Diocese of Kajo Keji Highlights

Edited by Stephen Tomor ... "to keep our brothers and sisters in the picture of what is happening in the Diocese of Kajo Keji."

Find Nov-Dec 2008 below:
Download DKK Highlights.Nov-Dec 2008 "This issue has seen the Bishop of the Diocese of Kajo Keji reaching out to visit our brothers and sisters outside the geographical boundaries of the Diocese of Kajo Keji –– Bugerere, in Uganda ... and the work of the Samaritan Purse in building Churches ... scheduled to build 40 churches in the Diocese."

The Loopo School in Kajo Keji

[Info and pics from Jo Trepagnier] Our prayers this Sunday are for the Loopo school and thought your newspin readers might be interested in seeing and learning a little more. The Loopo School is an Episcopal primary school that has been supported by our diocese through the adopt-a-school program. There are around 400 students (half are girls). The school uniform distiguishes each school and in Loopo those that can afford to wear purple.

Michael Deebee: 'I can now die joyfully, knowing my people have been delivered'

By Charlie Barebo

Michael Deebee: Like Simeon when he met the Messiah, I can know die joyfully, knowing my people have been delivered.

Michael Deebee is the head man of the Kuku people in Romogi. His story is worth telling. Michael is the living history book of the Kukus and the Episcopal Church in the Romogi area. He believes he is 82. Michael spoke at a celebratory feast, November 10, 2008, after Archdeacon Stringfellow officially opened the Bishop’s house and Charlie Barebo said a blessing and cut the ribbon to the first dormitory at the college. His words were translated to me by the Rev. Emmanuel Murye. 

Here is part of Michaels’s story:

Good Shepherd Scranton raised $2,407 for the 12 Days of Christmas for Kajo Keji project

[From Warren Shotto, senior warden] Dale Durkin, one of the New Hope Coordinators at Good Shepherd, Scranton, spearheaded a campaign to raise money for Christmas for Kajo Keji. She offered a challenge to the parish. She pledged that she and her husband, Bob, would match whatever the parish contributed, up to one of each of the 12 days wish list.

The parish responded to the challenge in a big way. After accepting contributions from parishioners and the church for only two weeks, she was happy to report that we would be able to provide not only one full set of 12 days, but 3 full sets plus more!

12 Days of Christmas for Kajo Keji

Updated December 5 –– [From Jo Trepagnier] –– Thank you all for your continued support of this project. I thought you might be interested in seeing how many gifts the Diocese has collected so far.

Solar Lanterns 4; Water Jugs 61; Radios 4; Bikes 5; Fabric 74 yards; Hens 64; Sewing Machines 10; Tables 2; Soccer Balls 8; Jump Ropes 5; Plastic Chairs 7; Basketballs 2.

I expect to have one more major donation week and then we'll aim to transfer the amounts in mid December. Also, this week, we received 3 undesignated donations for $625, which will be very helpful in rounding out some of the purchases. Some of the gifts, like the sports equipment, were intended to be one for each school or archdeaconry, so the cash will be very helpful.

Thanks to all. If you have been waiting to send in your donation, this would be a great week.

Mission trip to Kajo Keji

Archdeacon Howard Stringfellow and Charlie Barebo, who has chaired our New Hope campaign, have made another mission trip to the Diocese of Bethlehem's companion diocese, Kajo Keji as guests of Bishop Anthony Poggo.  They left on Tuesday, Nov. 4 and will return on Monday, November 11.

Beyond strengthening the ties and fellowship between our dioceses and between parishes in Bethlehem and Kajo Keji, the purpose of the trip is to inspect the progress of construction at the Poggo College and the Romogi Primary School, two projects funded by New Hope.

Twelve Days of Christmas for Kajo Keji

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true friends sent to me twelve basket balls-a-bouncing, eleven plastic chairs, ten ropes for jumping, nine balls for kicking, eight sturdy tables, seven machines-a-sewing, six hens-a-laying, five yards of fabric … four bicycles, three wind-up radios, two water jugs and a solar lantern, in the dark to see.

Download the page below to see the Christmas gifts you can buy for Kajo Keji.

Download 081108.pdf

Bishop Paul will be visiting the people in Kajo Keji, Sudan during the 12 Days of Christmas. We hope to provide him with samples of our gifts as well as a long list of items to be delivered as soon as they can be purchased and transported to our beloved brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Kajo Keji. Bishop Marshall and Bishop Poggo thank you for your generosity and wish you and your family a Merry Christmas.

Church School at Trinity Easton raises $1850 for New Hope

The Church School at Trinity Easton has a missionary offering every program year. They undertake a small fundraiser or two, but mainly they collect spare change from their alowances, their families and fellow parishioners at Trinity from mid-September through May.

The 2007-08 Church School Missionary Offering was designated for the New Hope Campaign. At both Sunday services, children from the church would take turns collecting small change in two specially made "school houses," made by Trinitarian Carmen LoBaido Wilson to underscore that one of the tasks of New Hope is to rebuild school buildings in Kajo-Keji. At each service, the children would present their gifts at the altar along with the regular offerings of money and food, bread and wine.

During the year in class, they learned about Loopo Primary School, our adopted school, and other activities to learn about the Diocese of Kajo-Keji.

When Bishop Paul came to visit on April 20th, he was presented a check for $664, which was collected up through Easter. But they weren't done. The Church School collected a total $1850 for New Hope through this year's Church School Missionary offering.

Living Water: Gushing in Bethlehem, Flowing in Kajo Keji

Archdeacon Howard Stringfellow and Charlie Barebo, chair of the New Hope Campaign and member of Diocesan Council, visited our companion Diocese of Kajo Keji in Southern Sudan on behalf of the New Hope Campaign and the Diocese of Bethlehem during late February 2008 to strengthen the ties between our dioceses, meet with the person who is to be Bethlehem's representative in Kajo Keji during the Campaign's construction of schools and the Canon Benaiah Poggo College, and inspect the progress of those constructions.

Download the pdf file. Text and photographs by Howard Stringfellow.

Download 0802.Stringfellow.pdf

Mission Trips to Kajo Keji

Download below some info on mission trips to Africa made by Diocese of Bethlehem representatives since 2000.

Download 080110.Mission Trips to Kajo Keji.pdf

Jo Trepagnier, Earl Trygar and Char Horst left Bethlehem, Monday, December 31, 2007, on a mission trip to Kajo Keji. They will return on Saturday, January 12, 2008. Download background on this trip and a photo below.

Download 071231.Mission trip to Kajo Keji.pdf

Bethlehem/Kajo Keji logo

A new logo with a mango tree and star symbolizes the companionship relationship between Bethlehem and Kajo Keji. Download the logo and story below.

Download companionship_logo.pdf

Sudan.Why not keep those promises?

Download the op-ed written for the Church Times, London, Dec. 7, 2007, by Bishop Anthony Poggo of Kajo Keji.

Download 0712.ChurchTimes.Why not keep those promises.pdf

Download 0712.Why not keep those promises.doc

Download 0712.Why not keep those promises.pdf

A Reason to Unite

This story by Michael Duck of The Morning Call was featured on the paper's front local page on Sunday, October 14.

It begins ... Most people don't even have shoes in Bishop Anthony Poggo's Anglican diocese in southern Sudan. His people in the Diocese of Kajo Keji struggle with hunger, malaria and the aftermath of a half-century of war. And these same people are saving Episcopal Bishop Paul V. Marshall of Bethlehem, along with his 16,000-member diocese here in Pennsylvania. "I don't know where our diocese would be without Kajo Keji ... We have been changed and mobilized by that connection," Marshall said Friday to Poggo and representatives from the Diocese of Bethlehem's 66 churches.

Download the story below.

Download 071014.MC.A reason to unite.pdf

Novel campaign

Morning Call Op-Ed -- By Bill Lewellis -- October 19, 2007

Three summers ago, about 160,000 expatriate Sudanese had come back across the southern Sudan  border from resettlement camps in northern Uganda when Kajo-Keji County in southernmost Sudan was experiencing a drought. It created a desperate situation.

''We must act now to prevent people in Kajo-Keji from starving to death,'' Bishop Paul Marshall of the Diocese of Bethlehem wrote on diocesan Internet lists. Local churches of the 14-county Episcopal diocese in eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania responded immediately, with $80,000 to have food delivered.

Trucks loaded with staples traveled from Kampala, Uganda, over rutted roads in the Kajo-Keji area. The first shipments of food reached Kajo-Keji in time to prevent mass starvation.

'What the Diocese of Bethlehem has done,'' wrote a correspondent in Sudan in 2004, "will enter the history books of Kajo-Keji.

Bethlehem and Kajo Keji: Our Partnership

Five years ago, Bishop Paul Marshall asked Charlie Barebo to help spearhead a capital campaign to develop a camp and conference center for the Diocese of Bethlehem. "A funny thing happened on the way," said Barebo. "I woke up one morning in the Sudan."

A global traveler as CEO of Otterbine Barebo, Inc., Barebo said it was no less than a "life-changing event that has deepened my faith and forever altered my outlook on this world."

Parishes throughout the 14-county northeastern Pennsylvania diocese launched New Hope during the last two Sundays of September. By that time, more than half of the $3.6 million goal had already been raised through advance gifts, said Barebo who chairs the New Hope capital campaign, but not for a camp and conference center.

"We have begun something unique," said Bishop Marshall, "a capital campaign for others and an extra mile toward the Millennium Development Goals. Some 75% of the money raised will help the destitute in Sudan; 25% will provide grants to enable parishes in our diocese to expand projects and develop new initiatives to serve the needy in northeastern Pennsylvania. Our diocese, institutionally, will not benefit from this effort."

"We are responding to the request of the Diocese of Kajo Keji for assistance in building the educational and organizational centers that will allow them to provide for their own future," said the bishop. "Through revolving micro-finance funds, enterprising individuals, largely women, will be able to make a new start in a war-torn country."

Bethlehem has had a partnership relationship with the Diocese of Kajo Keji for the past seven years. Ten missioners have been deeply affected by their visits with sisters ann brothers in southern Sudan.

[Download the history of our relationship with Kajo Keji below.]

Download kajo_keji_story.General Distribution.Long.pdf

Buy home-grown vegetables to support Kajo Keji

Mt. Pocono -- Area residents can help people of war-ravaged Africa by buying home-grown vegetables at Trinity Church in Mount Pocono. Since July, Cindy Hill and Alvin Ziegler have been selling surplus vegetables from their garden and donating the money to help rebuild the county of Kajo Keji in South Sudan. "I've never been to Africa," said Hill. "Our bishop, Paul Marshall, visited Kajo Keji and I saw a slide show of his trip. It really underlined the hardships that people there have endured. My garden went out of control this summer so I decided to sell the surplus for Kajo Keji." Since July, Hill and Ziegler have given the Trinity Church secretary nearly $600.

Read the Pocono Record story at the newspaper’s website. If it’s no longer available there, download it below.

Download mtpocono.Campaign brings renewed hope to war.pdf

Bethlehem/Kajo Keji Meeting near London

Bishop Paul met on Sunday, July 1, outside London with Bishop Anthony Poggo, Bishop of Kajo Keji, and The Rev. Emmanuel Murye, diocesan secretary of Kajo Keji. Joining them were Charles Barebo, chairman of the New Hope Campaign, and Archdeacon Howard Stringfellow. Bishop Anthony and Father Emmanuel traveled from Africa on Saturday, June 30. Heightened security slowed none of the travelers.

Download two photos below.

Download london_meeting_photos.pdf

Kajo Keji presentation at St. Brigid's, April 29

Download nazareth.Kajo-Keji flyer.pdf

Bishop-elect Anthony Poggo

Kajo Keji Bishop-elect Anthony Poggo was consecrated a bishop on April 22. "We all rejoice at your election as Bishop of Kajo Keji," Bishop Paul wrote earler, "and give thanks that God is providing our sisters and brothers with a strong and loving leader ... Please know that all of our churches will be  praying for you by name."

Former archdeacon of Bethlehem Rick Cluett will represent Bishop Paul at the June 3 enthronement of Bishop Poggo in the southern Sudan Diocese of Kajo Keji. Mrs. Connie Fegley will represent our diocesan World Mission committee.

Download Bishop Paul's letter and a biographical sketch and photo of the Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Kajo Keji.

Download my_dear_brother_and_bishopelect.pdf

Cathedral's Easter Offering

The Cathedral's Easter Offering will fund a well and pumping station for the community at Romogi in Sudan, the new site of the diocesan Cathedral, center and college. The well will also serve the local community. Many people have to walk miles to draw water and then carry the water back to their homes.

May God bless our efforts to support the people of Kajo Keji and the mission of the church in that country.

Download the poster below.

Download poster.Easter Offering 2007.pdf