Priest-in-Charge,
St. Luke's Center, Renk
Alice Benzine Foke has always been a Christian. She was born near the town of Yambio in South Sudan about the year 1957; she thinks she is 49 years old, but is not certain, a common occurrence in Sudan. She grew up in the Episcopal Church and went to church schools. She is Zande, a tribe that was converted early on in the missionary experience in Sudan, which dates back to the 1880s.
Alice and her husband, Justin Tadayu, who is also Zande, have two children, Susannah Justin, 31, and Mariam Justin, who is 23. There are six grandchildren: Susannah's three children - Daniel, 13; Steve, 7; and Immanuel, just over one year old - and Mariam's three children - Levi, 5; Susannah, 3, and Henry, who is 10 months old.
Alice became a priest because she wants to serve people. "I want to watch over the people of God," she says. When Bishop Daniel asked the six women if they were willing to be ordained, they all asked to have time to speak with their families.
Justin, Alice says, told her, "If God is calling you to be a priest, halas - fine."
And so she was ordained.
Until recently, she has been serving at the Cathedral of St. Matthew with the Arabic-speaking congregation. At the same time, she has had a preaching center based in her house, with is in the eastern part of Renk Town, across the main road and outside of the town proper. At the center, Alice and others taught Bible studies, held prayer vigils, preached the Gospel and told bible stories. Because there are many refugees in Renk who are not Dinka, which is the prevalent tribe of Northern Upper Nile, many came to Alice's preaching center and to the Arabic services at the Cathedral.
Now, however, Alice is priest-in-charge of St. Luke's Center, a brand-new church that was built over the summer of reeds and thatch, and was consecrated on Sunday, 1 October, with more than 100 people in attendance. Arabic services are held there every Sunday now, with songs and readings in Arabic, Zande and Moro, another of Sudan's many tribes. Each Sunday, between 140 and 150 people attend the service.
"I am very happy to be a priest," Alice says, "and I am looking forward to seeing people coming to God."
