One Mothers’ Union member from the Diocese of Winchester has spent several years living and working among the people of Southern Sudan, and she has offered to share her experiences with everyone who is interested in the region and it’s people.

Tales of South Sudan
Crosfield Hall, Romsey 6.00-9.00pm (refreshments from 5.30pm)
Thursday 15th July 2010
Speaker: Poppy Spens

In the last four years Poppy and her husband have set up 2 health centres, a mobile clinic, and this year a children’s’ ward and eye clinic opens. The picture shown here was taken by Poppy and shows Mothers’ Union members who will feature in her slide show.

Mothers’ Union in the Diocese of Winchester is linked in prayer with Mothers’ Union members in the Southern Sudanese Diocese of Kajo-Keji.

The evening will also feature other news about Mothers’ Union work locally and around the globe, including this years Family Holiday which local members and supporters will be running for a week in August on the Isle of Wight.

Directions for Crosfield Hall, Romsey are downloadable here: Crosfield Hall

Mothers' Union goat project to improve nutrition in Masasi Diocese (2006)

We have received  information about the Diocese of Masasi in Tanzania saying that it has been divided into two, with a new Diocese of Newala being formed in September 2009.

The Diocese of Masasi remains one of the Diocese with which we are linked as prayer partners through the Mothers’ Union Wave of Prayer, and as yet we do not know how this news affects that partnership, or the geographic areas affected. We will share more news relating to our specifically Mothers’ Union link when we have it, but in the meantime you may be interested in looking at the website of the Friends of Masasi.

In the meantime it would be a good idea to pray for both Diocese: The Diocese of Newala with it’s new Bishop Rt Revd Oscar Mnung’a and the remaining Diocese of Masasi, Rt Revd Patrick Mwachiko especially as he has been forced to move out of the Bishop’s house at Mtandi because his damaged home is beyond repair.

Some people pray occasionally, some in emergencies, some daily, some frequently each day. Everyone is different, but some patterns of prayer bind groups of people together.

Mothers’ Union supporters have a pattern of prayer which makes them stop whatever work or meetings they may be undertaking together at mid-day, and they then prayerfully reflect on their work, on their part in a worldwide organisation, on a particular group of members around the world (using something called the Mothers’ Union ‘Wave of Prayer’) and on the needs of those they know.

Mothers’ Union supporters who want to share in prayer over the next couple of months, might like to use the following downloadable notes to give them a little guidance and direction. You are welcome to share with us by using them as well.

MUMiddayPrayers-May2010

MUMiddayPrayers-June2010

One of Mothers’ Union activities is in the area of social policy, specifically as it relates to family life. The European Commission has asked a consortium of non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and universities to come up with recommendations for future research on family policy to be funded by them. As part of this exercise the World Movement of Mothers is conducting an online survey of European mothers to ask for their views and experiences. The results of this will be very helpful for future policy work within Mothers’ Union and other organisations campaigning for families. The questionnaire takes about 20 minutes to complete and can be found here.

The latest Social Policy update from Mothers’ Union is downloadable here: Faith_Policy_Watch_April2010 with news of the 54th UN Commission on the Status of Women, information regarding the UK elections, and a recent report on the sexualisation of children.

If you are reading this web-page because you are interested to learn more about these diocese, you are particularly welcome. Once you’ve read the links available, please click on the word ‘comment’ and tell us if you found them helpful, interesting, and also where you are from! We’d love to hear from you.

Information about project work (including our Family Holiday scheme), events and activities among Mothers’ Union members in the Diocese of Winchester can be viewed by clicking the other link pages and ‘tags’ on the top and left of your screen.

During the last few days we have posted information about three of the Diocese to whom Winchester is linked. Each can be found by scrolling down the postings on this ‘home-page’ or by clicking the ‘tag’ links. There is further background information on each via the ‘International’ heading at the top of your screen.

Muhabura, situated in Southern Uganda, is the last to be featured. In 2009 we became aware that, despite the drought conditions the region was experiencing, Mothers’ Union members were helping many refugees displaced from the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was supported by two donations from the Mothers’ Union Relief Fund, which operates to help members in the relief work they undertake in their local communities. Information from Mothers’ Union head office suggests that Muhabura members continue to care for refugees from D R Congo.

Whether you are a Mothers’ Union member, or just interested in who we are and what we do, may God bless you as you journey through life with him.

Mothers’ Union has families of Diocese stretching across the world who pray for each other regularly, and who collectively form a ‘Wave of Prayer’. One of Winchester’s permanent links is with Kajo-Keji in Southern Sudan, and from tomorrow (January 21st) they and their partner diocese of Kitgum and Muhabura (in Uganda) and Masasi (in Tanzania) will be at the centre of all Mothers’ Union prayers around the world.

As one of the key agencies from the Church involved in bringing humanitarian and development assistance to the people of Sudan, Mothers’ Union has spoken out to lend support to Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, from the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, calling for urgent international support for efforts to maintain the fragile Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The CPA was signed in 2005 ending a long and devastating civil war, but violence is now on the increase across the region.

[Full details of the situation and issues surrounding it can be found among recent Chatham House papers, and recent speeches by Archbishop Rowan Williams, and Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul can be downloaded from the Archbishops website.]

A Mothers' Union literacy group in Southern Sudan

Mothers’ Union has a membership of 15,000 women in Sudan, and runs an extensive Literacy & Development programme (MULDP) in the country, working closely with the Episcopal Church of the Sudan. The CPA has enabled Mothers’ Union Sudan’s Literacy Trainers to extend the programme to communities in Southern Sudan who were previously isolated through conflict. This progress is at risk should the fragile peace not be protected.

Naomi Herbert, Senior Programme Officer for Mothers’ Union said “Before the CPA our development programme couldn’t reach out of the controlled area of Juba and the areas in the North. Since the CPA our volunteers have brought the programme into isolated and previously inaccessible interior regions. Communities are now engaging in new businesses, roads enable markets to be accessible, more food is available, and people have better access to healthcare and natal facilities. All efforts need to be made by governments and agencies to facilitate open dialogue between north and south on key issues of wealth sharing, so that the people of the South are not plunged in to a conflict over resources at a time when peace is making such a difference to the lives of ordinary women, men and children across Sudan.”

However, there are other issues that specifically affect Kajo-Keji. The Diocese of Kajo-Keji has not yet been able to introduce and implement the MULDP. Funding provided by Mothers’ Union for the programme (which also operates in Burundi and Malawi ) used to be matched by funding from Comic Relief for the project, but that source is now exhausted. The challenge is therefore to find funding for the Mothers’ Union’s Literacy and Development Programme that will allow it to continue in the areas it has already reached, and specifically to expand into regions like Kajo-Keji where it would prove equally effective.

Greetings in the name of the Lord. It is long since I communicated to you. This should not discourage you, for out of sight does not mean out of mind. I do think a lot about … the entire Mothers Union in the Diocese of Winchester. How are you… and all the Mothers’ Union members?

The great silence has been because of the poor communication system. Our computer has been spoilt for over one year and every time I tried to use the public paid internet, it would be out of use and very unreliable… Praise be to God that our computer was repaired and the e-mail system is now working…

Most of our people have left the IDP [Internally Displaced People] camps and have resettled in their villages. However, the whole of Northern Uganda in which Kitgum is situated has had heat with a very bad drought and this has left people without food. We thank Mary Sumner House [head office of Mothers' Union international work] for supporting us during this time of need. They helped us with about eleven million Ugandan shillings towards this. We were able to help 150 households with food relief and also with seeds for planting when it starts raining. We have also created a seed bank where the people who harvest from the seeds supplied to them, will return a percentage to the the bank. This will be given to those who did not get [seeds initially]. This plan will greatly help our people next year, hoping that the weather will be favourable. Please pray for us that this may be so.

The clothes you sent helped a number of children who needed them. They and their parents were very grateful May God bless you so much. … May the Almighty God bless you so abundantly.

A map of Uganda showing the location of Kitgum and Muhabura

Every family is formed by a network of relationships where some members have particularly close relationships, and the same is true of the Mothers’ Union family; each diocese which has Mothers’ Union members is linked closely with a small group of other Mothers’ Union diocese around the globe, so that they get to know each other particularly well. They can they pray for each other, and if appropriate support each other in more practical ways, and occasionally with visits. Each small group of diocese are also at the centre of the daily prayers of all members for a few days each year, forming what we call our ‘Wave of Prayer’.

Mothers’ Union members in the Diocese of Winchester are linked in this way with fellow members in Kitgum (Northern Uganda), Muhabura (South Western Uganda), Masasi (Southern Tanzania) and Kajo-Keji (Southern Sudan). Together we are at the centre of the ‘Wave of Prayer’ from 21st – 25th January each year.

During that week Mothers’ Union groups in churches across the Diocese of Winchester will be meeting to pray for members in their partner Diocese. An order of service that can be used for these prayers can be downloaded by clicking on this link: MUWinchester_WaveOfPrayerService2010

There are several things to remember if you are arranging such a service this year:

• We are just entering a new triennial of leadership in the Mothers’ Union, but being early in January much updated information is not yet available to us especially regarding the names of leaders and workers. The most up to date information we have on countries is available by following the links attached to the place names above, and by looking at a copies of ‘Families Worldwide’ which will have featured them over the last few months.
• Historically we also have a link with Algoma in Canada which is why they are mentioned in the service sheet, but recently there has been no information as to whether there are any Mothers’ Union members active there.

On Monday 11th January, Archbishop Deng from the Episcopal Church of Sudan and Archbishop Rowan Williams will be meeting with PM Gordon Brown to discuss the ongoing necessity for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan. Kajo-Keji is in Southern Sudan and directly affected the peace agreement and the forthcoming elections this April and a crucial referendum in January 2011. There will be a statement later that day which will try and feature on this website and the situation and information should help inform our prayers for the Diocese of Kajo-Keji.

In the next couple of weeks we will also seek updated information about situations in our other link Diocese and feature them on this website, so please visit us regularly to keep up to date.

Crops have failed for the third time in 12 months, livestock are dead or dying and families are spending all their time foraging for whatever food they can find. People in the hardest hit areas are eating leaves and roots in the forest to survive.

Mothers’ Union members can distribute support to those who need it most, because they live in and understand the specific needs of their communities. They have identified at least 300,000 families who need our support to stay alive.

There is lots of information available by following the links here to help you raise the profile of this crisis that isn’t being talked about by the governments of the affected countries. Mothers’ Union is one of the few agencies promoting the plight of the region. Please use the downloads and links to highlight the crisis, and raise funds in your community and church.

Click the highlighted text to download your East Africa Famine Crisis – Situation Summary

The poster pictured here is available from our head office in London, but can also be downloaded as a full colour A3 poster by clicking this link: Harvest Has Failed – A3 Poster

There is more information on the central Mothers’ Union website including the facility to donate online here: East Africa Appeal