Outside Terekeka in South Sudan sits a small village that was raided by a neighboring community. The raiding party destroyed the village, burning down their church and most of the houses, and stealing all the food in their granaries. Those who could not run away were attacked and even killed.
Rebecca escaped with her husband and children, but they lost everything. They struggled to find food because of an ongoing drought. Her family was nearing starvation and Rebecca felt hopeless.
Returning to their village, Rebecca joined a Savings Group that offered not only business and literacy training, but also workshops in trauma healing, peacebuilding, and business development. She also listened to them discuss forgiveness and what it means to forgive your neighbor.
She can now calculate how much to save and how much to reinvest in her agricultural business. With her profit, she built a granary where she stores food for her family and saves grain to sell at a higher price when it is out of season. She and her husband are rebuilding their life and home together.
Her improved financial position has changed the life of her family, but her new trust in God and her community has changed her even more. Confident in God’s provision, this woman who once faced starvation now gives food to those who are hungry and counsels those who have suffered.
“‘Through the training of trauma healing, I have been given a generous heart—I can now share freely with others without fear for whether God will provide.”
Rebecca and other Savings Group members led their community in deciding not to carry out a revenge attack against the raiders, as would typically happen. Instead, they made the remarkable decision to reach out to their offending neighbors to offer forgiveness and make peace.
Amazingly, the two groups reconciled. The former attackers have even contributed 70 poles to rebuild the very church they burned down. These two communities are planning to worship and pray together upon the completion of the rebuilding of the church.
Rebecca and her neighbors became true peacemakers.
