History
Hands of Mercy is a training center for people with disabilities in Yambio, South Sudan. The ministry is a working partnership between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sudan and myself, Deaconess Patricia Nuffer. I am a LCMS deaconess in Ft Wayne, Indiana.
Hands of Mercy began as Nuffer’s deaconess internship pilot project, which was focused on assisting the indigenous Kenyan and Sudanese Lutheran churches with reaching out to people with disabilities in their congregations and areas.
Hands of Mercy opened December 1, 2006 to twenty attendees who have since been coming daily. We sing hymns, pray together, read Bible stories, and learn how God values people who have been cast away by their society as worthless. Each day, a hired cook buys food in the market and cooks a hot meal. After our time of catechesis, skill training begins.
Initially, our ministry created Christian jewelry using kits brought over from the US. Our women have also begun to tie-dye fabric, as well as knit caps and other items. We purchased bicycle repair tools, because most of the disabled Sudanese have lower extremity deformities that cause them to either creep along the ground or use adapted three wheel bicycles, which are old and in need of constant repair.
Hands of Mercy owns two large solar panels, which we use to generate income by recharging batteries for community use, as well as to run a small business grinding nuts. We also hope to get rice hulling and corn processing machines that will run off of the solar power. Income from these machines and the sale of crafts goes to the individual members and pays for the center’s operation.
We’ve begun to teach literacy in the community, as well as to the congregation of Hands of Mercy. There are currently 30 people learning English each day, using the Bible, a simplified version of Luther's Small Catechism, and literacy kits that were brought to the country recently.
Hands of Mercy is also the distribution point for first aid education and first aid kits, which Deaconess Nuffer brings each time she returns to Sudan. In addition to our ministry with people with disabilities, Hands of Mercy also exists to help connect local congregations and individuals to the needs of fellow Christian brothers and sisters in Sudan. One way we build this connection is through the construction of various resource kits for specific needs in the community, including first aid, literacy, new baby visitation, deaconess/pastor education support, plus a new kit: kid-to-kid packs.
Hands of Mercy's ministry relies on the generosity of groups in the States, which commit to building and donating specific kits and other resources for use in Sudan. From there, Deaconess Nuffer reports back the impact and effect of the kits each time she return to the States.