South Sudan and Village Help for South Sudan were prominent at the 1st African Festival of Boston yesterday at the Government Center's City Plaza. Philip, here for the summer break from USD, where he will be a senior in Electrical Engineering next year, spent the day greeting visitors and speaking on behalf of our organization and our work in his homeland.
Franco also worked the booth, speaking proudly of our work in southern Sudan.
The festival featured music, food, and crafts from many African countries, and we were happy to represent South Sudan in this extraordinary celebration of culture, diversity, and independence.
Franco also worked the booth, speaking proudly of our work in southern Sudan.
The festival featured music, food, and crafts from many African countries, and we were happy to represent South Sudan in this extraordinary celebration of culture, diversity, and independence.
It's our own Ron Moulton, who was at his alma mater's reunion weekend to accept the Distinguished Alumnus award for his work with Village Help for South Sudan.
Here are his remarks:
"Thank you! It is a great honor for me to be back on campus today. I am sincerely grateful and pleased to accept the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
"I would like to divert attention away from myself, however, and highlight the amazing accomplishments of the truly distinguished people I support. The organization I co-founded is called Village Help for South Sudan. Our mission is to provide grants and management support to indigenous groups in remote villages in southern Sudan. This enables them to implement community development projects that address their most urgent and serious problems. The villagers we support deserve our honor and recognition.
"The village of Wunlang is one of the poorest places on earth. There was none of the infrastructure we take for granted here in our homes. No electricity. No sanitation. No permanent structures. No roads, only footpaths. In fact, before Village Help for South Sudan and our donors began supporting them, there was not even clean drinking water.
"Since our work began in 2007, the village has organized a water and sanitation committee and installed deep-drilled bore holes and hand pumps for water and installed latrines. A village education committee organized a team to make bricks and constructed an 8-classroom primary school. A health committee is now constructing a village health center and will soon bring supplies and training to address the most urgent health issue: maternal and newborn mortality and suffering.
"By comparison to the hard work of the villagers we support, my job has been easy. I hope that students, faculty and alumni here will take an interest in participatory community development such as this. You can learn more by visiting our website: villagehelpforsouthsudan.org.
"Again, I deeply appreciate this award, and I am honored to be an Oneonta alumnus. Thank you!"
Here are his remarks:
"Thank you! It is a great honor for me to be back on campus today. I am sincerely grateful and pleased to accept the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
"I would like to divert attention away from myself, however, and highlight the amazing accomplishments of the truly distinguished people I support. The organization I co-founded is called Village Help for South Sudan. Our mission is to provide grants and management support to indigenous groups in remote villages in southern Sudan. This enables them to implement community development projects that address their most urgent and serious problems. The villagers we support deserve our honor and recognition.
"The village of Wunlang is one of the poorest places on earth. There was none of the infrastructure we take for granted here in our homes. No electricity. No sanitation. No permanent structures. No roads, only footpaths. In fact, before Village Help for South Sudan and our donors began supporting them, there was not even clean drinking water.
"Since our work began in 2007, the village has organized a water and sanitation committee and installed deep-drilled bore holes and hand pumps for water and installed latrines. A village education committee organized a team to make bricks and constructed an 8-classroom primary school. A health committee is now constructing a village health center and will soon bring supplies and training to address the most urgent health issue: maternal and newborn mortality and suffering.
"By comparison to the hard work of the villagers we support, my job has been easy. I hope that students, faculty and alumni here will take an interest in participatory community development such as this. You can learn more by visiting our website: villagehelpforsouthsudan.org.
"Again, I deeply appreciate this award, and I am honored to be an Oneonta alumnus. Thank you!"
In rural southern Sudan most babies are born on the ground in a tukul (traditional dwelling) without medical care and in unsanitary conditions.
For most deliveries, the only support available is what can be provided by a traditional birth attendant (TBA). These dedicated women rely on their past experience, not medical training, to assist with births.
Although the TBAs perform a vital service in remote villages, homes in these communities are too far from qualified medical care when complications occur during or after childbirth.
2010 has been declared as the Year of Maternal and Child Health in southern Sudan by its president, Salva Kiir Mayardit. “One in seven of our women who become pregnant will die from pregnancy-related causes,” he says. Although official birth records do not exist in remote villages, Wunlang has an average of 400 births a year, which means approximately 57 women will likely die each year from childbirth-related complications. Village Help for South Sudan aims to help reduce the number of maternal and newborn deaths through our program of basic support for TBAs.
When construction is complete in the next month or two, the Wunlang Village Health Clinic will be the place where babies are born in this village. At the core of our safe childbirth support program will be midwife kits and training for the TBAs. The kits will be assembled by St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church of Arlington.
Support from our donors and a partnership with Global Health Ministries, we hope, will cover transportation and training costs to get the midwife kits from Arlington to Wunlang and to ensure they are effectively used at every delivery.
What’s in a Midwife Kit?
- One bath towel
- One wash cloth
- One bar of Ivory soap
- One pair latex gloves
- One razor blade
- Heavy white cotton string (for tying cord)
- One 36” square muslin or sheeting
- One infant shirt
- One receiving blanket
- One infant hat
This Mother’s Day we ask for your help with this program to support mothers and newborns in southern Sudan.
For most deliveries, the only support available is what can be provided by a traditional birth attendant (TBA). These dedicated women rely on their past experience, not medical training, to assist with births.
Although the TBAs perform a vital service in remote villages, homes in these communities are too far from qualified medical care when complications occur during or after childbirth.
2010 has been declared as the Year of Maternal and Child Health in southern Sudan by its president, Salva Kiir Mayardit. “One in seven of our women who become pregnant will die from pregnancy-related causes,” he says. Although official birth records do not exist in remote villages, Wunlang has an average of 400 births a year, which means approximately 57 women will likely die each year from childbirth-related complications. Village Help for South Sudan aims to help reduce the number of maternal and newborn deaths through our program of basic support for TBAs.
When construction is complete in the next month or two, the Wunlang Village Health Clinic will be the place where babies are born in this village. At the core of our safe childbirth support program will be midwife kits and training for the TBAs. The kits will be assembled by St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church of Arlington.
Support from our donors and a partnership with Global Health Ministries, we hope, will cover transportation and training costs to get the midwife kits from Arlington to Wunlang and to ensure they are effectively used at every delivery.
What’s in a Midwife Kit?
- One bath towel
- One wash cloth
- One bar of Ivory soap
- One pair latex gloves
- One razor blade
- Heavy white cotton string (for tying cord)
- One 36” square muslin or sheeting
- One infant shirt
- One receiving blanket
- One infant hat
This Mother’s Day we ask for your help with this program to support mothers and newborns in southern Sudan.
It's one thing to open a school for girls and young women in Sudan. It's another thing to help them attend that school. Attitudes about educating girls are changing rapidly, and many older girls in Sudan, and Wunlang, are going to school for the first time.
But once a month, they may stay home.
Our newly-formed Health and Sanitation Advisory Committee has been thinking about this problem. And so we have a pattern and a sample of a reusable cloth sanitary pad that's easy to make -- it was made by committee member Liz Ging -- and has been field tested!
Our sample is made of recycled toweling (it's a barbecue towel, hence the pattern). We hear that terry toweling and flannel both work well.
Technically, the pad is made to go under the wrapper, and the wrapper wraps around the underwear. Liz used a velcro fastener, but a snap or a button would also work. Having a separate pad makes it easy to swap or to double up pads. (Ours does not have the plastic inner layer some patterns call for. Our field tester says no plastic means more comfort, especially in the heat, and isn't needed, even overnight.)
The pattern is really simple.
When board members Tara and Lisa next go to Sudan, they'll be carrying this and other samples with them. They'll be sitting with the women and girls to discuss how these can be used to help girls stay in school. As always, the community will decide the best way to implement this idea. It might be through an exisiting tailor -- or it might be a vocational enterprise project.
Providing education and opportunity to remote parts of Southern Sudan has led us down some interesting paths. We want our girls and young women to get all the education they deserve.
But once a month, they may stay home.
Our newly-formed Health and Sanitation Advisory Committee has been thinking about this problem. And so we have a pattern and a sample of a reusable cloth sanitary pad that's easy to make -- it was made by committee member Liz Ging -- and has been field tested!
Our sample is made of recycled toweling (it's a barbecue towel, hence the pattern). We hear that terry toweling and flannel both work well.
Technically, the pad is made to go under the wrapper, and the wrapper wraps around the underwear. Liz used a velcro fastener, but a snap or a button would also work. Having a separate pad makes it easy to swap or to double up pads. (Ours does not have the plastic inner layer some patterns call for. Our field tester says no plastic means more comfort, especially in the heat, and isn't needed, even overnight.)
The pattern is really simple.
When board members Tara and Lisa next go to Sudan, they'll be carrying this and other samples with them. They'll be sitting with the women and girls to discuss how these can be used to help girls stay in school. As always, the community will decide the best way to implement this idea. It might be through an exisiting tailor -- or it might be a vocational enterprise project.
Providing education and opportunity to remote parts of Southern Sudan has led us down some interesting paths. We want our girls and young women to get all the education they deserve.
04/07: From Texas to Wunlang
People are taking notice as Village Help for South Sudan continues to make progress. Here's a mention in Texas Christian University's alumni magazine, featuring director Lisa Deeley Smith, class of '77.
Many Lost Boys were settled in the Fort Worth area, and some attended TCU. The magazine was particularly interested in how Lisa went from helping one Lost Boy in particular to the homeland in general. We know throughout America that many volunteers have helped South Sudanese refugees adapt to life here. We offer a chance to help their homeland.
Many Lost Boys were settled in the Fort Worth area, and some attended TCU. The magazine was particularly interested in how Lisa went from helping one Lost Boy in particular to the homeland in general. We know throughout America that many volunteers have helped South Sudanese refugees adapt to life here. We offer a chance to help their homeland.
04/01: Welcome, Tara!
We're delighted to welcome Tara Rao to our board of directors. For some years she has been a volunteer helping Sudanese refugees in America. Now she will help those refugees give back to their homeland.
Tara is a data analyst at the Harvard School of Public Health for an HIV/AIDS treatment and care program in Nigeria. In her work, she's traveled to Nigeria. She is also an adjunct professor in the math department at Bunker Hill Community College.
And she's doubled the number of women on the board!
We missed the UN's celebration of World Water Day on March 22.
But we celebrated early in Machartit.
This is how Ron found villagers getting water in late January -- by lowering themselves into a pit to bring up buckets of dirty water.
This is Marchartit in mid-March -- jerrycans lined up to as villagers pump clean water from the well drilled by Village Help for South Sudan.
Happy World Water Day to them, and to all of you who made this possible.
But we celebrated early in Machartit.
This is how Ron found villagers getting water in late January -- by lowering themselves into a pit to bring up buckets of dirty water.
This is Marchartit in mid-March -- jerrycans lined up to as villagers pump clean water from the well drilled by Village Help for South Sudan.
Happy World Water Day to them, and to all of you who made this possible.
Our field director, Angelo Ngong Kiir, was one of several Lost Boys resettled in Syracuse, New York. Reporter Maureen Sieh traveled with Angelo and others from Syracuse to report on projects they have begun in different parts of South Sudan. Her report includes: a story with video (scroll down to see Angelo's profile) and photos.
Here's Angelo in a Wunlang School classroom.
And here are workers digging the foundation for our clinic. These photos are by Michelle Gabel.
This blogger is from central New York also, and knows the people of the Syracuse area have been very supportive of the efforts of the Lost Boys to give back to their homeland. We're so glad Village Help for South Sudan is able to make this happen.
Here's Angelo in a Wunlang School classroom.
And here are workers digging the foundation for our clinic. These photos are by Michelle Gabel.
This blogger is from central New York also, and knows the people of the Syracuse area have been very supportive of the efforts of the Lost Boys to give back to their homeland. We're so glad Village Help for South Sudan is able to make this happen.
03/13: Water Pumps and Literacy
Most of us, I guess, don't immediately associate a hand water pump with literacy. Here are pictures of the pump we recently funded for the village of Machartit:
The line of jerry cans waiting to be filled is a standard scene at every hand pump in remote villages. There is no "rush hour" when it comes to collecting water for the family. These pumps are operating continually from sunrise to sunset to provide water for drinking, cooking, and bathing in villages such as Wunlang and Machartit with hundreds of families in need of water every day.
Now for the literacy angle. "Functional literacy" is defined as reading and writing skills required to perform a job or to improve job performance. Water hand pump maintenance is an important job - vital, you might say. With so much use day in and day out, these hand pumps take a beating. They frequently break. A trained team of workers is needed to keep the pumps operational.
We recently applied for a grant to fund our functional literacy program in southern Sudan, and water hand pump maintenance is one of the vocations we hope to improve with a trained workforce. The newly literate trainees who graduate from our literacy program should be more effective in educating communities in water pump maintenance and in making the frequent repairs needed for a water pump with such constant use as Machartit's. The workers will be able find jobs with bore hole drilling companies or as independent entrepreneurs delivering this vital service to communities in the region.
The line of jerry cans waiting to be filled is a standard scene at every hand pump in remote villages. There is no "rush hour" when it comes to collecting water for the family. These pumps are operating continually from sunrise to sunset to provide water for drinking, cooking, and bathing in villages such as Wunlang and Machartit with hundreds of families in need of water every day.
Now for the literacy angle. "Functional literacy" is defined as reading and writing skills required to perform a job or to improve job performance. Water hand pump maintenance is an important job - vital, you might say. With so much use day in and day out, these hand pumps take a beating. They frequently break. A trained team of workers is needed to keep the pumps operational.
We recently applied for a grant to fund our functional literacy program in southern Sudan, and water hand pump maintenance is one of the vocations we hope to improve with a trained workforce. The newly literate trainees who graduate from our literacy program should be more effective in educating communities in water pump maintenance and in making the frequent repairs needed for a water pump with such constant use as Machartit's. The workers will be able find jobs with bore hole drilling companies or as independent entrepreneurs delivering this vital service to communities in the region.
Here on International Women's Day Ron has been writing and this blogger has been reviewing grant proposals for projects to benefit the women of Wunlang. One is a literacy program based on Rotary International's Concentrated Language Encounter. Another is seeking funding for our multi-purpose cultural center, focusing on women and teenagers who are looking for vocational, literacy, and numeracy skills.
We don't have any speeches or proclamations for International Women's Day. We're just working, as we have in the past, to bring education and opportunity to the women and men in South Sudan's most remote places.
We don't have any speeches or proclamations for International Women's Day. We're just working, as we have in the past, to bring education and opportunity to the women and men in South Sudan's most remote places.
