Please Help my friend …

[NOTE: See new email from Bayak below article …]

I have a friend with a very noble and worthy need. Bayak is a South Sudanese refugee with a heart for his people who continue to suffer from man-made famine, violence and oppression. He is seeking

to construct a facility in South Sudan to provide deeply needed assistance to this suffering people [clean water, food, education, care for orphans & widows; and, because he is a Christian, an outreach for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and an effort to carry out the work of discipleship in fulfilment or Christ’s Great Commission for His Church [Matt. 28:18-20].

My name is Ted Groves. I am the founding pastor of Grace Community Church in West Allis, Wisconsin. I have traveled around the world to do the work of evangelism and discipleship through my book: “Spiritual Boot Camp.” I met Bayak at an SBC conference I was conducting in Cairo Egypt and a few years later he, along with other South Sudanese refugees, traveled to Alexandria, Egypt to attend another SBC conference I was conducting there. Our friendship grew and we stayed in touch with each other after this initial acquaintance. I began to learn about Bayak’s life as a citizen in South Sudan and the story of his experience growing up in a very oppressive and violent environment. Following is:

(1) his own account of his early years;

(2) and then an account of a later family crisis he endured in his life.

Bayak’s personal account of his early life experience in South Sudan …

I am a South Sudanese who lived in refugee camps for more than 27 years. It is very hard to live the greatest part of your life in a refugee camp. My father was killed by Khartoum regime forces in 1987. My mother was kicked with boots, two ribs were broken, and she was gang raped by the same government soldiers who killed my father.

My mother left us children in the bush while she tried to bury my father, but the Sudan government fired a gun at her, so she ran away from the bullets leaving my father unburied and exposed to the carrion birds.

My mother took care of me and my other siblings while there were snakes and wild animals inside the bush, not enough food and water because the Khartoum regime forces were preventing us from getting into the water. In 2001, I moved to ... South Sudan.

From 2001 in South Sudan four of us men were fishing in the Nile River when the Rebels and Sudan Government forces were in the area. We were detained by them and spent 31 days in military prison where we were beaten every day and were hardly given enough food or water. After 37 days they sent us to go collect firewood in the bush; but it was raining, and we met rebels who fired on us. Two of the men were killed, but myself and one other escaped to Khartoum. From Khartoum we made our way to Cairo, Egypt .... I lived in Cairo....

... I met my wife at Church, and we married, had our children

My sincere appreciation goes out to all of my friends at Grace Community Church in the United States who have supported South Sudanese ...

AN ACCOUNT OF ANOTHER FAMILY CRISIS BAYAK ENDURED LATER IN HIS LIFE:

An email from Bayak ...

Dear Pastor Groves,

I am very disappointed about what is happening in my country South Sudan. The world is in silent while South Sudanese are finishing. My home village was raided last week by the South Sudan Government forces, they killed thousands of people and they are still pursuing those who fled into the bush killing them, burning some of them alive up to now.

During the incident last week my family members got despaired and scattered inside the bush.

I talk to my mother on phone three days ago, they are at the Ethiopian border with my 8 years old nephew, they are there with some community members along the Ethiopian border.

I asked her about the rest of the family members she said she doesn’t know they run to, whether alive or dead we have no idea. I felt so depressed and worried when my mother told me that my siblings and the relatives, their where about is not known.

My mother is in worse situation right now and she is 70 yrs old . She is crying day and night about the missing family members and relatives.

I had not slept for two days, thinking about my mother and the rest of my family members and relatives. Imagine; my people are sleeping inside the bush without food or water to drink.

My mother carried me for four days while on the run in 1987 when SPLA and Sudan army forces were battling in our area, and that was where my father got killed by Sudan Army forces ( Khartoum regime).

My mother wanted me to come and take them to some refugees’ camp in Ethiopia but there is no mean at the moment.

... I’m kindly requesting your prayer for my mother and the family members and relatives who their where about is not known so that they can be found.

May God have mercy on South Sudan …

My church was able to supply the funds to fly Bayak to Ethiopia to help with this family crisis at that time. After some time searching along the border of South Sudan and Ethiopia, Bayak was able to locate his mother and other family members and get them established in an Ethiopian refugee camp. We then flew him back to Cairo.

We are now, some years later, engaged in a fund-raising effort to help Bayak construct a facility for assistance to all the people of this war-torn country, where famine, starvation and lack of medical treatment are prevalent. Bayak has already secured a property on which the facility can be built, and he has secured architectural plans for the building itself. The total cost for the project is approximately $90,000. The project will include a brick fence around the perimeter of the facility, a building designed with five separate office spaces, a community training hall designed to accommodate 50 people, two guest houses, each with four rooms, one kitchen and one cafeteria one washroom for males and one for females, one additional washroom designed for people with disabilities, installation of a water tank with a 2,000 liter capacity, one supply storage area. ... There are plans to staff this facility with four pastors, three elders and seven evangelists.

Please Help My Friend

Donations can be made through “Grace Community Church” of West Allis, WI. These donations are tax deductible:

1. Checks can be made out to “Grace Community Church” and mailed to Grace Community Church, 8400 W. Beloit Rd., West Allis, WI 53227. The memo on checks should note that the donation is for the S. Sudan Building Project. ...

2. You can give online through the GCC website:

a. Go to ourgcc.com

b. Tap “GIVE ONLINE” [You can donate using an Electronic Check OR Credit Card payment method ... First time donors must register by creating a new account with password]

c. Designate donation to “S. Sudan Project.” Thank you for helping to meet this desperate need.

Pastor Ted Groves

Fw: Greetings from Gambella Refugee Camp, Ethiopia.

Inbox

Bayak Puoch

to me

Dear Pastor Groves,

Greetings to you and your family in the United States, and I'm also sharing an email I received from a great and Godly woman I met in Gambella, Ethiopia, during my trip to Africa in 2024. Please see the email below for prayers.

I'm sharing it with you, and I'd appreciate it if you could also share it with your friends.

Proverbs 19:17

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Blessings,

Bayak

Read email below :

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Rebecca Nyibol Chang <[email redacted]>

To: "[email redacted]" <[email redacted]>

Sent: Friday, May 23, 2025 at 10:42:43 AM MDT

Subject: Greetings from Gambella Refugee Camp, Ethiopia.

Dear Bayak Puoch,

I greet you and your family in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, and I want to express my gratitude for meeting me and my six children in the Gambella refugee camp in 2024 and explaining our predicament once more. You are also aware that I am a born-again Christian with a deep love for my creator.

As you are aware, my husband, John Luk, an elder at the church, was killed in the 2013 war by the government of soldiers while the government was conducting door-to-door searches for Nuer men, women, and children, and over 20,000 people were killed in the week between December 16 and December 31, 2013, which was the worst thing I have ever witnessed.

Our situation is deteriorating, and I was wondering if any of your friends could assist me and my children by donating little amounts of food. I will continue to collect firewood and will be in charge of generating stew money from the woods. Due to financial constraints, we do not always have customers to buy our firewood, and we occasionally go without food, which is why I feel compelled to ask you since I am trapped.

Please understand that I am explaining this situation because I have no other options and I need your patience. If I do not ask you, how will you know that I am suffering with my children? You are aware that we rely on collecting firewood, and it takes me four hours to get to the forest and four hours to get back to the camp, for a total of eight hours of walking per day except on Sunday.

Thank you very much for taking the time to hear our issues. We would appreciate it if you could forward this email to your trusted worst friends for prayer, as we know we rely only on God and pray that He would touch the hearts of His people to help me and my children.

Thanks

Rebecca Nyibol Chang, Gambella Refugee Camp, Ethiopia

South Sudan Project Disclaimer

We want donors to be aware that there are some “uncertainties” and “risks” in a project such as this. “Uncertainties” because it is not easy in these times to raise $90,000. There is, therefore, the possibility that we may not reach our goal in fundraising. In such a situation we have made arrangements for the funds that have been raised to that point will go to Samaritan’s Purse, which already is involved in Christian humanitarian aid to South Sudan in or near Maiwut County, a relatively safe location where we plan to build. These funds would be transferred to Samaritan’s Purse and designated for humanitarian aid in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in this area. … The “risk” has to do with the history of civil war in South Sudan. You probably understand there is always a risk associated with a country which has a history of this level of political instability. Donations, therefore, should be made with the realization that after all our best efforts, there still exists the possibility that political instability and/or other complications could destroy or confiscate our investment. This is, therefore, a risk of possible loss we must all assume when we make such an investment/donation. All donations should be made with the understanding that the fundraiser cannot be responsible for such unpredictable and undesirable loss. However, our friend Bayak has assured us that in his opinion the location in which he purchased this property is in a much safer area. Also, the fact that even Samaritan's Purse has a project not too far from this proposed site is reassuring. The property is located in Maiwut County near the Ethiopian border. Our judgment is that “the great need” in South Sudan [poverty, hunger, man-made famine, disease, etc.] is well worth the risk and uncertainty. We are praying for God’s providential protection and His faithful provision for this project. “We walk by faith and not by sight” [II Cor. 5:7].