Desperate for peace, a group of women in South Sudan have resorted to prayer sessions at the Mausoleum in Juba to seek divine intervention in the country.

“What we see in the country is not good at all. We have urged dialogue again and again, but no one listens to us,” says Betty Sunday, head of the Women’s Monthly Forum, who is leading the initiative of having prayer sessions at the John Garang Mausoleum.

With no one else to turn to, she says they have no recourse but prayers for God to heal the land.

 “Our land needs to be healed,” she tells Radio Miraya in a brief interview. “God is going to hear our prayers. God is going to forgive the sins we have committed, and God is going to save this land.”

But even as the women entreat the Almighty Betty says that they are also appealing to the authorities for a change of heart.

“Our message to them is that they respect human rights and the dignity of women,” she says. “We want to live in peace. This war is not going to take us anywhere.”

In a passionate outcry, Betty urges the country’s leaders to feel for the children scattered about by the conflict.

“These children are the future of South Sudan, but they’re now out of school, some of them running to Uganda. What will be the future for them?” she inquires.

However bleak the outlook, Betty says the women of South Sudan will keep up their prayers.