In midst of brutal war, Sudanese Catholic community says ‘relationship with God has grown’

Peace reigns inside Dar Mariam, the residence of the Salesian Sisters in Sudan despite the fact that it has been surrounded by heavy gunfire and bombed multiple times as war rages on in the northeastern African country. / Credit: Father Jacob Thelekkadan

ACI Africa, May 31, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Peace reigns inside Dar Mariam, the residence of the Salesian Sisters in Sudan, despite the fact that it has been surrounded by heavy gunfire and bombed multiple times as war rages on in the northeastern African country.

At the community, located in Shajara, about four and a half miles from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, people displaced by the war, which has been raging there for two years now, say their relationship with God has grown.

According to Father Jacob Thelekkadan, a Catholic priest of Indian descent who served in Sudan for years before the war broke out and now can’t leave, residents of Dar Mariam have had a number of life-threatening experiences — a situation that Thelekkadan, a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco, describes as “the experience of the nearness of God” from the time the community was first bombed on Nov. 3, 2023.

In a message shared on May 28 with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, Thelekkadan described the war between Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces as one that the world has “forgotten,” adding that the suffering it has caused continues to strengthen the faith of the victims, especially those who have sought refuge at Dar Mariam.

“With the experience of the nearness of God, especially in these months of war, to all in Dar Mariam, some of the people, including children and young ones, have come closer in their relationship with God,” Thelekkadan explained. “They participate in the daily morning Eucharist, the daily evening rosary, and to crown it all, the daily half-hour adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the evening with the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.”

He said that only two of the 13 parishes in Khartoum have Mass every Sunday. Dar Mariam, the community of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, also called Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, is one of them.

“The experience of those at Dar Mariam of the nearness of God has brought a serene and peaceful atmosphere within! Thus, though suffering on many accounts, in Dar Mariam there reigns an atmosphere of peace, joy, contentment, and cheerfulness,” the priest said.

Thelekkadan served as the director of St. Joseph Vocational Training Centre in Khartoum, from where the members of his community had to flee after war broke out on April 15, 2023, in the capital of Khartoum and intensified.

The members of the community vacated their premises due to the insecurity around the institute with heavy bombings and gunfire. 

Thelekkadan said that while other members of his community left Sudan, he chose to remain and sought refuge at Dar Mariam. Here, he said, the Salesian Sisters “had started a prophetic and marvelous work for the poor.”

“I offered my service to them, which they kindly and gratefully accepted,” he said, adding that the sisters reached out to the poor by offering a meal to those who wanted it and offering their residential complex to those who needed to spend the night to rest.

Barely a month after the war broke out, the priest said, there were more than 300 people who were fed by the sisters and about 150 people who came to spend the night.

Today, the war in Sudan, which Thelekkadan described as “tragic and unfortunate,” has caused a vast displacement of people, heavy casualties, and unimaginable destruction. 

Thelekkadan said the war has caused psychological and physical trauma for those who chose to remain in Sudan. 

“The war has contributed to an abundance of fear, hunger, thirst, loneliness, sicknesses, etc. in the hearts and lives of people,” he said.

At Dar Mariam, the priest is only allowed two hours of internet connectivity every day. He tries as much as possible to update the world on the situation of the community whenever he accesses the internet.

Dar Mariam has experienced at least four attacks, some leading to injuries and massive destruction of the community.

Thelekkadan explained that though the war started last April in Khartoum, it gradually spread to the other cities and areas of Sudan. He says that by June 2023, heavy artillery fire, bombings, and explosions began to be heard in Shajara, too, causing fear in the residents of Dar Mariam. 

“By the end of July 2023, many residents of Shajara began to move out of Shajara,” Thelekkadan told ACI Africa, adding that by October 2023 people around Dar Mariam preferred to leave their poor homes and live within the Dar Mariam complex for greater safety and security.

Nov. 3, 2023, was an unforgettable day for the residents of Dar Mariam, according to Thelekkadan, who explained that “a deadly bomb exploded in the residence of the sisters, destroying three rooms and other properties of the residents. But the providence of God reigned even at this tragic moment. One sister, a volunteer teacher, three children, and their mother sustained injuries from this bombing, though not life-threatening.”

Two days after the first attack, another bomb destroyed the classrooms on the first floor adjacent to the sisters’ residence.

On Nov. 10, 2023, an evacuation process that had been arranged for the people at Dar Mariam had to be abandoned due to a shooting incident. 

The community fell under another attack on Dec. 10, 2023, when sniper fire caused heavy flames and burned all the rooms and what was inside them on the second floor of the sisters’ residence. 

“Once again, divine providence did not allow any harm to any of the residents in Dar Mariam,” Thelekkadan recounted.

He said that by the end of December 2023, Shajara had been surrounded by the RSF forces, causing the closure of markets, shops, pharmacies, and other amenities. Hunger befell Dar Mariam owing to these closures, and the sisters struggled to feed the people who were seeking refuge there.

According to Thelekkadan, the cutting off of electrical power since May 2023 has aggravated the suffering of the residents of the community.

He said that with the unavailability of charcoal and cooking gas, some generous residents leave Dar Mariam at the risk of their own lives searching for dry branches of trees to gather as firewood to cook food.

Everyday food in the community is porridge made from flour or lentils, “keezra” (a kind of pancake) made of “shorgum” flour, or rice. Without any vegetables like onions and potatoes, without any type of fruit, without meat or eggs, many residents, especially children, have become malnourished and very weak, the priest said.

Additionally, he said, the inability to foresee an end to the war is increasing the psychological trauma of many people who are stuck in Sudan.

This article was originally published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.