by Mounir Lado
This reflection is part of our special Season of Hope Advent devotional series. Be sure to check back each week as we share reflections from a diversity of people whose prayer and support make the mission and ministry of Lutheran World Relief possible. You can read the entire series by pressing the button below.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ROMANS 8:35 (NRSV)
Not long after gaining independence and emerging from civil war, South Sudan slid back into conflict in 2013. The violence forced families from their homes, kept parents from working and children from school. Our people couldn’t grow food, or access even the most basic services.
When people fled violence, seeking safety, some ran into another danger: Visceral Leishmaniasis. Also known as Kala-Azar, this is a disease that brings fever, dramatic weight loss, abdominal swelling and debilitating disfigurement to the skin. It is spread by the sand fly, and thrives in the areas where people who had never before seen it sought safety from violence.
Their bodies were unprepared to fend off the dreaded disease. Conflict spread to the areas that were previously safe. Against these significant odds, the people we serve here in South Sudan might have felt like they were separated from any hope of safety, let alone from the love of God.
Paul’s letter to the Romans assures another struggling community that nothing can separate them from God’s love in Jesus Christ. I like to think the work we do in responding to Kala Azar bring God’s love to people in desperate need. It is the love I feel in the hearts of my colleagues, who risk their lives in conflict zones to deliver humanitarian services.
I asked my team how they felt about going into conflict zones, where their lives were at risk. “It is the Lord who goes before us,” team leader James Mogga responded. “Since He is with us; He will not fail us or forsake us. That is why we do not fear.”
Their courage shows. Once there is a rumour or report of Kala-Azar, they investigate, treat and give information about the prevention of the disease. They are equipped with the necessary tools such as pharmaceutical and lab supplies, tents, phones and other supplies. God has provided us with the tools needed to respond to human suffering, just as God reassured the Roman church in Paul’s letter.
God’s love is stronger than the pains of this world. It is what motivates and gives us strength to continue serving God’s children in South Sudan.
Mounir Lado is the Country Director for the conflict-affected South Sudan