A former West Dorset vicar is appealing for help amid the war-torn carnage of Sudan.

The Rev Trevor Stubbs is hoping for the best despite the worsening situation in the country.

For the past three years Mr Stubbs has seen first-hand what the country’s problems are but firmly believes with the church’s help things can improve.

It was on January 18, 2009, he left for the Sudan to resurrect the theological college in Juba, and rescue it from a £150,000 debt.

Last year south Sudan enthusiastically embraced independence after decades of civil war – but less than a year later, war threatens everything.

Mr Stubbs said: “There is no actual fighting where the college is but it affects everything economically. It does mean the oil is not flowing therefore there is very limited electricity and poor services and living is very expensive – food is expensive.”

That is one of the reasons there is an appeal to raise £3,000 to pay for a generator – without light the students cannot study at night, said Mr Stubbs.

The college is so important, he says, because it is the church which helps combat the problems and the college is training the clergy to be the leaders the country needs. They are the ones who have to sort out the refugees before the UN arrives, try and change the destructive culture that sees tribal feuds warring over cows – whose only use is as ‘currency’ to buy wives, polygamy and superstition.

Mr Stubbs said: “The college is far from being esoteric.

“In some cases students have never left their home villages or met anyone from a different tribe.

“It is the churches’ job to teach them a basic understanding of nationhood.

“It is the local clergyman who can counter the superstitions that prevent the acceptance of vaccines because the rumour has spread that the injections will make the children sterile. We are teaching that kind of leadership.

“The church is training the people who will be able to drag the country into the 20th century – not the 21st yet – that might be too ambitious.”

Now that the college is on a sound financial footing – helped by a £66,000 donation from the Diocese of Salisbury – Mr Stubbs has the role of an international consultant trying to raise more.

He added: “Every pound that goes to this ministry goes to the work. We can’t afford to waste anything because that means they go hungry.”

Anyone who wants to donate to the generator fund can do so through Good Books in Gundry Lane, Bridport.