Wau Cathedral providing sanctuary to 16,000 people

More than 16,000 displaced people have now sought refuge in St Mary’s Cathedral compound, Wau, in South Sudan, 400 miles northwest of Juba. The site has been growing as a sanctuary as heavy clashes have been seen around Wau for nearly a year, and it has become an access point for humanitarian assistance, writes Ellen Teague.

The church recently drilled two new wells to supplement two existing wells on the cathedral grounds, but insufficient water for the displaced has meant water is transported in daily. More than 7.5 million people, out of an estimated population in South Sudan of 12 million, are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The displaced people are enduring overcrowded living conditions and limited food provision but, as Wau priest Fr Germano Bernardo says, “it wasn’t safe anywhere, but people said that if they were going to be killed, they preferred to be killed in the church because this is the place that Jesus is present”.

Fr Moses Peter, the Wau diocesan emergency coordinator, said, “most felt when they came to the church that God was immediately going to look after them and keep them safe, and many felt that if people came to do violence, that we priests would challenge them”. The diocese is awaiting the appointment of a new bishop after Bishop Rudolf Deng Majak died in March.

The Catholic Bishop of Tombura-Yambio, in whose diocese the city of Wau lies, used the occasion of Bishop Majak’s funeral to speak against the destruction visited on the whole country since the outbreak of civil war in 2013.
Writing to the elders of the district, he demanded the restoration of Wau, as a step towards ending the war (see Fredrick Nzwili, Tablet World www.thetablet.co.uk, 28 April).