Sources: HCJB Global, Aid Sudan (written by Barb Anderson)

Aid Sudan is reaching two of the largest tribal groups in southern Sudan with the gospel through a growing network of FM radio stations.

The station, reaching some of the world's poorest people, provides teaching from God's Word as well as news, health and community development instruction.

The HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind., assisted with equipment and technical for a new station in Nasir, a city of more than 20,000 in Upper Nile, Sudan, near the border with Ethiopia. Eager volunteers assembled tower sections that had arrived via semi truck, airplane and Land Cruiser.

Several days later, women carried on their heads the transmitter, antenna and other parts shipped in suitcases from the Technology Center. As each suitcase weighed about 55 to 65 pounds, this was no small feat!

Community involvement was tremendous. Working side-by-side with men from the local community, Bible school pastors dug trenches for the cables and raised the tower, lending unparalleled credibility to the local work of the Bible school. The excitement of the townspeople was overwhelming as they wait anxiously for the first broadcasts to begin, knowing the impact they will have in this community.

Aid Sudan desires to have a network of stations tied together by satellite, allowing some programming to originate in studios outside the country. The Technology Center is providing helpful information on how to set up a satellite feed to deliver these programs.

In most areas of southern Sudan, the literacy rate is less than 1 percent and the people have little or no access to God's Word. Even for those few who can read, a written text of the Bible is available in only one tribal language even though many languages exist.

In October Aid Sudan held a campaign called Radio 10, surpassing its $60,000 goal to purchase 3,000 handheld, solar-powered radios that will impact 50,000 southern Sudanese. Each radio lasts up to 12 years in the bush and can be heard by 10 to 15 people at one time.