Tony Cummings recounts his ongoing involvement with the suffering of Sudan

John came round the following day. Miraculously, a Bible was lying beside him. No one was ever able to explain where the Bible came from. Using the Bible he prayed every prayer he could think of. He recommitted his life to Jesus Christ. Each day, he laid his hand on a different part of his body and prayed for healing. Each day, God healed different parts of his body. Even his teeth grew back. By the time he was completely healed, the guards came and told him he was free. Along with his people, he was to be taken off the dumps and sent back to his homeland.

Soldiers, driving a large fleet of lorries, loaded all the people and what few possessions they had and took them back home to Koch, in the Bentiu's southern homeland. There the men, women and children were abandoned to fend for themselves. The scorched earth policy of the government had left no building standing, the farmland had reverted to bush. That night, wild animals came and took several children. The next night the same thing happened. This was too much for John. He managed to find a piece of paper from somewhere, wrote on it 'Tony Cummings, Buzz magazine, England' and set off to find me.

Using a basic sense of direction - 'England's over that way' - John started walking. He walked thousands of miles, passed through many countries before finally arriving in Germany. There he remained for a while, then getting the necessary paperwork together he travelled to England. His first day in London he walked out of the flat and asked a passer-by where he might be able to buy Christian magazines. Directed to a nearby Christian bookshop, the shop manager told John that Buzz wasn't being published anymore, but that Tony Cummings was now working for a different publication, Cross Rhythms. So that was how he remade contact with me. John's request was simple: "I want you to get hold of the rest of the money from World Vision, please."

On a bitingly cold winter's day, John and I went to see World Vision at Milton Keynes. I told them the whole story of the appeal, the money offered and I even showed papers which proved exactly how much we'd passed onto them, to be forwarded to John. World Vision's managing director explained to us that none of the people involved with World Vision then, were there now. Times had changed. The office in Khartoum had closed and they didn't know what had happened with the money. But he promised to look into it.

The investigation took months, but eventually they came back with the pronouncement, "You're right. We had all this money that we didn't pay to John Gai. What do you want us to do? It's your money." "We want to fly to the homeland", said John, "...with medicines." "What's this WE?!" I thought.

But it seemed right. However, how were we even going to get back in? John suggested a way in, via Kenya. The Kenyans didn't recognise the authority of the Sudanese government, but did recognise the authority of one of the rebel armies. So we could 'semi-officially' go into southern Sudan, that way. We flew to Kenya and using the money from World Vision bought medicines, hired a light aircraft and arranged the necessary paperwork. A plane finally took off, loaded with medicine plus the pilot, John, myself, a Sudanese bishop and an Anglican minister. The people cleared an area of bush and made it into a landing strip. We came in - with boxes and boxes of medicine. All these people came out from everywhere! I'll never forget the way they were running towards us with excitement on their faces; nor the way they were soon dancing whilst holding boxes on their heads! That night in Koch, amidst huts made of sticks, we celebrated. Every few hours during the night and the following day, we would hear the sound of distant singing - and it would be another group of people arriving, having heard the news. Some had walked for days. They were overwhelmingly thankful. There was a lad with no legs, who heaved himself around on a sort of trolley, praising Jesus. He turned out to be an amazing African drummer. He told me about how I'd helped answer his prayers. In the limited time which we had, these were remarkable moments for us.

I had a little cassette recorder and captured some of the fragments of their rejoicing. It was a moving experience and I thought I could write another article about it, but was uncertain about which publication would be interested. It was hard to leave them on our last day. I told them that I'd be back. They cheered. I told them again, that they weren't forgotten. God had heard their cries and people knew about them now. They clapped. On the plane out, I began to feel depressed. I couldn't think what the next step would be. "I need to find a new strategy, Lord."

Back in the UK an idea began to grow that eventually I became sure was one inspired by God. It was to approach musicians who God would point out to me and ask them whether they'd be willing to contribute songs and recordings to a various artists album with all the royalties going to help the suffering people of Sudan. Gradually, an album came together. Glenn Kaiser of America's Resurrection Band heard me speak about the Bentiu people of Sudan at a Cross Rhythms festival and agreed to write and record a song, "Agents Of Grace", for the project. Many other artists came on board, like the World Wide Message Tribe, Nuffsed, Secret Archives Of The Vatican, Curam, Brenda Holloway and the (then unknown) Bedingfields, Daniel and Natasha, who under the name The DNA Algorithm made their first recording for the album. It took two or three years to get everything together, my friend Andy Cooper spent hours on the computer putting it together for me. He was even able to use a few fragments of those primitive recordings that I'd made while in Koch. Another friend, Graham Jovanovic, designed the sleeve, like Andy, for no payment. But then came a huge shock. When I approached the two biggest Christian record companies about manufacturing and distributing the album, they both turned it down, saying, "There's no profit in this."

I was shell shocked! It had taken a huge amount of sacrificial effort from musicians, studio owners, technicians and designers to get the album ready for release and here, at the last hurdle, I had run into a brick wall. Cross Rhythms needed me to go to the Soul Survivor youth event in Somerset to research an article. I went at the last minute, and so I had no accommodation arranged and ended up sleeping in the Resources shed, amongst CDs, books and missionary displays. In what would be a busy public space a few hours later, I found myself at 5.00am, walking around in the semi-dark calling out to God, "Now, what about this album?"

I heard the Lord say, "Look up." I responded, "But I am looking up to you, up to the heavenlies." "No, look up." "But I am looking up." He spoke a third time, "Look up." The penny dropped. I had stopped in front of the Christian Solidarity International stand. I remembered something on TV from a few months before. Baroness Cox, their Patron, had gone to northern Sudan to 'buy back' slaves and then set them free from the slave-markets, taking them back home to the south. I realised that this was no coincidence. This moment was part of God's strategy.

I contacted CSI immediately after the festival. I told the managing director some of my story and, although he admitted that he didn't know anything about the music business, he said, "...you get it manufactured and we'll pick up the tab." We distributed the 'Agents Of Grace' album to CSI supporters through their mailing list. The money raised went to Sudan.

With the album released I continued to see John in London occasionally. He was struggling to adjust to London life. Then I didn't hear from him in quite a while. One day, he called. Our telephone conversation had something of a deja vu quality. "JOHN! Where are you?" I exclaimed. "I'm in Koch. I've come back home." The civil war had finally ended, although there were fresh disputes in the east. At last, there was quantifiable peace in the south, and moreover, their homeland had been officially recognised. It was now the Bentiu State in Sudan.

With his cousin now one of the leaders of the State, John set up another charity, Sudan Peace & Development Organisation, to help the destitute. He didn't have any money, of course!

I went to my mid-week house group. Straight away, somebody remarked "You look troubled in your spirit." I told them about this latest twist in the Sudan story. Within three days, I'd received about £100 from six people in the group. I went and spoke to my Pastor. Eventually, he and someone from the group became co-signatories to a bank account, Agents Of Grace. He also allowed me to speak to the whole church. A resulting £1,000 came in given sacrificially by Stoke-on-Trent's Grace Church congregation.