South Sudan (MNN) — The world’s newest country, South Sudan, turned 15 years old this summer. But poverty and long-delayed elections continue to make life challenging for its more than 12 million people, which includes Christians serving vulnerable children. 

Husband and wife *Andrawes and *Lily serve with the children’s ministry of House of Hope in Juba, South Sudan. They say the country is passing through a critical time that will define its whole future. 

A brief glance at South Sudan shows they are correct. South Sudan’s first-ever national elections are currently set for December 22. The transitional government dissolved this week on September 22, as required under the electoral process. In addition to this, conflicts and killings are happening in different parts of the country.

Dinka tribe, South Sudan. (Photo courtesy of Randy Faith via Unsplash)

“We hope that this year and the coming few months will pass peacefully,” Lily says. “People are terrified, and they are also hopeful that God is going to do something miraculously, and their country will be the best.”

The political uncertainty affects daily life. Andrawes and Lily say inflation has recently doubled the price of water. 

“Everyone, even the team that serves with us, they come every morning and tell us hard stories about what happened in the night — gang groups and robberies in the local houses,” says Andrawes. “The country is passing through tough time, hardship in all areas, and it needs our prayers.” 

Throughout years of challenges, Andrawes and Lily have seen God provide for the girls and street children their team serves. When civil war broke out in 2013, they remember having beautiful times of prayer and praise with the children in their care. 

“We suddenly found ourselves blocked inside the compound, with no extra food, with no water, with gunshots just passing over our heads because the ministry compound was in the middle of the war,” says Lily. “I don’t remember that we had this fear that people here was speaking about.” 

Water and food came their way through an unexpected loan of a full water truck and a local supermarket vendor who gave generously. 

“I believe that when it’s much harder, God appears miraculously in clearer ways than we are used to,” says Lily. 

Today, poverty makes House of Hope’s children’s center a lifeline to many kids without access to education or even a real meal. According to UNICEF, over 70 percent of children in South Sudan are out of school. 

“In our ministry [to street children], where the children come in the morning and leave at 3 p.m. and they don’t come in the weekend, most of them don’t eat anything on the weekend until they come back on Monday,” says Lily. “They just drink water to keep their stomach full.”

(Photo courtesy of House of Hope)

Inflation has recently doubled the price of water. Would you prayerfully consider helping Andrawes and Lily carry out their mission to love and share Christ in South Sudan? Your prayers and partnership can make a difference. 

“Prayer is number one request, always,” says Andrawes. “We wait on the Lord by prayers day by day, week by week, and He’s doing it in a miraculous way. But funds always operate as fuel for the ministry. So that also is a great need there.” 

“We need prayers for our children and the ministry, and that God opens their hearts, and they are able to see Him even in the midst of all of these hard things and struggles,” says Lily. 

Find another story about House of Hope here, at the website of OneWay Ministries. Learn how you could financially support their ministry to children in South Sudan.

*Pseudonyms

Header photo courtesy of House of Hope.