present considering that the Southern girls were Christians.
The arrests took place under the Criminal Penal Code which states that anyone wearing “grossly clothing” shall be punished with no more than 40 lashes or a fine or both.
Ten out of the thirteen girls ended up receiving 10 lashes and fined 250 Sudanese pounds while the remaining three asked for their lawyers to be present and as such their cases were transferred to the deputy prosecutor.
Hussein said that some of the girls admitted guilt to the judge without appearing to be aware of its implications. She said that one girl told her that she just wanted to “get this over with”.
The Sudanese journalist said that the application of this section of the criminal penal code is damaging to a girl’s reputation in the Sudanese society.
She disclosed that one of the girls was “so terrified” before the judge that she urinated on herself.
Her case is yet to be heard before court.
Last year a senior police officer in South Sudan capital of Juba was sacked after he ordered a crackdown on young women wearing tight trousers.
Southern Sudan unlike the North is not governed by Islamic Shari’a law.

Sudan and China

China secretly sells Sudan multi launch rocket systems: report
Tuesday 14 July 2009 06:34.
July 13, 2009 (PARIS) — The Sudanese government managed to buy an unknown number of WS-2 multi-launch rocket systems from China, according to Kanwa Defense Review Monthly magazine.
This is the first time this system is exported by China to any country, the Defense magazine reported adding that Sudan now is in possession of the “most powerful long-range attack system” in the African continent.
The multi-launch rocket systems was never shown in any of the country’s military parades.
The report comes as the Sudanese defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein started today an official visit to China.
“The two countries have witnessed fruitful cooperation in such areas as politics, economy and culture since the establishment of diplomatic ties 50 years ago,” the Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said after talks with Hussein.
Chinese state media made no mention of any proposed defense contracts between the two countries.
Kanwa Defense Review Monthly could not verify when Sudan received the WS-2 rocket systems but that several African delegates at the Abu-Dhabi International Defense Exhibition and Conference 2009 confirmed the sale.
Furthermore, sources told the magazine that the system’s effective range was upgraded to 200 km with enhanced accuracy and reduced launch time. The system’s warhead weighs 200 kilograms and it uses four types of ammunition.
The UN Security Council (UNSC) imposed an arms embargo that covers Sudan’s Western region of Darfur.
Human rights groups frequently accused China of supplying arms to Sudan for use in Darfur, in breach of a UN arms embargo and produced photographs of Chinese weapons in Darfur.
But Beijing insists that any weapons sales made to Sudan are not in breach of any UNSC resolutions.

End of an era

End of an era
Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
It was exactly one month ago when I reported about Joseph Kangi. He was the man that we had intervened and introduced to a hospital for the provision of ARV’s. Last Friday Joseph rested in the night.
It is a sad situation to see a young man die and so by the effects of the HIV/AIDS. We may go into debate as whether AIDS kills or not but the common denominator is there is death. The other day I saw Michael Erwin Johnson the former Lakers’ player and an icon before Jordan and was astounded. He has been HIV+ for so long. After the death of Joseph, my mind went to his 76 year old mother who has lost yet another child to the pandemic. I have come to learn that she has another daughter and can’t help but ask whose fault is it. How will this old God loving grandmother take in all this grief? What is in her heart? Is she bitter against God? Does she think that there is something that she didn’t do right? Do we blame this on God or the government or on poverty or is it time we said let everybody carry their cross?
We have no answers and as we continue in the preps with Joseph’s burial I have come to the conclusion Deuteronomy 29:29: The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. We will not have enough answers to satisfy us but have to rest in the knowledge that even though we do not know, we can have assurance that God has the best in store. The church led by George has lit a light in this village by serving the family. God has been glorified and a practical gospel of Jesus Christ is preached.
We have made this testimony because you were there to stand with us. People are hearing the good news and coming to the savior because you care to give and support the work of Mayatima project. We are doing this because you have come and partnered with us. We are praying for you that God will bless you. By Emmanuel Chege

Denial Kills!

Denial Kills!
On a sunny afternoon George, Jane and I went for George’s Pastoral visitation. It was a follow up for George and he and Jane wanted to take the next steps for intervention for Joseph Kangi. He was 38 and with Tuberculosis which was a result of HIV/AIDS.
Jane did the tests and Joseph read the results. Even though he knew that he was HIV+, Joseph wanted to live again. This however was the reality in him. After the tests Joseph was enrolled at a hospital for the continuance of the treatment of TB and the management of HIV/ AIDS. But on arrival to the referral hospital where he was directed and after Jane had filed his case, denial kicked in and Joseph lied to the doctors and what emerges after his death is horrible.
As people brought Joseph home, they knew that he had little time left. Joseph had in a long time lived in denial of his HIV status. He was on and off on the ARV and medication on the opportunistic diseases. The problem is that Joseph discontinued his treatment every time he felt better and strong. This ignorance got him kicked out of several HIV treatment programs.
On the day we visited, he kept talking of how he desired to be well again. Last Friday George was called early to take Joseph to hospital. His health had deteriorated fast in two days and he needed to be taken to hospital. On arrival at the hospital Joseph was admitted. Later George went with Joseph’s mom to some of her children and asked them to check on him. None of them took it seriously. 3days later when one of them went to check on him they found out Joseph died on the day he arrived at the hospital at night. He died through ignorance and denial and it is a pitty.
The serving of Joseph and his family By Mayatima project and the church is spreading like a bush fire. They are talking of the church that has shown concern for the sick and needy. We are starting to see converts: in this week alone 5 people have been saved after the death of Joseph reached the village.
Thank you for being a part of these happenings by partnering with Mayatima project in our call to reach out to our people. To God be the glory forever. Amen. By Emmanuel

Women Of Hope

Women Of Hope

In one village in Sudan, more than 867 women have been widowed by the unrest in the country. The mill-grinding project, Women of Hope, will assist women in becoming self-sufficient in their own business. Funds will be used to purchase Posho Mills that women will then use to grind grain which they will market in the community. It is hoped through this project that economic growth will be stimulated in the villages.

The one mill Women of Hope has developed has been a tremendous blessing to the women and to the village where it is being used. The mill currently employs 4 to 5 people, but benefits all the women. Previously these women had little hope of making it on their own. They would have been forced to marry relatives if their husband died. Some men already had one or two wives!! Consequently, their children would have been left out of any inheritance. In a male dominated culture many women are left without help or protection and little hope.

Our national partners and directors in Sudan are Dominic and Rejoice. Dominic is currently living in the house on 5 acres which we purchased with funds you have generously given. Rejoice is hoping to join him later this year. With the mill up and running we are now in the process of developing this farm. Now that it is the rainy season we will plant and harvest what grows. This farm will be the catalyst for Women of Hope as we employ them. It will also help support our pastors as they minister in the villages where we hope to plant 10 churches. Our goal for this year is to have a well on the farm by the end of the summer. It will enable us to provide fish and vegetables year round. I will send you a well brochure to show you our plans!

THANK YOU for your prayers and financial support for this ministry God has given us in Sudan! We desperately need your prayers as we try to raise over $40,000 for Women of Hope. What a help it will be for these precious women!

God bless,

Rick and Diana Wilson