The people at RESULTS have posted a blog on their international conference; you can read the entry on Franco's presentation here. RESULTS has been diligently uploading the event in 10-minute segments on YouTube. Franco can be seen in "Education Plenary 2"
">
his talk continues into "Education Plenary 3"
In presenting to the RESULTS people, Franco made the point that small non-profits, especially those who go where the big NGOs don't go, need equal access to funding. As the panel moderator mentioned after Franco's talk, children in conflict areas are the last to receive education. RESULTS is committed to global education. Like them, we want to make education and opportunity happen, even -- especially -- in the difficult-to-reach spots.
You'll hear mention of our four-minute DVD. Technical difficulties kept Franco from showing it during his presentation. The RESULTS people have kindly put it on their YouTube channel as one of their favorite videos. And you can see it on ours:
We are so pleased to have been invited to the RESULTS conference as we keep working providing education and opportunity for those who have access to none.
">
his talk continues into "Education Plenary 3"
In presenting to the RESULTS people, Franco made the point that small non-profits, especially those who go where the big NGOs don't go, need equal access to funding. As the panel moderator mentioned after Franco's talk, children in conflict areas are the last to receive education. RESULTS is committed to global education. Like them, we want to make education and opportunity happen, even -- especially -- in the difficult-to-reach spots.
You'll hear mention of our four-minute DVD. Technical difficulties kept Franco from showing it during his presentation. The RESULTS people have kindly put it on their YouTube channel as one of their favorite videos. And you can see it on ours:
We are so pleased to have been invited to the RESULTS conference as we keep working providing education and opportunity for those who have access to none.
World Refugee Day is becoming a bigger and bigger event, and one I thought was today, when many events actually took place over this past weekend. But here at Village Help for South Sudan, every day is refugee day. With two refugees on our Board of Directors (including our executive director) and two refugees as program managers, we know a great deal about the joys and sorrows of fleeing one's homeland, landing in a strange but safer place, and looking back. "Living like a refugee," sing the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, "is not easy."
Every refugee I know, one he or she gets on his or her feet, wants to help the homeland. I'm very proud that Village Help for South Sudan is able to provide the structure for our two new program managers to do that. Malong Malou traveled to Sudan on his school vacation to take care of his ailing mother. What he saw -- the enormous expense of getting his mother to Khartoum for treatment, the horrid conditions the sick have to live in while they get treatment -- inspired him to work toward a long-range solution: a clinic in his community. Bol Thiik Riiny finished his bachelor's degree and traveled back home to find a school under the trees, taught by teenage boarding-school students on holiday. Education for students and for teachers is now his priority.
These young men are burning with the same mission Franco was when he returned to America after his first visit to Wunlang. After all their suffering, after all their adjustments to life in America, these refugees are no longer helplessly caught in the crossfire of civil war. They are now able, with your help, to take action, so others don't have to live as refugees.
Every refugee I know, one he or she gets on his or her feet, wants to help the homeland. I'm very proud that Village Help for South Sudan is able to provide the structure for our two new program managers to do that. Malong Malou traveled to Sudan on his school vacation to take care of his ailing mother. What he saw -- the enormous expense of getting his mother to Khartoum for treatment, the horrid conditions the sick have to live in while they get treatment -- inspired him to work toward a long-range solution: a clinic in his community. Bol Thiik Riiny finished his bachelor's degree and traveled back home to find a school under the trees, taught by teenage boarding-school students on holiday. Education for students and for teachers is now his priority.
These young men are burning with the same mission Franco was when he returned to America after his first visit to Wunlang. After all their suffering, after all their adjustments to life in America, these refugees are no longer helplessly caught in the crossfire of civil war. They are now able, with your help, to take action, so others don't have to live as refugees.
The invitations for Franco participate in international conferences just keep on coming. On June 22 he'll be on a plenary panel at the RESULTS International Conference. RESULTS, as an advocacy group, is promoting a Global Educational Fund. Franco will speak on the pros and cons of that approach for a group like ours. We're small, but we provide education and opportunity to places that the big non-profits don't reach.
It's a fact that some NGOs have gotten out of the school-building business in remote areas. We're committed to it. All projects, big and small, near and far, should have access to funding. We're looking forward to Franco's report on this conference.
It's a fact that some NGOs have gotten out of the school-building business in remote areas. We're committed to it. All projects, big and small, near and far, should have access to funding. We're looking forward to Franco's report on this conference.
The Alal community is in Twic county in northern Warrap State. It's close to the troubled border town of Abyei. One day in Malong's childhood he was walking with his friends to visit his older brother in Abyei. "Did you know I was abducted?" he asked me calmly.
Malong spent about a year as a child slave in northern Sudan, when he managed to escape. He fled north, to Khartoum, because it was too dangerous to go home. There he found refuge in a school run by the Comboni Missionaries. He completed primary and grammar school there. (Malong also speaks, reads, and writes Arabic from his years in the north.) He had no way to pay for secondary school, and he made his way back to the south. There he was told the murahaleen -- whom the Darfurians nowadays call the janjaweed -- were still targeting his vilage. The safest place for him, a worker in the Diocese of Abyei told him, was in a refugee camp in Kenya called Kakuma.
Malong came to America through the Unaccompanied Minors Refugee Program of Lutheran Social Services of New England. He was settled in Imatong House -- a group home provided by St. Paul Lutheran Church in Arlington, where our executive director Franco Majok was his case manager Malong graduated from Arlington High in 2004. In 2008, he graduated from Concordia College in Bronxville, NY.
On his Christmas vacation in 2007, Malong flew to Khartoum. His relatives carried his ailing mother on a pallet to the nearest road in Twic, and Malong paid for a car to transport her to Khartoum. That was the closest reliable health care available. While in Khartoum, Malong saw how the ill were living. If they had money for transport, money for medical care -- almost always provided by the diaspora struggling themselves in America, Canada, or Australia -- there was often no money for housing. They were squatting in unfinished buildings, hoping to receive medical care before they were ousted.
Malong returned to American determined to raise awareness about the Alal community's need for health care. His project fits in well with ours. Alal is bordered by two rivers, and the Lol, to the south, floods frequently and cuts off the road to the capital of Warrap State. The main road loops around, not through, the Alal community. Village Help for South Sudan has made a commitment to help these hard-to-reach communities.
Alal Community Project will soon have its own blog, and you can check on the latest news there. Contact Malong at 781-267-6605 or a yenkuyin@gmail.com.
05/06: 10 Laptops for VHSS
Our deep appreciation goes to Mitre Corp for its donation of 10 laptops to Village Help for South Sudan. When Ron called me with the news, I exclaimed, "Now we have a computer lab!" Actually, the details of how we will deploy these laptops have not been firmed up. But we have told many school groups that the day will come when they will be able to e-mail Wunlang School students, and the students at Wunlang will be able to e-mail them back. That day has come a little closer with this generous donation.
St. Paul Lutheran Church of Arlington continues to be one of our most consistent supporters. Some months ago, at a presentation we made, the youth leader asked what we needed help on next. As we reported in January, it was school uniforms. Now, several committee meetings later, St. Paul has agreed to fund our uniform project.
This is so much more than providing a school uniform. It means additional student enrollment and retention. There are some Wunlang children who have only rags and are too ashamed to enroll or to continue to attend school.
It also means we are contributing to the economic growth of Wunlang village. Some school projects buy their uniforms in Kenya or Uganda. Our plan is to buy foot-treadle sewing machines, hire a teacher -- probably a graduate of a regional vocational program -- and get a uniform-making enterprise going. We'll supply the first round of fabric, thread, and notions, and then, we are confident, the entrepreneurial people of Wunlang can take it from there.
Soon all the students of Wunlang can sport this fine uniform!
This is so much more than providing a school uniform. It means additional student enrollment and retention. There are some Wunlang children who have only rags and are too ashamed to enroll or to continue to attend school.
It also means we are contributing to the economic growth of Wunlang village. Some school projects buy their uniforms in Kenya or Uganda. Our plan is to buy foot-treadle sewing machines, hire a teacher -- probably a graduate of a regional vocational program -- and get a uniform-making enterprise going. We'll supply the first round of fabric, thread, and notions, and then, we are confident, the entrepreneurial people of Wunlang can take it from there.
Soon all the students of Wunlang can sport this fine uniform!
I just returned from a meeting that marks an important step in the life of Village Help for South Sudan. We have welcomed Bol Thiik Riiny as the project manager of the Theou Village Project, with the immediate goal of drilling a well and building a school in the village of Theou.
Bol is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan who came to Massachusetts as an unaccompanied minor in December 2000. Franco Majok was his case manager. Bol was settled with a family in Winchester, MA, graduated from Winchester High School, and went on to earn his bachelor's degree at Concordia College in Bronxville, NY.
Like every Lost Boy I've ever met, Bol is burning to do something for his village. He came to us with his dream of raising money for a project much like ours in Wunlang. Rather than repeat the process of forming his own non-profit, we have agreed that his project should come under Village Help for South Sudan.
We provide Bol with our knowledge of how to get a well drilled and school built in Southern Sudan. We have the accounting set up so all the money Bol raises will go into a fund specifically for Theou Village Project. Bol provides his own energy and contacts for fundraising, and he's got a lot of both.
Theou is not in Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal. It's in Warrap State, to the east. The capital of Warrap State is Kwajok, where Franco's brother Angok has his country home. Bol's village is southeast of Kwajok, too small to show up on any map. We are expanding to be a true help to the villages of South Sudan.
Soon you'll see on our web site a separate blog for Theou Village Project. But today, we're so happy to welcome Bol.
Bol is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan who came to Massachusetts as an unaccompanied minor in December 2000. Franco Majok was his case manager. Bol was settled with a family in Winchester, MA, graduated from Winchester High School, and went on to earn his bachelor's degree at Concordia College in Bronxville, NY.
Like every Lost Boy I've ever met, Bol is burning to do something for his village. He came to us with his dream of raising money for a project much like ours in Wunlang. Rather than repeat the process of forming his own non-profit, we have agreed that his project should come under Village Help for South Sudan.
We provide Bol with our knowledge of how to get a well drilled and school built in Southern Sudan. We have the accounting set up so all the money Bol raises will go into a fund specifically for Theou Village Project. Bol provides his own energy and contacts for fundraising, and he's got a lot of both.
Theou is not in Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal. It's in Warrap State, to the east. The capital of Warrap State is Kwajok, where Franco's brother Angok has his country home. Bol's village is southeast of Kwajok, too small to show up on any map. We are expanding to be a true help to the villages of South Sudan.
Soon you'll see on our web site a separate blog for Theou Village Project. But today, we're so happy to welcome Bol.
Today is World Water Day, and it's a time to assess how much progress has been made. According to the WASH News Africa blog, In East Africa, "not one country is on track to meet Millennium Development Goal Seven, which aims to reduce by half the number of people without access to clean drinking water and decent sanitation by 2015." In Southern Sudan, 6.4 percent of the population has access to improved sanitation.
By those standards, Village Help for South Sudan is a regional leader. We have two wells drilled now, and work on a third will begin soon. Near the school compound, we have three latrines -- one for boys, one for girls, and one for teachers. The implications are immense. This fall the nearby city of Aweil experienced a serious outbreak of cholera in large part because the sanitation there is so poor. Just by providing latrines and clean drinking water, we have provided disease protection to the Wunlang community. By placing new wells where people travel, we offer clean water to more people and lessen the wear and tear on our first well, which was in use day and night when we visited in 2008.
And when good water is close to family compounds, girls can fetch water for their households and still have time and energy to go to school.
As we plan further projects in this remote region of Southern Sudan, you can be sure that community access to water and sanitation will be included. There's no better way to celebrate World Water Day.
By those standards, Village Help for South Sudan is a regional leader. We have two wells drilled now, and work on a third will begin soon. Near the school compound, we have three latrines -- one for boys, one for girls, and one for teachers. The implications are immense. This fall the nearby city of Aweil experienced a serious outbreak of cholera in large part because the sanitation there is so poor. Just by providing latrines and clean drinking water, we have provided disease protection to the Wunlang community. By placing new wells where people travel, we offer clean water to more people and lessen the wear and tear on our first well, which was in use day and night when we visited in 2008.
And when good water is close to family compounds, girls can fetch water for their households and still have time and energy to go to school.
As we plan further projects in this remote region of Southern Sudan, you can be sure that community access to water and sanitation will be included. There's no better way to celebrate World Water Day.
03/20: Watching for fallout
As you can imagine, we have been following closely the news about the issuing of an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Bashir, the expulsion of humanitarian non-government organizations (NGOs) from Darfur, and the announcement that all humanitarian efforts in the country will be nationalized by the Sudanese in a year. Much can be said about these events, but our focus is on how these events might impact our efforts in Wunlang.
First, many sources state at the Government of South Sudan is expecting NGOs to stay. "While the government has argued that the expulsions apply countrywide, the Southern government has encouraged NGOs to continue working there," reports the UN news agency IRIN. Village Help for South Sudan has no plans to change its travel schedule or to slow down its work.
This same news article reports that the recent events have had a dramatic effect to the north of Wunlang. Many people know that Darfur's humanitarian aid has been slashed. It's less well known that in the state of South Kordofan, directly to the north of Wunlang, humanitarian aid has just about disappeared. "In Darfur, the expulsion of the NGOs has wiped out half the aid effort; in South Kordofan, it meant 'there's almost nobody left,' according to Sara Pantuliano, research fellow at the UK Overseas Development Institute."
What will that mean for Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal State, where Wunlang is located? It needs to be prepared for an influx of internally-displaced persons from the North. The sick, the hungry, and the newly landless are crossing the border. Our newest member, Angelo Ngong Kiir, reports that IDPs have been trickling in north of Wunlang from South Kordofan for more than a year. Those numbers could surely increase.
As an NGO in NBeG, we need to be ready. We're not a huge emergency-relief organization. But we are a group with a track record of success in this remote area. Our plans for a clinic, a school farm, and for drilling more wells now take on a new urgency. We're a nimble organization and can organize new projects, if necessary, as fast as our funding allows. As we watch events unfold, we are standing by our commitment to bring education and opportunity to this part of Southern Sudan.
First, many sources state at the Government of South Sudan is expecting NGOs to stay. "While the government has argued that the expulsions apply countrywide, the Southern government has encouraged NGOs to continue working there," reports the UN news agency IRIN. Village Help for South Sudan has no plans to change its travel schedule or to slow down its work.
This same news article reports that the recent events have had a dramatic effect to the north of Wunlang. Many people know that Darfur's humanitarian aid has been slashed. It's less well known that in the state of South Kordofan, directly to the north of Wunlang, humanitarian aid has just about disappeared. "In Darfur, the expulsion of the NGOs has wiped out half the aid effort; in South Kordofan, it meant 'there's almost nobody left,' according to Sara Pantuliano, research fellow at the UK Overseas Development Institute."
What will that mean for Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal State, where Wunlang is located? It needs to be prepared for an influx of internally-displaced persons from the North. The sick, the hungry, and the newly landless are crossing the border. Our newest member, Angelo Ngong Kiir, reports that IDPs have been trickling in north of Wunlang from South Kordofan for more than a year. Those numbers could surely increase.
As an NGO in NBeG, we need to be ready. We're not a huge emergency-relief organization. But we are a group with a track record of success in this remote area. Our plans for a clinic, a school farm, and for drilling more wells now take on a new urgency. We're a nimble organization and can organize new projects, if necessary, as fast as our funding allows. As we watch events unfold, we are standing by our commitment to bring education and opportunity to this part of Southern Sudan.
03/01: "We Need an Army of Francos"
So says Craig Walzer, editor of Out of Exile, a new book that tells the stories of abducted and displaced people in Sudan. Franco was part of a panel discussion on the book and on Sudan, organized by the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC. The panel also included David Eggers, author of the best-seller What is the What, and was moderated by John Prendergast, co-chair of the Enough Project.
A video of the panel discussion is posted on viddler.com:
It's almost 100 minutes long, and it's all worth watching, but for those of you who like to fast forward, Franco speaks at 0:46:30, 1:16, 1:22, 1:27, and 1:34.
Those of us who are used to hearing Franco speak about the specifics of building Wunlang School -- how to make bricks, for example -- will be reminded how knowledgable he is of policies and politics at the international level. (At one point Mr. Eggers jokes, when it is his turn to speak, that Franco has taken all his bullet points!) All the panelist agree that efforts like ours are absolutely essential to any kind of lasting peace in Sudan. Without education, Southern Sudan will have no opportunity to make and to implement informed decisions about its future. With the work of Village Help for South Sudan, Wunlang, so close to the border to the north, has a better chance to help determine its fate of its country.
A video of the panel discussion is posted on viddler.com:
It's almost 100 minutes long, and it's all worth watching, but for those of you who like to fast forward, Franco speaks at 0:46:30, 1:16, 1:22, 1:27, and 1:34.
Those of us who are used to hearing Franco speak about the specifics of building Wunlang School -- how to make bricks, for example -- will be reminded how knowledgable he is of policies and politics at the international level. (At one point Mr. Eggers jokes, when it is his turn to speak, that Franco has taken all his bullet points!) All the panelist agree that efforts like ours are absolutely essential to any kind of lasting peace in Sudan. Without education, Southern Sudan will have no opportunity to make and to implement informed decisions about its future. With the work of Village Help for South Sudan, Wunlang, so close to the border to the north, has a better chance to help determine its fate of its country.
