Sr. Bianca Bii Defies the Odds to Save Children in Tombura-Yambio

Over the years, countless children have been left orphaned and homeless due to the ongoing war of independence between Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan. One person who has been fighting to save these children despite the overwhelming odds is Sister Bianca Bii.

Sr. Bianca was born in a culture where women are expected to remain homemakers, tasked solely with caring for children and being a good wife. However, she was born with a strong diligence and resilience that gave her the motivation to pursue her mission of serving the Lord.

She joined the school at the Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Parish, Riimenze, in 1952 after a Comboni missionary requested that her father allow her to attend. Years later, after finishing her early schooling at Riimenze, Bianca then went to Mupoi to continue her education. It was there that she approached a nun and expressed her desire to become a nun herself, and she was then admitted as an Aspirant. Around the same time, Sudan’s Arab government began to send away British government officials as well as Comboni missionaries.

One of these missionaries, Father Fera, began a new religious congregation with several sisters, including Bianca. At age 17, Bianca Bii made her first vow into the religious life, and she then took her final vows and became a professed member of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1963.

A year later, Sr. Bianca Bii went to visit her sick mother in Nzara, and while she was there, she saw the numerous orphans whose parents were killed during the 21 years of civil war. Seeing their hopeless faces spurred Bianca into action, and she made it her mission to institute change.

One of the first things she did was set up a schedule where she would move from home to home each night to pray with and provide comfort for the orphans, and on Saturdays, she would invite them to her home so she could wash their clothes and allow them to bathe. Later on, Sr. Bianca wrote to Bishop Titarani Joseph Gasi Abangite of the Catholic Diocese of Tambura-Yambio with a request that he allow her to officially take care of the poor orphans across the parish. With the Bishop’s approval, this started St. Bakhita Orphanage in Tombura.

Since she began her mission, Sr. Bianca has helped many children complete their primary and secondary school education, and some of these children have gone on to pursue higher learning. One such student is Grace Umerani, who, in 2016, emerged as the best student in South Sudan and is now pursuing a degree in public health from a university in the United States. Grace remains in contact with Sr. Bianca, offering financial and emotional support whenever possible. She has indicated that she will return to her hometown after completing her studies so that she can help change the region with her medical expertise.

Sr. Bianca is also responsible for helping a young man who lost his parents when he was five years old. Today, that man has become one of the most successful businessmen in South Sudan, owning an expensive hotel in Western Equatoria. To this day, he regularly donates food and money to St. Bakhita orphanage, always remembering what Sr. Bianca did for him in his darkest times.

Many women have joined Sr. Bianca’s cause, and today, St. Bakhita takes care of approximately 65 children. Although they are making a difference in the world, they believe that the orphanage still needs support to better accommodate the children. Right now, they need more scholastic materials and food assistance, as well as funding to build more rooms.

With the help of various donors around the world, and the support of such institutions as Sudan Relief Fund, Sr. Bianca is optimistic for the future of her mission.

DONATE TO SUPPPORT BIANCA BII’s ORPHANAGE

Read more about Sister Bianca Bii’s experience here.

Project Update: Education Challenges and Advancements During Covid-19

Sudan Relief Fund has always been committed to helping children in South Sudan receive an education, and we remain so even now while some cannot attend school full-time due to the Covid pandemic. In the past several months, we have been able to provide funding for several school projects, up to almost $300,000, made possible by our generous donors.

We receive regular updates on the progress of these project stages, and we wanted to share some of them with you:

• The Ave Maria Ngboko school’s site has exciting plans for expansion. Debris has been cleared and building materials have been delivered. Construction is set to begin very soon.
• The St. Thomas Source Yubu school, which is adding four additional classrooms to accommodate an increase in students, is in the midst of construction and will hopefully be finished soon.
• The St. Mary Help of Christians Tombura primary school is in the middle of their renovation project, which has already begun with the removal of old iron sheets. New materials, such as reinforced iron sheets and roofing timbers, have been delivered to the site and will soon be added to the building.
• Thankfully the Loreto Rumbek Primary and Secondary School has seen no obvious signs of Covid-19 outbreaks. Teachers and students have been able to finally return to in-person schooling thanks to the education and enforcement of appropriate social distancing guidelines.
• The renovation of the St. Mary Help of Christians Tombura primary school has officially been completed.
• The Bishop Abangite Science and Technology Secondary School’s latest project, the construction of a new block to provide additional conductive learning classrooms to accommodate more students, has also been completed.

Despite the recent happenings, such as the spread of the Covid pandemic, the malaria season, and the tumultuous political climate, these school projects are seeing major progress, and we’re optimistic that we will be able be able to see improvements in the education system in the months ahead because of it.

According to Bishop Eduardo Kussala of the Tombura-Yambio diocese, it’s important that the children of the region do their part to further their own education and understand their history.

“The young people should engage in learning and writing about the history of the country while helping less privileged families in doing the same. This will be helpful in fighting illiteracy among the South Sudanese, which will lead to an overall more productive, peaceful, and self-sustaining society.”

How Covid Has Created a Food Shortage in South Sudan

For the past several months, the Covid-19 pandemic has been impacting the world, leaving behind a wake of death, economic turmoil, and hopelessness. What many people do not realize is that Covid is also taking a significant toll on food reserves, and many regions are expecting massive waves of hunger soon, especially South Sudan.

Starving children waiting for food relief in Juba.

Juba, the capital of South Sudan, has been in the center of violence for many years due to an ongoing civil war. Due to the fighting, people have been fleeing their homes in the country to take refuge in camps inside of the city for safety. Unable to access their fields or farms, many of these refugees have become dependent on food given to them by relief agencies.

Because of growing food scarcity, South Sudan’s food prices are skyrocketing, making it difficult for a majority of citizens to afford even the most basic meals. Heavy rainfall in 2019 added to the food shortage by flooding and destroying crops and killing much livestock. By the start of 2020, more than six million people were in a status of food insecurity, meaning they couldn’t get their necessary daily nutritional requirements.

Ever since the onset of Covid-19’s spread, food has become even harder to come by. Staple foods’ prices jumped 25 percent, while a government imposed lockdown caused local food stalls to shut down, making it even more difficult for citizens to get their food. Each day, more people are finding themselves relying on little to no food, and as Covid continues to spread with no end in sight, food shortages and hunger are getting worse.

Tonight, thousands of children will go to bed starving. The good news is that you can prevent this from happening with your generous gift today. Donate today and please pray for the people of South Sudan.

You can read more about the looming food shortage here.

Dr. Tom Adopts a Son

Tom Catena, an American doctor, is known throughout the world for his missionary work in the Nuba Mountains. He’s been serving as the only resident doctor at the Mother of Mercy Hospital for the last 12 years and remains committed to helping the Nuba people.

Prior to helping establish Mother of Mercy Hospital, Dr. Tom spent more than six years volunteering at St. Mary’s Hospital in Nairobi, tending to countless men, women, and children who had up until then been unable to access proper medical care. He then went on to help establish Mother of Mercy in Nuba, where he and his staff are responsible for sometimes helping hundreds of patients a day and performing more than 1,000 operations a year. He is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, always ready to assist those in need. Due to lack of reliable electricity and running water, Dr. Tom must sometimes rely on decades-old treatments and methods to save people’s lives. Luckily, he is always rising to the challenge and doing everything he can for the people of Nuba.

During his service in Nuba, Dr. Tom has fallen in love with the people and culture of the region. He also met and fell in love with a local nurse named Nasima, whom he later married. After learning that they could not have children of their own, they agreed to start looking to adopt.

They were connected with an orphanage in South Sudan, where they met little Francis, a young boy who had been found malnourished and alone in Juba. In March of 2020, Dr. Tom and Nasima returned to Nuba with their newly adopted son.

At first, Francis had difficulty warming up to Dr. Tom and only found comfort with Nasima. But as time went on, Francis eventually saw him as his father, and now the three of them live happily in the Nuba Mountains. Dr. Tom loves every aspect of fatherhood, but he admits that his favorite part is watching Francis eat. After spending years starving on the streets of Juba, he now seems to eat nonstop and has seen significant improvement to his health since.

Dr. Tom and Nasima love being parents to Francis, mainly because they enjoy giving him a chance to live his life to the fullest, just as he and every other orphan deserves. Dr. Tom encourages others to consider adoption as an option, especially with how many orphans there are in South Sudan alone.

Our non-profit has worked closely with orphanages in the area for years, helping to support children with their needs, including supporting those blessed with opportunity of adoption. One such instance includes orphan Grace Umerani, who is now attending school in New York to become a public health official.

We also want to show appreciation for Dr. Tom’s work in the Nuba Mountains. When he’s not caring for Francis, he is working tirelessly at his hospital to provide much-needed medical care for hundreds of sick and dying Sudanese people. You can read about Dr. Tom’s hospital and find out what you can do to help him on his mission.