A Discussion with Moses Emmanuel Mawa and Justin Charles Towonyo, Youth Ministers of the Pentecostal Church of Yei, Sudan

June 1, 2009

Background: As part of the Peacebuilding Practitioners Interview Series, Jason Klocek interviewed Moses Emmanuel Mawa and Justin Charles Towonyo, youth ministers of the Pentecostal Church of Yei, Sudan. In this interview Mawa and Towonyo discuss their outreach work with local youth, challenges to reconciliation, and the region's need for education.

Mr. Mawa and Mr. Towonyo, can you first speak about your background, and how these experiences led to your current work at the Pentecostal Church in Yei?

Mawa: I have lived in Yei my whole life, even during the war. I served in the Sunday school from the 1980s on and recently became youth secretary.

Towonyo: I also served in the Sunday school as a teacher before working in the youth ministry. During the war, I lived in Uganda, but my family returned in 1997 after the SPLA [Sudan People's Liberation Army] took control of Yei. It was at that time that I came to this church.

What role did the churches play during the war?

Mawa: Throughout the 1980s and 1990s all the way up to the peace the churches did a lot for peace and reconciliation. You could always hear preaching on these themes in the churches. The churches were also always teaching about fellowship and living together. Also, the churches did a lot to intervene when fellow Christians had dispute—to solve the small conflicts that came up.

Of course, the churches also did much during the war to bring back the lost to God. They were a force that could intervene in society and call back the lost.

Towonyo: I remember, too, that our church often had counseling sessions, which they would announce in the community. Then, if you had a problem you could come to talk to someone, usually the pastor. I know of some people who almost killed themselves but didn’t because they came to these sessions. They were given back their life by Christ.

What role does faith play in your work as youth ministers?

Towonyo: We are not paid for our service at the church. We are here, though, because we want to serve the living God and to bring his light to those who don’t know about it.

Mawa: We come to this church because we want to lead a peaceful life. There is much corruption in our society, and many of our youth are not doing good things. But we know that it is good to serve the Lord and to help others. We know that deep down everyone is good, and we are here to help people discover this if they have not already.

Can you talk about your work with the youth at your church?

Mawa: Most importantly, we are encouraging them to know more about God because once you know God you cannot go astray from his side. We don’t have too many organized activities, but we have run some seminars for our youth to talk about issues that concern them. And, of course, we often pray together. Our children need to hear the word of God, because that word will touch them, and they will come out to a life with Jesus.

Towonyo: We have also been running an outreach program for our youth, which provides a forum to talk about issues such as courtship, proper dress, and how to conduct oneself in life.

Can you talk about what the term reconciliation means to you?

Towonyo: Reconciliation involves confession. Through confession we can come together, discuss what happened, and then forgive.

Mawa: Yes, through confession we can come together. We have to talk about what we did wrong, admit our faults. Once this is done we can help those who have done wrong.

I remember that around the time of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that the UN and some NGOs ran a series of workshops on reconciliation. They invited people together to talk about what had happened to them. I think this helps to reduce the number of disputes and help people begin to understand one another.

This is still a very important process in southern Sudan today, and we are helping to bring our youth together at this church.

What are the major challenges to these reconciliation efforts?

Towonyo: Unemployment and poverty are major issues. Many people have no way of getting money. We are serving here at the church as volunteers, but we also look for ways when we are not here to earn money.

Mawa: In general, development is an issue. We lost everything in the war. There are now no good roads in Yei and very few schools, hospitals, etc.

Towonyo: Also, education is a big issue. We don’t have very good education here at the moment, and this is a big problem.

How do you think reconciliation and development are related? Does one have to happen before the other?

Mawa: If you have reconciliation but nothing to develop yourself, how will there really be peace? I think they related, and as we start to reconcile we will be able to come together and focus more on development.

Finally, could you both share your thoughts on what needs to be the focus for the people of Yei as you move into the future?

Mawa: Let me say that first everyone needs good things. No one willingly chooses death; they choose life. So I think we need very much to develop and come up out of our suffering. We need the peace to be strong.

Some people still have a mentality of hate; they don’t really know about peace. However, this needs to change.

Towonyo: I also feel we need to focus on education and jobs. Right now the main jobs in the south are in Juba, but we need more jobs and opportunities in our town of Yei. We also need to build and develop more schools so we can educate the future of our country.

Mr. Mawa and Mr. Towonyo, thank you very much for your time today.

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