Priests, nuns and lay volunteers from around the world spent years trying to help South Sudan building itself into a country, but now some find themselves caught by ongoing violence.

Some foreign missionaries have chosen to stay. Others, like Theresa Kiblinger, a Salesian Lay Missioner working in Maridi, South Sudan, left for a short Christmas break and are unable to return.

In a Jan. 7 blogpost, Kiblinger, a nurse, spoke of the joy of preparing for Christmas, then her distress at being unable to return after leaving with another missioner for a short break in Uganda.

“It is hard to think about the sweet kids we left behind,” she wrote. “So many questions and feelings start to flood my mind. What will happen to them? When can I go back and see them? Will the fighting spread to them? Feelings of guilt because I can leave, but they…