Sudan Sunrise has received a moving letter inviting us to Torit to work on plans to restart the initiative led by Rudwan Dawod to use Muslim volunteers to rebuild the Torit Cathedral. Because of his leadership in this initiative, Rudwan was imprisoned in Sudan and tortured for helping to rebuild Christian churches. Rudwan has spoken openly of his experiences and why he believes he was and is continuing to do the right thing by being a part of religious reconciliation. This effort was cancelled following the death of Bishop Johnson Akio, but now with Pope Francis’ call for Christian-Muslim reconciliation, this initiative has now been revived. In a country with a history of religious genocide and ongoing warfare, this is a beautiful effort to forge peace between communities. We are hopeful that in the coming weeks, Sudan Sunrise and Rudwan will be in Torit to assess how to best proceed.
