CHICAGO,\u00a0 IL (May 17, 2007) \u2013 The Covenant World Mission 2007 Vacation Bible School project will give participants the opportunity to purchase basic sandals for 4,500 children that attend Sudanese Covenant schools and provide Bibles and songbooks to pastors and members of the Evangelical Covenant Church of Sudan (ECCS).
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\nThe project expands the work done by Covenanters to help their brothers and sisters in the war-ravaged nation. The ECCS currently supports six schools with a combined enrollment of 4,500 students in grades 1-8. The children walk to school barefoot in hot, dry weather and over rough, thorny ground when the region is wet.<\/p>\n
Work is continuing on a new school and health clinic for which students at CHIC 2006 raised more than $100,000.<\/p>\n
Most children have no footwear and only one set of clothes. Sometimes students are not able to attend school because their feet are injured from walking barefoot.<\/p>\n
Due to war that has raged for nearly 50 years, more than 2.5 million Sudanese have died, and another 4.5 million have fled their homes. The violence has destroyed many church buildings and left numerous people with no belongings. A VBS offering hopefully will provide funds to purchase and transport Bibles and songbooks to pastors and members of the ECCS.<\/p>\n
The ECCS will distribute all of the items.<\/p>\n
Project organizers hope to raise $27,000 to meet their goals, including:
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Pair of sandals for children walking to school, $2.50
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Pair of shoes for teachers, $5
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Bible, including shipping, $10
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Songbook, including shipping, $6<\/p>\n
Each church has received a copy of educational material, including a DVD.<\/p>\n