Across is a Christian organisation that is working to create Biblical transformation in Sudanese communities. Early this year, they translated two of David and Janet Cunningham’s Positive Parenting books into the Sudanese language, Bari.

The books, Confident Children and Communication were used to train 15 parents in Yei, South Sudan. Across reports that the workshop, conducted over 5 days in August, was a very reflective time. Parents confessed the ills they had committed against their children; putting off past wrongs and embracing the new.

The following is a testimony from the training: One man said he had failed in his role as a parent by constantly mistreating his child. He starved the child for hours as punishment. As a result the child ran away from home. Even then, he blamed the child until after he attended the workshop. Now he understands that he caused the problem and has asked for forgiveness from God.

10 parenting radio programs were produced in Bari and aired from 3 stations – 1 in the capital city Juba, in Yei and in Koboko, NW Uganda near the border. The Koboko radio station reaches South Sudanese living near the border and many who migrated to Uganda during the civil war and remained there. It also reaches the Kakwa of NW Uganda who speak a dialect of Bari. Collectively, more than 1 million people who speak versions of Bari live within range of these stations with an estimated listening audience of about 200,000. Across also got some feedback on the audio presentations from the border town of Kaya showing how much they are valued.

Over the next few years, the Parenting messages will be added to many more audio players, to be distributed and already in use, so that areas without radio signals can also be covered.

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