Radio Miraya
2855: MBS. Uniting in Harmony: UCAN Annual Cantata
The United Christian Assembly of Nations, the UKAN, was established in 2013 as a multi-national group of Christians from across the world who gather every Sunday, besides the fellowship the church is involved in several outreach activities, including donations to Jupyar Offenage, school scholarships and also a lot more that goes on in there. Now UKAN will be holding its annual contentor on November 30 to learn more about the contentor and UKAN joining us in the studio, I guess a Samuel Ombogo on Mr. Judicial Affairs Officer and Mr. William Dang Aiol, one of the South Sudanese beneficiaries of the UKAN support. Good morning. Welcome to the program. Thank you and good morning to you. Yes, good morning. Yes, William, you're welcome to the program. Thank you, Eddie. Right. I want to start with Samuel. Just tell us a little more about your involvement in the UKAN. Thank you, Eren. And thank you for having us. It's always a pleasure to be able to be hosted by yourself. My name is Sam. Again, as you said, I'm a Judicial Affairs Officer, but I'm also one of the pastors of UKAN. And this morning, we are privileged to be able to be part of this program with my brother, William, to be able to speak about our activities and especially the upcoming Christmas cantata. As somebody loves most the cantata in simple words, basically, it's Christmas carols. We all know that we are going towards the end of the year and as we get into Christmas time, we remember about, for us, what Christians remember about the Battle of Jesus Christ. So it's our time to be able to just together and thank God for being with us the entire year. Right. So basically, that's what it is. Okay. That's really interesting. We'll come back and speak about the content. But for now, I would like to hear from William. As a beneficiary, how did you get involved with the UKAN organizations? Oh, thank you so much, Irene. It's a work of God to do enough with you enough. I got involved with the UKAN as a church member when I was doing some work, little working in the UN compound. So that's when I have been to know about the United Christian Assembly of Nations. And I became a church member. I worshiped with them. And in a matter of time, a year after, I got a support from them. So they were able to cover up for my school. Wait, tuition. Yeah. Oh, okay. So from that time, you are a member. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Once in a while. Yeah. I always go every Sunday. I have my name, sign up. And I always go every Sunday for prayer. Okay. That's good. Now, Samo, back to the content. Is this everything? Is this something you do every, every year? Yes. And then what should people expect? Is it even open to the public? Yes, Irene. This is an every event, Christmas is every year as we know. So we've been holding this for the last 11 years and it gets better and better every time. And this is open to all UN staff and all UN workers, but also to South Sudanese colleagues and friends who have already signed up because we have been sending out these invitations. And now we already have a list of over 400 guests we are expecting to be able to join us on Saturday. So it's open to the public and those who have actually been able to send in their name. So the activity will be at the UN House this Saturday at the Payam and we are expecting a wonderful time just to come and be able to then go together as Christians. And just to speak a bit more about you can, again, as my brother William had said, we are not just a congregation who needs to worship on Sundays, but we also have other activities. And one of these is education support. So we support South Sudanese students in school at different levels. This year, 2024, we have 11 students who the UConn has been supporting providing scholarships. We have eight students who have been enrolled at the university level and three students at secondary level. William is one of our old ones who has been there and he's actually a medical doctor. I mean, training to be a medical doctor, so he'll be finishing next year. And we are so proud to see that we can contribute as part of our presence in South Sudan in rebuilding capacity and just helping South Sudanese be able to contribute to their own communities as well. Right. So this is what we do. This is really impressive. Yes. But how do you then get to these students to do their apply or how do you identify them? Yes. We do have an outreach committee that does vetting. So not just internally, but you also reach out. Sometimes you also get referrals of people who are needy. We look at for the most needy cases of students who are really in need. But also those who are really hardworking, you know. So there's also an issue of their performance and also willingness to be able to really meet up to the minimum GPS, which is normally three GPA in terms of our assessment. So we have a committee that vets, but also a committee that monitors and supposes students throughout the activities. And we do have them also who are learning in South Sudan, but other South Sudanese who are also the country, some in Uganda and some localities. So we try to support wherever we're able to have the opportunity. Right. Right. And what about in the orphanages? What are the activities? Yes. So we do also have other outreach activities. We support various orphanages. We support the school of the blind. We also reach out to a Juba teaching hospital, the children hospital, but also the special hospital which deals with mentally needy cases, so we provide support merely on materials. And so forth. We have done some donations of wheelchairs to various hospitals. We have helped with the food staffs, but also helping with renovations of various facilities that are across South Sudan. So we do also have three churches that we partner with in South Sudan, three ministries because we, as a congregation, we are basically confined within the UN compound. But so as a way of trying to reach out more beyond Juba, we do partner with three churches in South Sudan in terms of financial support for them to do a bit more outreach and support to the South Sudanese communities. Right. And which churches are this? We do have a new generation evangelistic ministry. We also have International Christian Assembly and the Mountain of God Church in South Sudan. All right. Yes. William, we've heard from Sam about how this is helping you out and you will be graduating sometime next year. How has this affected your education journey? It has effectively supported me and the journey has been so small since I'm getting a support from the UK. As you know, the education system in our countries is very hard in terms of its tuition fee. It's not that easy. But since I got a support from the UK, my tuition fee was able to be paid poorly for the whole year. I get no more complaint. So it's very important and I really find no challenges after that. Right. So you're covered until you graduate. I graduate. Okay. So you're only expenses to feed yourself. That is it. Okay. Well, that's really good. And good job. You can. Talk to the content, Sam, what should the people expect? Yes. People should be able to expect just an awesome time together of singing. We have a chorog group of both UN staff and also South Sudanese special musicians. It's a team of almost 40 who have been practicing for the last three or four months. So there will be a lot of singing and just celebration. But we'll also have an opportunity to be able to hear the word of God as well. And we're expecting one of the South Sudanese bishops to be able to actually be our guest speaker as well. So it'll be a wonderful time. There will also be a time to be able to share a meal together. Right. So how can other people get to know about the UK and is there any opportunity of them getting involved? Yes. You can get it? They are not UN staff. Yes. You can get involved a lot. We also are also on social media as well. So even this program to also be on YouTube as well and on Facebook and on various social media platforms. So even if you're not able to attend, for example, this particular event, you'll be able to connect but you can also check on us on our various platforms. But also on a regular basis, we do have our outreaches and our preachings which are also online on a normal basis. But it's not just the preachings per se. As I said, we try to touch the lives of people in the communities. So in terms of donations, in terms of support, but just running together to be able to identify. And if you know of any needy case, for example, out there that deserves help, children's homes, for example, in Juba, we've been very, very keen to be able to support various children's homes. We know that there are challenges in terms of material and other provisions. So we do come around to be able to support and see how can you be able to rally around various communities in helping them. Right. So how can those people reach out to you? They can be able to reach out to us through our various contacts and be able to check on our contacts which are also on social media as well. And they can reach out on various platforms as well. So what is your name on the social media? Because they keep saying on our social media. United Christian Assembly of Nations. Okay. That is a name on social media. So you can Google, you can check and all our contacts are there. All right. So we reach out to us and our details of our senior pastors as well and our other leaders are also online. All right. Gentlemen. Thank you so much. This has been our time and see you on the 30th, which is this Saturday, right? Yes. Yes. William, what is your final message, maybe? My final message is a message of thanks to the United Christian Assembly of Nations. Not only to myself, but to my fellow students, that they are also supporting in their various capacities. So I am really happy and I appreciate all of them. No, in terms of education, you can ask them a lot and I am really happy for them. All right. Thank you. William, I wish you all the best in your lives and levels and some final words. Thank you. We are going into Christmas. This is a time of peace. I think we just need to be able to embrace peace, celebrate peace, be able to love one another and be grateful for the year that we've had. Thank you so much. Right. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much, Irene, for having us, and I'll see you on 30th.