Sherborne Deanery

Our link with the Ezo Diocese started in 2008 when Bishop Zawo and his wife Nancy visited us after the Lambeth Conference. In 2012, four of us visited Ezo and saw the impressive way that the Diocese ran a large number of church communities, the Amos Bible School, their rural clinics (supported by the Sudan Medical Link) and were beginning to take increasing responsibility for primary school education, as there were very limited salaries for primary school teachers in government schools in that area.

In 2018, after Bishop John’s retirement, Bishop Isaac and his wife, Nora, took over. The diocese owns four hectares of land and, supported by Ezo Christmas Appeals, funds were raised for building classrooms, desks and books for the ECSS Masumbu Church Primary School. Fortunately, the soil is fertile, and the children can learn practical farming skills so that they all have a nutritious “Free Home-Grown School Lunch”. We work in partnership with a small group of Episcopal churches in Virginia, USA, who also raise funds for school support and have provided a four-by-four transport for Bishop Isaac. Ezo is an over six-hour bumpy ride from the nearest large town, Yambio. 

Because of inter-tribal conflict, stirred up by political forces, in Tambura (fifty miles from Ezo), the population of Ezo has increased considerably in recent years, as entire, often highly traumatised, families have fled to the safety of Ezo town. At present, there are four camps for Internally Displaced People (IDP). This has put enormous pressure on the ECSS Masumbu Primary School, and there are now >700 primary school children. Wonderfully, they are doing very well with good scores in the National Exams.

There is no functional secondary school nearby, again because of the shortage of teachers’ salaries. Remarkably, coordinated by Bishop Isaac and the diocesan staff, the local community raises stipends for teachers at the newly developed ECSS St Paul’s Secondary School. This now takes over three hundred students. Many more wish to attend, but there are insufficient classrooms. As a result of Ezo Christmas Appeals, St Paul’s school has built some extra classrooms and provided desks and books. Two of us from Sherborne Deanery Churches Link Team made a two-week visit in February 2025, noting the striking efforts of the churches, community and parents in supporting the expanding secondary school. Read the full report here.

The church communities in Ezo Diocese are responding to the terrible suffering of families in the four IDP camps around Ezo Town. Church members regularly provide food, personal support, counselling and prayer, as well as assistance in enabling their children to attend Masumu Primary School and St Paul’s Secondary School. A key outreach programme on “Promoting Peace” has been established by Bishop Isaac, working in public places such as markets. Much of the support has been organised by the Mothers' Union. This amazing group of women spends time in counselling and caring for the traumatised and needy. They reported the crucial need for enabling very poor women to earn some income to feed their families. They have been supported by a few women’s groups in Sherborne Deanery, and six treadle (no electricity!) sewing machines have recently been delivered to Ezo. Training has already started.