Santos Ater Ater, William Majak Malek, and Jacob Tong Duang were young boys, all around the age of 9 or 10, when they were rescued through New Life Ministry in 2005.
Each had lost family in the chaos of war and the crippling side effects that war leaves behind. Today, South Sudan is one of the poorest nations in the world and lacks basic infrastructures like medical clinics, schools, clean water, or even bridges and roads.
William shared that he didn’t even “know my mother’s face because she died when I was breast feeding when she was bitten by a snake and died without any treatment.”
Santos writes, “From the beginning, I was living with parents normally—my father was having a herd of cattle, flock of sheep and even a farm. During dry season in 2000, before the death of Dr. John Garang, there was a severe conflict between the South & North of Sudan. The Northern soldiers came and stole our cattle, sheep, goats and burnt whatever else they couldn’t carry with them. They killed both my father and mother and the other elders in the village who refused to run into the bushes for safety. The children had run to the bush and when we knew it was safe we returned to find the village destroyed. We cried and cried when we found out what had happened. I was left as an orphan with my three sisters and one brother. All of us were under 13 years of age. Then the life became difficult for us.”
Lift Up the Vulnerable (LUV) works with indigenous leaders to offer intervention, rescue and aftercare for the most vulnerable children and women in warzones. Together, we provide food, housing, education, security, employment, health and spiritual care. These important resources are key components to addressing vulnerabilities, ending exploitation, and seeing lives transformed!
William, Santos, and Jacob were part of the first high school graduation at New Life Ministry in 2016. Today, they are all in university. Because of their perseverance in adversity and deep commitment to their education, each young man was awarded partial scholarships to study in universities in Morocco or Khartoum this semester. Watching these three grow these past 13 years, I feel like a proud mother as they join the global community!
Jacob sums it all up, “NLM had really changed our lives and we thank God for it.”
Because of you, the movement of LUV continues to grow strong as evidenced in the lives of these three young men and the thousands more you help us protect.
Through education, health care, housing, and a whole lot of LUV the lives of children and women in warzones are being lifted up.
Why give?
Because Love in Action is the only power that can transform this world—indeed, Love is the only power that ever has.
With LUV,
Audrey Moore
Executive Director