Scholasticah Nganda

Scholasticah Nganda is Kenyan by birth and a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy. In early ministry, she taught and held leadership positions at the secondary and university levels. Her graduate work was in counseling and counseling psychology. After serving on the leadership team of her congregation, she is now serving as the director of pastoral programs for Solidarity with South Sudan, Juba, and is one of four members of the Solidarity Pastoral Team working in collaboration with the Catholic Bishops Conference of South Sudan to meet the pastoral needs of the church there.

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Scholasticah Nganda is pictured with two staff members of the Good Shepherd Peace Centre-Kit, a few miles south of Juba, in South Sudan. Nganda writes about how she and her colleagues try to keep hope alive in a country in turmoil and conflict. (Courtesy of Scholasticah Nganda)

What is it like serving in conflict-torn South Sudan?

I am ministering in South Sudan, a country in turmoil and conflict. This reflection shares how my community and colleagues and I try to keep hope alive in circumstances of utter helplessness and vulnerability.

people standing in a line stretching their arms to the sky

Workshops aim to heal South Sudanese students' trauma

South Sudanese students who participated in a workshop on trauma showed a high level of confidence and resilience. They are poised to emerge as liberators and co-authors of their destiny.

Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, South Sudan, opens a workshop designed to empower girls June 4. (Courtesy of Scholasticah Nganda)

Workshops in South Sudan help empower young women

As an African woman, the place of women and girls in South Sudan makes my heart grieve almost every waking day of my life. I am also a firm believer in the power and determination of will. 

South Sudanese women sit outside their shelter in Genyiel county, Unity State, South Sudan, in this Sept. 24, 2020, file photo. Pope Francis had planned to visit Congo and South Sudan in early July, but that trip was canceled because of his health.

Resilient South Sudanese women deserve peace, respect and dignity

I wish for the pope, the church and the world to acknowledge and address the primary victims in South Sudan — the women who carry so much of the life-giving force of this young country and suffer much violence.

Some women earn a living by managing this food kiosk, which provides tea, maize and beans to passing businessmen on motorcycles in Juba, South Sudan. (Provided photo)

Let us be bearers of hope in the midst of pain and suffering

I would like to know the plans God has for us in this pandemic. And as critical as social distancing is, I am struggling with it. But what if all this is to draw me into an intimate relationship with God?

The empty tomb: our reason for existence

We are gradually moving farther away from each other, enlarging the "empty tomb" in size and depth. Absence is slowly defining human life in a world wrapped in universal grief. How possible is it to imagine any glimpse of hope in the absence we continue to experience?