KAJO KEJI, SUDAN - Sudanese-born Susan Tabia, herself an orphan, mother and widow, felt the call of God on her life and has worked tirelessly caring for refugee orphans and widows in southern Sudan and northern Uganda.
It started with one malnourished 2 year-old Ugandan orphan too weak even to sit up. Tabia cared for her and within a week she was walking. When people heard about Tabia, they brought other children. With money raised from selling gold bangles and clothing, Tabia purchased a hut or "tukel" in Adjumani, northern Uganda and founded the Amazing Grace Orphanage (AGO) in 1994.
"When I read James 1:27, I decided fully to go to one of the Sudanese refugee camps in Adjumani. I went to see how orphans were really suffering physically, emotionally and psychologically. So I decided to suffer with them in their burden," Tabia said.
Children continued to arrive and with some financial help she bought a second tukel. At present, the AGO, with a staff of 4, cares for 30 children. It has 5 dorms, a kitchen, a 250-chicken poultry project, a 35-cow heifer project and farming that produces some of the food needed for the orphans.
Many of the children Tabia cares for have suffered tremendous trauma such as 3 young siblings who were cared for by their father, a widower, until he was falsely accused by a neighbour and hacked to death in front of them. Many of the children in Tabia's orphanages have similar stories.
Tabia's care extends to widows who have lost everything because of war.
"I devoted my life to helping the widows so that they could gain their strength by the power of the Holy Spirit and bring up their children. I trust that the Loving God would see them in their suffering and reward them with joy."
In 2003, Tabia established St. Bartholomew's Orphanage (St. B's) on 20 acres of land in Kajo Keji, southern Sudan. Here many children have been orphaned by the Lord's Resistance Army. At present, St. B's houses 70 orphans with a staff of 20 mostly widows or abandoned women. ITCanada helped by building 7 dormitory tukels, a nursery school for 400, a girl's school and a tech school. This orphanage grows beans, onions, sorghum, cassava and peanuts for food and for sale on a nearby 200-acre farm.
Enviro-Stewards in Elmira established a water project and micro-enterprise with the donation of a biosand filter in 2004. Locals were taught how to build their own biosand filters and how to test for water quality. All of the wells in the area were tested and half found to be contaminated. Locally-made biosand filters and bottled water from this project are now being sold.
A tailoring school, another micro-enterprise, was created when ITCanada donated 10 sewing machines. Widows learn to sew clothing for the children and some of the clothing they make is sold.
Projects for 2008 include an income-generating mango drying business and a grist mill.
Susan Tabia is an amazing woman who has devoted her life to creating a life for refugee orphans and widows who have nothing. Tabia dreams of a chapel, library, large vegetable gardens, and a guesthouse that could help meet some of their financial needs, more dormitories, a nursery, a primary school and secondary school, a dispensary, vocational training centers, and widow and orphan counseling centers in other villages.
Susan Tabia obeyed the persistent call of God and her many accomplishments are a testament to what can be done when we obey God. BLM
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KAJO KEJI, SUDAN - Sudanese-born Susan Tabia, herself an orphan, mother and widow, felt the call of God on her life and has worked tirelessly caring for refugee orphans and widows in southern Sudan and northern Uganda.
In 2003, Tabia established St. Bartholomew's Orphanage (St. B's) on 20 acres of land in Kajo Keji, southern Sudan. Here many children have been orphaned by the Lord's Resistance Army. At present, St. B's houses 70 orphans with a staff of 20 mostly widows or abandoned women. ITCanada helped by building 7 dormitory tukels, a nursery school for 400, a girl's school and a tech school. This orphanage grows beans, onions, sorghum, cassava and peanuts for food and for sale on a nearby 200-acre farm. 