About Us
History
Mading Aweil Community Association in the UK (MACA) began as an informal community network supporting South Sudanese families in the United Kingdom, without restriction by ethnicity, religion, or background. Since its start, MACA has organised community meetings, cultural events, and informal welfare support for members facing difficulties, coordinated by an elected executive committee (President, Secretary, Treasurer and other officers).
The need for a local support organization became clear after our community was faced with a series of serious and interlinked crises, including a young community member’s bereavement by suicide, other deaths in unresolved circumstances, and community members facing extremely challenges conditions with no recourse. We also witnessed a marked rise in homelessness. Members provided support to each other and to families in need, but these events exposed the limits of what an informal, unincorporated group could do, and provided a direct catalyst for registering as a CIO.
Mission
Mading Aweil Community Association was formed because we recognised the need for solidarity and support to strengthen the position of our community members in the United Kingdom. It is through unity, love for one another, and self-empowerment that we will make collective progress. As the Mading Aweil Community Association, we believe in the importance of an ambitious vision.
We strive for the following goals:
- To prevent and relieve poverty and hardship, including homelessness, among South Sudanese people and other newcomers resident in the UK
- To advance the mental and physical health of South Sudanese people and other newcomers resident in the United Kingdom. For example, we hope to provide - or assist in providing - culturally appropriate mental health and emotional wellbeing support, peer support groups, and signposting to professional health services
- To promote the social inclusion of South Sudanese people and other newcomers may be socially excluded, by assisting them in integrating into society, and by reducing loneliness and isolation
- To advance the education of South Sudanese people and other newcomers resident in the United Kingdom, including children, young people and adults
- To promote racial and religious harmony, equality and diversity among different South Sudanese communities in the UK, and to foster strong, positive, relations between South Sudanese communities and the wider community, and
- To advance the sustainable development of communities in South Sudan that are in conditions of need, hardship or distress by supporting grassroots educational initiatives and community capacity-building.
