Tanesha is a member of a Christian ministry team in Khartoum. After studying at the Evangelical Seminary in Cairo, she came back to Khartoum and worked in the Ministry of Education.  While there, she met a ministry staff member and began the training to become part of the staff.  Then she began to work at another ministry.  Tanesha, who is a southern Sudanese woman, worked in the office as a teacher. To get to work every day from her home, it took her 1 ½ hours each way on public transportation.

On Black Monday, Tanesha was on her way to work when she saw many young men and women on the streets of Khartoum protesting the sudden death of John Garang of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement or SPLM. He had recently been named first vice president of Sudan. It was an accidental helicopter crash but many feared it was not. All this anger was  driven by the long civil war going on between the “Arab” Muslim north and the “African” Christian and animist south.

As she watched, businesses were looted and some burned. She knew it was not safe to try to continue on to work, so she took refuge in the area at a relative’s house. Tanesha waited 6 hours before she tried to return home by taxi. Because of the chaos in the city, the taxi driver would only take her half way home.  So Tanesha was forced to make it home in stages, a good Samaritan took her most of the way home and then she took a motorized rickshaw the rest of the way to her house.

When Tanesha got home, the terror continued. Her Arab Muslim neighbors had tried to break into her family’s house, and Tanesha’s brother, wielding a pistol, had managed to scare them off. For the next 8 days, her family was confined to their house as rioting continued and northern soldiers attacked southerners in their homes. During that time, in her neighborhood, 10 Southerners were killed

The neighborhood where Tanesha lived was mostly Arab, which made this time difficult for her as a black Southerner.  Although Tanesha’s family had tried to maintain good relationships with their neighbors, even inviting them over to share in the hospitality of their home, the neighbor that attacked them had never reciprocated that hospitality.  Because of the rioting, a compassionate Muslim neighbor behind their home brought them bread and meat every morning, because it was too dangerous for them to leave their house.

Although Tanesha’s family moved to a new area that was more peaceful, she reflected on the lasting effects of the riots. Before the riots, Muslims and Christians used to say hello to each other as neighbors. After the riots, neighbors no longer exchange greetings.

Please pray for Tanesha, her family, all her Muslim neighbors and Sudan as a whole. Pray for reassurance and strength to endure and for them to be a light to unbelievers around them.