February 13th – A Gift of Heart – An Evening of Hope

The Children of the South Sudan and the Kiwanis Club Invite You To Attend

A Gift of Heart – An Evening of Hope
Valentine’s 2010
A Celebration of Hope, Promise, Spirit, Music, Families & Education

Saturday, February 13, 2010
6:00 Reception: Hors d’Oeuvres
Meet The Village: Sudanese Songs & Sounds
7:00-9:00 Dinner and Entertainment

“The Heart of Rock & Roll”
Special Guest: Celebrity Radio DJ!
Music By: “STARK RAVEN”
at the Desert Star Playhouse
4861 South State Street, Murray, Utah
Park in rear and enter through “Pine Rose Place”

Suggested Donations for the Evening:
$65 • $100 • $150 per person*
Minimum single admission: $65
Special Valentine’s Day Gift to all ladies in attendance
*$100 feeds and educates a Sudanese child for a full year

RSVP with your payment: email: karin@kmlarsoncpa.com
Credit Card # _______________________________ No. of persons ____
Expiration Date ____ ____ Card type _______ Amt $___________
or
Mail checks to: South Salt Lake Valley Kiwanis Club
12401 South 450 East, Suite B-2, Draper, UT 84020
Contact us: Phone: 801-571-1760 Fax: 801-606-7896
All Proceeds go directly to feed & educate Orphaned Children of Sudan

Flyer: Invitation_final

“Evening of Hope” for Southern Sudan

Sudanese Women Singing

Southern Sudan Humanitarian held an “Evening of Hope” fund raising dinner on December 10, 2009 to raise money for orphan care and education in southern Sudan. The event was sold out and the silent auction was a success thanks to all of the friends of Southern Sudan Humanitarian.  Sudanese women living in Salt Lake City sang the songs from their villages for the guests.   The dinner was held at Bajio Mexican Grill, 5470 South 900 East, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Political climate gradually improving for Sudan

Wunlit, Sudan Progress Mtg 2006/12/02 -- Photo by Arkanjelo Agoth Malith

A country wide election is scheduled in Sudan for April of 2010.  The election will determine local, state and national leaders.  This will be the first multi-party general election since 1986.  The election presents both opportunities and challenges.

The election was agreed upon in the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) signed by the Khartoum government and the SPLM (Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement) in January of 2005.  The election was originally scheduled for 2009, but problems with a census and voter registration caused the election to be postponed.

Of the estimated 20 million voters in Sudan, few have ever voted in a general election.  A high percentage of the voters are illiterate.  Current government officials in both the north and south of Sudan hold there positions by appointment.  If the appointed government officials are able to show that the elections are open and fair, then the people will have the opportunity to move forward with popular government.

A referendum is scheduled in January of 2011 for self-determination for southern Sudan.  A truce ended the 21 year civil war between the north and the south of Sudan in 2004.  The war left many people in the south yearning for a separate country.  However, there are also many people in the south that see advantages to being part of a larger nation.

The people of Sudan are looking forward to the opportunities that can come from peace, prosperity and an orderly governmental process.

Southern Sudan Humanitarian helps the people in the villages of southern Sudan with orphan care, education, clean water and other projects.  We have had a very favorable reception from both local officials and the Government of Southern Sudan.

Claron

Thank You!

Thanks you for your past support of Southern Sudan Humanitarian.  We would like to update you on the progress we have made in the past two years with your support. We would also like to share with you our future plans to help the people of Southern Sudan.

 The orphan school that we started two years ago supported 60 orphans. Today that same school is proving education and food for over 300 students each day. The children are very excited and engaged about what they are learning, and for some, the meal provided at the school is the only meal they will get the whole day.  The support that these children are receiving from the school, which you have helped provide, is making a huge difference in their lives. We are so appreciative of your support and want you to know that none of what we are doing could have been done without it. We are working hard and with your help have been able to accomplish many important goals for the organization. In the past two years we have been able to:

• Provide daily education and needed food assistance for over 300 orphans in Akobo Sudan.
• Build new schools in Nyamlell and Chikol and begin construction of a school in Ghindi.
• Partner with LDS Humanitarian Services to drill new water wells for drinking water in Nyamlell.
• Are in the process of delivering 500 wheels chairs for disabled Sudanese 
  

The local Sudanese leaders have expressed to us that what is needed most is education and food for those orphans that are going without. There are endless needs that could be filled in Southern Sudan, but with our limited funds we have begun focusing on these two items.  We have built two new schools in Nyamlell and Chikol ,  and will soon have the ability to support another 300 students in each area.  The schools are built, but our challenge now is to fund the school’s day to day operations.

In addition, we are also working on an agricultural project designed to help the people in the village of Akobo grow crops in the dry season with the help of a solar panel and water pump.

We are currently in need of new  donors who would be willing to fund a portion of the operational costs of each one of these new schools as either a one time donation or a monthly donation to the school. If we can find 100 donors to contribute $15 a month we can begin providing meals, open the doors to our new school, and begin to make plans on how we can continue to help these wonderful people.

 Please consider once again helping us support our mission. Southern Sudan Humanitarian is currently  run completely by volunteer workers who are passionate about helping the people of Southern Sudan recover from the decades of civil war. We are a registered 501 ( c ) 3 organization and your donations are tax deductible. Thank you.

 

 

Hungry Children and Self-Reliance

Finding something to eat -- Photo by Akol Akol Deng

Finding enough food to eat is a chore for children in Sudan if they have parents.  Orphans often don’t make it.

Orphanage Food Self-Reliant

Southern Sudan Humanitarian (SSH) has been supporting an orphan care program in Akobo, Sudan.  The orphan care program is run by local volunteers, with SSH providing funds for one meal a day, pay for local teachers,  and some supplies.  We have also helped with some of the costs of materials for a four room school of traditional structure style built by local volunteers.

The volunteers asked us for help with items to help the orphans and volunteers to become more self-sufficient.  We responded with nets and hooks that they asked for to catch fish in the river that runs past the orphanage.  We also provided funds for a diesel powered grain grinder.  The women volunteers don’t have to hand grind the grain for the meal that they cook for the orphans since they got the powered grinder.  They can also use the grinder to generate income for the orphanage by grinding grain for other villagers.

Expanded Garden

We are working with the orphanage to help them to grow a three acre garden.  We are starting a fund raising effort to buy tools, an irrigation water pump and solar panels to power the pump.  Stephen Biel, a Sudanese man now living in the USA, and Bart Tippets are heading up the fund raising effort. The garden will help with nutrition and self-reliance for the orphanage.  Read a letter from Stephen Biel explaining the situation at: http://southsudanhungerproject.wordpress.com/hunger-in-akobo-sudan/

Donations can be made on line at our website www.sudanhelp.org.

Claron

Q & A: What is behind Sudan’s Violence? -Reuters

KHARTOUM/JUBA, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Clashes this year in Sudan‘s south have killed more people than in Darfur to the west. What has caused the spike in violence?

WHY ARE PEOPLE FIGHTING?

North and south Sudan signed a peace deal in 2005 ending a civil war that had raged on and off since 1955 over religion, ethnicity, ideology and oil.

That war was separate from Darfur’s uprising, which began in 2003.

This year the United Nations estimates at least 1,200 people have died in tit-for-tat raids in the south, with tribes burning villages, stealing cattle and killing women and children. The violence has raised fears that parts of the south may not be able to participate in elections, set for April 2010.

Many of the deaths in the north-south war were southerners killing southerners as Khartoum-supported militia fought the main southern rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), which now leads a semi-autonomous southern government.

Critics say this administration has not done enough to reconcile warring tribes or disarm civilians who acquired weapons during the war.

WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW?

Tribes have long clashed over cattle but the intensity of this year’s violence has shocked observers.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir says his former northern foes are arming tribes to destabilise the region ahead of next year’s elections and a 2011 referendum on secession given to southerners under the peace deal.

Many of Sudan’s biggest oil fields are in the south and this year’s violence has affected Jonglei state where French oil giant Total (TOTF.PA) is licensed to explore.

But some in the south say the answer is closer to home and blame rival politicians looking for support ahead of Sudan‘s first democratic elections in 24 years.

WHAT IS BEING DONE?

South Sudan has made several attempts to disarm civilians but with little success. Poor handling of disarmament of warring tribes has caused more violence, but many southerners feel disarmament is still the solution to insecurity.

Analysts say it will only succeed if rural communities are protected by police or soldiers and borders are patrolled to stop the flow of weapons. A U.N. peacekeeping force in the south is supporting reconciliation efforts between the tribes.

Martin Agwai, the outgoing head of Darfur’s joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force, said the region was no longer in a state of war.

This was six years after mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms sparking a brutal counter-insurgency campaign that resulted in what the United Nations called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Rebels from Sudan‘s south and western Darfur regions share similar complaints of neglect by central government and demand more of a share in development, power and wealth. But Darfur rebels felt the north-south deal excluded them.

IS THE WAR OVER?

Many analysts agree that large-scale fighting has ended in Darfur, a conflict described at its height by Washington as genocide, a term Khartoum rejects.

But divisions among the rebels, disaffection among militias with the government that mobilised them, and banditry in a region awash with arms have led to a collapse in law and order.

Gunmen regularly attack aid groups, peacekeepers, civilians and even police, while the perpetrators are rarely apprehended. This year has witnessed the new phenomenon of young men kidnapping staff working for international organisations and demanding ransoms.

Sporadic clashes between the government and rebels continue, usually as the sides jockey for territory ahead of peace talks.

WHAT ABOUT A PEACE PROCESS?

Analysts say the world’s largest U.N.-funded peacekeeping mission, known as UNAMID, will be unable to stop attacks without a comprehensive peace deal which addresses the concerns of rebels, militias and civilians.

Almost two years on, UNAMID is still not at full strength because of logistical problems and obstacles from Khartoum. Donor nations have failed to provide the equipment it needs, such as helicopters.

The international community has been unable to unify the rebels behind a single peace process. Talks are set to resume in Qatar between the government and the most militarily powerful rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). (Reporting by Skye Wheeler and Opheera McDoom)

President Obama, Health-Care and Sudan

Her child died today - photo courtesy Akol Akol Deng

The health-care debate is in the news.  The Wall Street Journal today featured an article titled “Fence-Sitters Hold Sway in U.S. Health-Care Debate.”  President Barak H. Obama’s health-care plan is outside of the scope of this blog about Southern Sudan Humanitarian’s http://www.sudanhelp.org efforts to help the people of southern Sudan.  But, I will give you my perspective on one uninsured person’s experience in the United States and contrast that with the lack of health-care for the vast majority of people in southern Sudan.

Health-Care in the USA

I was riding my bicycle down a mountain road on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA on July 24, 2009.  I had an accident, no doubt my own fault.  When I regained consciousness, I was being well cared for in the back of an ambulance.  The EMTs asked me my name and date of birth.  As I answered them, I noticed my tongue touching my teeth and thought, “Oh, good!  I have all of my teeth.”  Then I felt this very uncomfortable board under my back and I thought, “This board is hurting my back.  That is a good sign!”

The EMTs asked for my insurance information.  They needed to know which hospital to take me to.  I informed them that I was uninsured and they kept right on treating me.  I was not particularly worried about being uninsured.  I was alive!  I was being well taken care of and I knew that we would get through the expense one way or another.

Health-Care in Southern Sudan

Right after my first few sentences with the EMT, I started to reflect, “They don’t have this kind of health-care in southern Sudan.” I spent three weeks in southern Sudan.  I loved the experience.  I love the people.  But you don’t want to need medical treatment in southern Sudan.

The vast majority of the people don’t even have clean water and sanitation.  The woman in the picture had her child die of cholera a few hours before this picture was taken.  Cholera can be prevented with clean water and sanitation. 

You and I can help!

Claron

Wheelchairs to Southern Sudan

On our way to southern Sudan in December 2007, John Mabior Bayuet, Peter Matoc Kuat and Akol Akol Deng visited with Edward Christensen, president of the Kampala Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We had discussions about what is going on in southern Sudan.  President Christensen subsequently visited southern Sudan several times.  He introduced Art and Elaine Glenn to Nyamlel, Sudan.  The Glenn’s are Directors for Humanitarian Services for the Church and are stationed in Uganda.  The Glenns have been successful in getting several major projects approved by LDS Humanitarian services, including the distribution of 580 wheelchairs, ten boreholes for clean water and the installation of many latrines for sanitation.

The Glenns have some great pictures and commentary from Nyamlel and Aweil in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State, Sudan.  Check out their blog: http://aeglenn.blogspot.com/2009/02/trip-to-southern-sudanstrangers-in.html

Bathing, drinking water and washing clothes from the same water source.

The Lol River near Nyamlel, Sudan – photo courtesy Claron Twitchell

Claron

Sunrise Over Southern Sudan

I took the photo that Shawn put on the banner of the So. Sudan Humanitarian Blog.  It is a sunrise looking over the natural country side taken 27 December 2007 when we got lost driving at night and wound up in Gogrial on our way between Wau and Aweil in southern Sudan.  This was about two months into the dry season.  Some species of  deciduous trees had already shed their leaves to conserve moisture during the dry season.  In the dark below the sunrise, you could see the tall grass under the trees.  The pastoral tribes highly value the tall rich grass for their cattle.

The tribes have words for the various colors of cattle.  Mabior means a white bull.  A son might be named Mabior after a favorite bull.  You can see more photos on our website http://www.sudanhelp.org.

Claron

Yard Sale Update.

The yard sale was a success. We were able to raise about $400, and talked to several people who were interested in what we are doing in Southern Sudan.

Thanks to all of those that stopped by to help and do a little shopping as well.

Shawn