Richard Parkins is the former director of EMM and the current Executive Director of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church in Sudan (AFRECS), a group formed in 2005 to build a bridge between Episcopalians in the U.S. and the approximately four million-member Episcopal Church of Sudan. Through AFRECS, Parkins works extensively with people of faith in both nations to raise awareness of the situation in Sudan and to strive for a peaceful future there. He was kind enough to share a few minutes with EMM to talk about the referendum for secession of South Sudan and its implications for the thousands of Sudanese refugees living in the U.S. as the vote was taking place.

EMM: Thanks for taking the time to talk. Can you explain the significance of the events taking place in Sudan this month?

Parkins: This is the culmination of a more than 50-year journey that Southern Sudanese have made toward freedom, and likely independence. Sudan, ever since it became a country, has been in a state of turmoil, and there has been civil strife between the North and the South, between Christians and Muslims, between Arabs and Africans. It’s been a multi-faceted crisis.

 

Q: How did AFRECS come into being?

A: As a result of hundreds and hundreds of Sudanese resettling in the United States, many of us became aware that there was a crisis in Sudan, and the refugees were its victims. Refugees are not only seeking safety, but they – either intentionally or inadvertently – bear witness to the fact that there is a crisis.

It was also a combination of some of us visiting Sudan, and a growing realization that the Episcopal Church of Sudan was a real force in protecting these people. We decided that we needed to take this growing interest in Sudan and form an ongoing network of support and advocacy.

Q: What’s the connection between the Episcopal Church and Sudan?

A: From my experience with the refugee groups with whom EMM worked, the Sudanese were among those who most strongly identified with the Episcopal Church.

Once they got into a community, they would invariably seek out an Episcopal Church, because the Church had been their anchor, had been their guide, had been their refuge during the crisis, during their journey to safety.

Q: What do you remember most strongly about the initial Sudanese resettlement period?

A: The thing I remember [most] from those early days of resettlement was the incredible motivation that the Sudanese refugees had to understand their new society and culture, and to learn English. There was a lot of catching up that had to happen, but they were eager participants in whatever opportunities were out there.

But at the same time, they were intensely committed to the well being, the safety and the protection of those whom they had left behind. They never forgot that they had come from a country where thousands and thousands were on the brink of starvation and lived with daily threats.

And I think that what you’re witnessing today is a day that many of them thought would never come. So, particularly if this referendum goes forward peacefully, they will have sort of come full circle.

Q: So refugees didn’t expect this to happen in the near future?

A: They probably didn’t expect it, but they never gave up hoping it would happen and they never stopped pushing for it. Their advocacy never waned. Even as they became more Americanized, if you will, that never diminished their loyalty to a free and peaceful Sudan.

Q: How are refugees in the U.S. responding to this vote?

A: They’re terribly excited about it. I think that many of them will be eager to return to South Sudan, maybe not to live, but certainly to reconnect with family members. Many of them do not know whether family members are alive or not.

And I think some of them will maybe want to go back and find ways to assist. Many Sudanese have been engaged in projects – school projects and what have you – trying to be helpful to people in their villages. I would expect that there would be more and more efforts made to help rebuild South Sudan.

Q: What do you expect to happen in the event the South does secede?

A: Well, there are a lot of unresolved issues. There are border issues; there’s the question of sharing oil resources. Most of the oil is in the South, but the oil is a critical resource for both North and South.

But a major issue for all of the advocates is the fate of a couple of million Christians and religious minorities in the North. Will they feel compelled to leave? Can their citizenship be protected? Can their rights be protected? These are major unresolved and contentious issues.

Q: How can people stay informed and offer support?

A: Episcopalians in this country need to seek more opportunities for partnership with the Episcopal Church of Sudan. I would say that many Episcopalians had no idea that there are more than four million Episcopalians in Sudan in 31 dioceses, and a church that’s twice the size of our church in this country. And over and above that, it’s a highly respected player as a major civil institution, as well as a religious body.

The referendum is not an occasion to relax and say, “We now have an independent South Sudan, so they can go forward.” I think it opens up a new chapter that’s just as full of challenges – and hopefully opportunities – as we’ve ever had. The opportunities are many if the church chooses to engage them.

It is a time for hope, but we cannot be anything other than very attentive to the future of this country and particularly our church friends there.

Visit AFRECS at www.afrecs.org, and sign up for the E-blast to stay informed about Sudan and the Church.

A group of elementary school students in Atlanta earned a nice nod in this Scholastic Magazine article for donating coats for refugees through Refugee Resettlement Immigration Services of Atlanta, an EMM affiliate.

National Public Radio aired a great story about seniors helping refugees adjust to life in Fargo, North Dakota, where EMM affiliate Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota is the sole resettlement agency assisting newcomers.

Kiza Didier Mukandama, a client of EMM affiliate Kentucky Refugee Ministries , was profiled for his talent as an artist by the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Integrated Refugee and Immigration Services of New Haven is hosting a 5K Run for Refugees fundraiser on Sunday, February 6th. More than 600 runners are expected to participate. For more information, CLICK HERE.

 Former Sudanese refugees vote on country's future in Chicago

John Lako stood outside a makeshift polling site in a converted storefront in Chicago on a bitter-cold January day; he was more than 6,000 miles from his homeland in Sudan, yet he felt very close to the momentous events taking place there.

“I feel I am part of history,” Lako said. “This is, of course, what everybody was waiting for.”

Lako is one of several thousand refugees from southern Sudan who have been resettled in the United States since the mid-1990s. Violence, crippling poverty, and a long history of persecution perpetrated on the southern Sudanese people by the government in the northern capital of Khartoum forced millions to flee the East African nation during nearly 40 years of civil war which subsided after a peace agreement was negotiated in 2005.

Episcopal Migration Ministries – in partnerships with a network of local affiliates – assisted many Sudanese to resettle and start new lives in the U.S. In Chicago, EMM affiliate RefugeeOne has been a critical source of support for these refugees.

During the week of January 9-15, 8,500 southern Sudanese in the U.S. joined people in their native country and across the globe in a referendum vote which will determine whether to split off South Sudan to form an independent nation. Voting took place at eight different polling locations throughout the U.S.

Lako, a pharmacist by trade, was resettled by the Minnesota Council of Churches, an EMM affiliate in Minneapolis. He came to the U.S. in 2004 and works as a pharmacy technician while he pursues certification as a pharmacist.

Lako, and many others displaced from southern Sudanese see the vote as a chance for a new beginning and an opportunity for peace.

“Southerners have been suffering a lot. You live like a second class citizen in your country,” Lako said. “We are among those who are lucky to survive up to now, who didn’t die. We didn’t expect that one day this [vote] will come, but in fact it happened. So that’s why all of us are enthusiastic and we’re very happy to be part of it.”

In addition to voting in the referendum, Lako also worked as a site manager at the Chicago polling location, leaving his family in Minnesota for a month to do the job. Lako plans to visit Sudan in the event of independence to share the skills and lessons he’s learned from experiencing civic life in the U.S.

The Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, which managed the vote in Sudan and contracted with the International Organization for Migration to run international polling centers, has published the results of the votes here. Among those refugees participating in the U.S, 98.5% voted for secession, and news outlets are reporting that more than 98% of all voters have called for secession with most of the votes counted.

Wilson Makul Lual is one such refugee urging independence. Lual, now 36, fled fighting in his village at age 11 and spent 14 years moving between camps on either side of the Sudan-Ethiopia border.

In 2000, he was admitted to the U.S. as part of a group of refugees known as the “Lost Boys,” young men orphaned or long-separated from their families who came to this country unaccompanied.

Like Lako, Lual is eager to see an independent south, and he’d like to one day return and become a leader for his people.

“I dream that there will be good things: true freedom. That’s my vision” he said. “We tried to [achieve this goal] by bullet, but it didn’t work. But God gave us the opportunity to do it peacefully.”

All votes are expected to be counted and the results confirmed by February 15. If the referendum results in secession as expected, South Sudan will become an independent nation on July 9.

Volunteer's encounter with refugees fosters deep commitment

When Peggy Duhamel and her fellow parishioners signed up in June of 2009 to assist a refugee family to resettle in their hometown of Harrisonburg, Virginia, they assumed their new neighbors would come from a place they knew something about, like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Then the local resettlement agency told them they’d be welcoming a mother and her two daughters from Eritrea.

“We all said, ‘Where’s Eritrea?’” Duhamel recalled.

In the time since that family arrived, Duhamel and others at Emmanuel Episcopal Church have learned a lot about the small, conflict-ridden East African country and its people.

From a relationship that developed through the church’s co-sponsorship with the Virginia Council of Churches , EMM’s affiliate in Richmond and Harrisonburg, Duhamel’s volunteer efforts have evolved into working on her own with many individuals, often women, in Harrisonburg’s Eritrean community.

Duhamel said she has been struck by the tremendous challenges – finding a job, learning English and navigating an intimidating new culture are just a few – that refugees face in the United States.

“Perhaps life is hard for these women because they’ve never worked outside the home and they’re being asked to be responsible for all of these things,” Duhamel said. “But it’s great watching them establish themselves and also maintaining their culture.”

As she’s learned about resettlement and its difficulties, Duhamel said she’s been drawn more and more into helping refugees find their footing in Harrisonburg.

Duhamel runs a veterinary practice on a part-time basis, and she estimates she spends 35 to 40 hours a week volunteering with local Eritreans.

She helps with everything from offering transportation and liaising with government agencies to showing new residents how to shop at the grocery store, greatly complementing the services provided by the EMM affiliate office. She’s also partnered with the Virginia Council of Churches and others in Harrisonburg to develop language and orientation resources specifically for Eritreans.

When the toughest barriers are cleared, Duhamel said she takes great pleasure in watching refugees reach important milestones in the U.S., like securing a job or learning to drive.

“The rewards are there. These are the most wonderful people to work with. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t feel fulfilled,” she said. “It’s so wonderful when they’re successful.”

Others at Emmanuel Church have offered sustained support as well. The church has built a fund for assisting refugees into its budget, and parishioners often help with gifts and donations.

All of which is an impressive commitment for a group of volunteers who had never met an Eritrean less than two years ago.