Brief History of Comboni Missionaries in South Sudan
Daniel Comboni’s first mission was in South Sudan in what is today Rumbek diocese. He later had to go back to Europe for health reasons. There he founded the missionary institute now known as Comboni Missionaries. Comboni returned to the Sudan and opened various missions in the North. Comboni died in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, in 1881. The development of the mission was halted by the Madhya war, and only by the end of the 19th century could the missionaries go back to the old missions.
The Comboni Missionaries have been in South Sudan for more than a century, but it took them a long time before the missionary work could start and develop. The preliminary work of exploring the land, learning the languages and knowing the peoples, with their cultures, traditional religions and different styles of life, were the first missionary efforts to reach out to the south Sudanese and announce to them the good news of the Gospel. The first 50 years of the twentieth century were mainly spent in this work of preparation; anthropological studies and compilation of dictionaries and grammars of the main languages spoken in the country, together with the production of school books in the same languages.
By the middle of the last century, we can say the missionary work had started to bear some fruits: Christian communities were present among all the tribes: Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Zande, Lotuho, Topossa, Didinga, and several other smaller groups. Near every chapel, there was a school or a workshop, where the new generations could receive a proper education and learn a job; the surest hope for a better future.
In 1964 all the missionaries were expelled from South Sudan and the work of the Church was then carried on by the diocesan priests and by the first Sudanese Bishop, Ireneo Dud, who had been ordained in 1955.
After the end of the first civil war, in 1972, a few Comboni Missionaries were allowed to return to South Sudan and join the diocesan priests in the various activities of the Church. The local hierarchy was soon established and the Church gained a new vitality: the growth of the Church during the last 30 years, both in numbers of Christians and in its commitments in the field of human promotion, has been quite surprising.
The Comboni Missionaries in South Sudan today are 44 sisters, 28 priests and 10 brothers. They are present in three Dioceses: Rumbek, Malakal and Yei. In the Diocese of Rumbek they are running 6 parishes, with 6 primary schools and 2 secondary schools. There are also more than 100 satellite schools in the villages, where the pupils attend the first primary classes and then come to the missions to complete their education there.
In the Diocese of Malakal they are present in two missions among the Nuer: Old Fangak and Nyal. This is the hardest mission. It is a vast and swampy region, without roads and without schools. It is the greatest challenge for the missionaries in the near future.
In the Diocese of Yei, Kajokeji County, in the village of Lomin, the Comboni Missionaries run the largest school in all South Sudan, with more than 1500 students; from kindergarten to secondary. Since it is near the borders with Uganda, away from the war fields of the second civil war (1983 – 2005), students have been coming to this school from all over South Sudan.

If you wish to have more information on the work of the Comboni Missionaries in South Sudan, please contact the Father Provincial, Comboni Missionaries, P.O. Box 25742, Nairobi 00603, Kenya or write to sscomboni@wananchi.com.