Five Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus serving refugees in Sudan need your help obtaining food, medicine, clothes, and other essentials. Click here to donate.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (LifeSiteNews) – A group of Catholic nuns working in war-torn Sudan are in desperate need of help obtaining food, medicine, and other basics with which to care for children and other refugees who have been ravaged and displaced by the violence.

Violence exploded earlier this year between the Sudanese army and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) faction. Accurate statistics have been difficult to obtain, but it has been estimated that more than 3,000 people have been killed and 3.1 million people driven out of their homes. Among those affected were several nuns from the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an order dedicated to serving the sick, the poor, and survivors of violence in South Sudan who found themselves trapped amid the fighting without clear routes to safety.

In April, the congregation’s Sister Christine John Amaa reached out to several organizations for help, and when word reached the Vulnerable People Project (VPP), the group quickly sprang into action and developed an evacuation plan, leading to the safe delivery of three of the sisters to South Sudan. All told, the group managed to rescue nearly 800 people from the region, although one volunteer with another group involved in the effort was killed by sniper fire.

“An American who often helps the sisters contacted my organization and asked if we could evacuate them, as we have been working with partners in Sudan for 20 years,” VPP founder and president Jason Jones said. “They were old, frail, and the idea of a long journey, which ultimately took 72 hours from start to finish, was terrifying. So our team came and was with them for several days trying to comfort them. We brought them food, money, [and] insulin. But then the building next door to where they were was knocked down by artillery fire, and I think this convinced them that they had to go with our team.”

Five sisters have stayed behind to serve refugees and displaced civilians who are suffering from malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, and more. Both the sisters and the people in their care, including children, are in desperate need of food, clothes, medicine, clean water, and basic sanitary supplies, which LifeSiteNews and the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have set up a LifeFunder to help raise money for.

Donations will help the Sisters purchase medicine to rescue children and their mothers, give food to the malnourished, clothing for the naked, and clean water to avoid water-borne diseases killing the region’s children.

“As expressed already, this event was never planned for and our seven sisters are here in Juba in dire need of even basic items such as food, clothing, shelter, medicine and personal effects, and the survival of the four from the accident has given us courage to trust in God more,” Superior General Sr. Alice Jurugo said. “We would be most grateful if there are still well-wishers to stand by us in supporting these sisters. Our prayers remain with the five sisters still in Sudan; two in El-Obeid and three in Kosti who have remained to give service among the South Sudanese refugees.”

This is not the first time that violence has befallen the sisters; in August 2021, two nuns of their order, Sr. Mary Daniel Abud and Sr. Regina Roba, were among those killed in a roadside ambush. They and five other Catholic nuns were killed on a bus traveling from Assumption of Our Lady Parish in Nimule to South Sudan’s capital of Juba for the parish’s 100th anniversary.

Sr. Bakhita K. Francis said at the time that after the initial attack the sisters tried to flee, but the killers followed them and “shot Sr. Regina on her back as she was running and Sr. Antonietta managed to escape. Sr. Regina was found alive but died in the hospital in Juba.”

LifeSiteNews and the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ask for your prayers that the affected sisters be protected and delivered to safety, as well as for peace in the region and for all impacted by this conflict.

Please consider donating to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus serving those displaced by violence in Sudan via LifeFunder by clicking here.