South Sudan is a nation with 70,000 internally displaced returnees. These people blur the line between refugee and survivor as they return to a land ravaged by civil war. The joy in returning is that they have a nation to call home. The challenge is that they must rebuild from the ground up.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR is tasked with the first step in relocating the returnees. Camps are established to provide temporary settlement; however the need is often far greater than resources can provide. While these camps fill an urgent demand, the lack of water and sanitation is a potential breeding ground for illness and aggression.
Many families travel for weeks carrying their belongings across difficult terrain, only to settle in a field amongst others awaiting placement. The Obakki Foundation has been an active partner in the relocation process – drilling clean water wells to accelerate the resettlement of these displaced people.
Today is a day of celebration as the Obakki Foundation has drilled water at the location of a new home – the village is called Giir and it’s first inhabitants are 300 families eager to take root.
Our team takes a snap shots amongst the people and belongings waiting to be transported to their new location.
I remember this flight all too well. 5 passengers, beaten up old Cessna, flying at a bumpy 22,000 feet over the Kenyan grassland on my way to Rumbek. It was just a short year ago when I made this trek, and I remember now that I promised myself to find another mode of transportation! However, every passing moment means I am one minute closer to touching down on that dirt airstrip and so, for now, my excitement trumps my fear.
Thoughts of this trip have been circling though my head for months now and even though I am excited to set foot back on South Sudan soil, I have no idea what to expect. I know that I will laugh and dance with villagers in celebration of their new water wells. I know I will see many people in need and that I will hold the hand of someone who hasn’t eaten in 3 days. I know my heart will beat faster as I pass a truck carrying 50 or more SPLA soldiers. And I know that I will go home inspired and even more committed. Everything else is unexpected.
We have so many stories from our last trip and we can’t wait to share them with you. We’re taking a brief hiatus to celebrate the holidays and we’ll back in the New Year. Until then, please enjoy this video footage from our visit to South Sudan last December.
It is hard to believe I will be back on South Sudan soil within 35 hours. This past year has been a whirlwind – actually, more of a hurricane to be truthful. I haven’t been very good at keeping everyone informed – I guess part of me has been trying to process what I have seen and the other part was trying to figure out what to do about it. A trip to South Sudan and two trips to Cameroon later, here I am. I am not sure I have found all of the answers that I have been looking for, or that I have been able to accomplish as much as I wished, but I do know one thing. Change can happen – big or small – it can happen, as long as we take that initial step forward.
I came across my journal from my LAST December trip and wanted to share my very first entry with you.
December 16th, 2010
I am on a plane to Sudan. Sudan. I think for the first time in my life, I am actually stuck for words. Usually I have some idea of what to expect, some frame of reference, something to help formulate my thoughts but this time I have nothing. Sudan is so remote, so hidden, so far away from everything I know.
This morning I took my kids to their West Vancouver school with their lunch kits overflowing with healthy food, and then I took a long hot bath in my house that overlooks the ocean. After, my husband and I went for lunch together at a great downtown restaurant and agreed upon a family vacation to Mexico in the New Year. Later after I picked up the kids, we watched in fascination as our stick-bug eggs hatched while we ate gingerbread cookies. Ironic.
Tomorrow I wake up in a country destroyed by 40 years of civil war, 2 million people brutally killed and another 4 million people displaced. Where children and mothers are dying of thirst and tribes are fighting to death over access to basic needs. Oil and water run deep and plentiful beneath the ground yet above ground there is so much suffering and destruction. A country raised on violence, forgotten by the rest of the world.
What am I doing on a plane traveling to Sudan? I have asked myself the same question and I do not know the answer. Ever since I first heard of Sudan, I have felt a pull. I can’t explain it, I just now that I am meant to go here. I don’t choose these places, the places choose me, of that I am certain. Perhaps I will find out on this trip? Already I feel my soul start to engage, my heavy heart start to lift as I get closer and closer….
We have come a long way since I wrote this (over 100 water wells drilled!!!), thanks to all of your support!!! Sometimes we accept these adventures in life, without knowing their outcome. Not only do I look forward to what this new trip may hold, I look forward to sharing it with all of you.
There are pictures that gnaw at our soul and convert us from apathy into action.
This provoking image was taken by renowned photojournalist Brian Sokol and is a stark reminder there are children within this world that see safety as a dream. Brian has spent the last decade in Asia documenting the Nepalese fight for independence and in now in South Sudan to capture the humanitarian crisis occurring as you read this. While in Sudan, Brian will be working with the Obakki foundation to document the people’s story so we can work to change it. These images will be showcased on the blog to document our work and we hope they inspire you as much as they do us.
With excitement we announce Treana arrived back in Africa last week to focus on Sudanese water projects!
Over the year, this region has been a global focal point as South Sudan gained independence and became the world’s newest country. The people’s independence has provided renewed hope and we foresee this time as being one of tremendous growth and inspiration.
As health is essential for growth, our first job in Sudan is to drill as many clean water wells as possible. During the next few weeks, Treana will be there to oversee well development, connect with the people and share their stories with us.
We hope you are looking forward to these stories as much as we are!
We want to express a heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported the Rainmaker Auction.
Every dollar of every donation is currently making its way to the people of Sudan for much needed water relief. This relief will come in the form of wells, which we are preparing to drill in the coming weeks. As these wells are created and clean water is delivered, we expect to see an immediate and profound difference in the Sudanese communities we support. Each glass of clean water delivered will evolve the landscape of these communities. With the expansion of access to clean water, comes the opportunity for future developments including education and healthcare. It is those developments that we eagerly anticipate providing you in the coming weeks.
To think that you could catch a plane and land in a place that is completely unrecognizable and dissimilar to the life you live. At the same time there are many similarities. We are all connected simply by humanity. It’s a small world after all.
It’s the LAST DAY of the Rainmaker Auction on eBay. Thank you to everyone who has donated to and shared about the cause. If something sparks your interest, bid on it. If nothing suits your fancy and you still want to contribute, we gladly take cash donations. Email us at info@obakkifoundation.org.
You can see the difference already. With 100 water wells completed last season, this season we’ve committed to drilling 200 more in South Sudan, with well # 1 complete and well # 2 are already on its way. Water is life and is the foundation for everything: health, education, community, and most of all peace. With clean water, the people will no longer get sick from water-born diseases and parasites. Children have a chance at education as they no longer have to spend their days walking in search for water. The community can build and flourish with a constant, reliable and static source of water. People are putting down their weapons and trading them in for water.
Our ground volunteer in South Sudan, states: ”The eyes of many people are on this project, we have briefed every government department from the Local to the State to the National level. The Obakki Foundation project represents a great potential for helping the people of South Sudan, with the ultimate pursuit of peace.”
Treana, Founder of the Obakki Foundation, will be visiting South Sudan at the beginning of December to join our crew in the efforts of transforming a country.
Yesterday we posted about the rainy season and the monumental effects of water-born diseases. But what happens the other half of the year during the dry season? Take a wild guess. It’s like the cliché saying goes: “so close, yet so far”. Beneath the scorching, cracked earth lies a network of clean and fresh groundwater springs, completely inaccessible to the people above who are dying of thirst. Literally.
Some exciting news has just come in. Well #1 at the returnee camp is complete! Read this blog post about where and why we had to drill here first. Now, with the help of the United Nations, the people can be moved out of this barely livable camp to new land for permanent settlement. For these families, their future has just begun.
More exciting news. We’ve chosen well #2. We’re drilling in a remote colony deep into the bush. It was brought to our attention by the humble nuns of Sisters of Charity. The people of this colony have been outcasted and forced to live far from the village because they have leprosy. Leprosy is a disease that causes skin sores, nerve damage, and muscle weakness that gets worse over time. It can be severely disfiguring. The sad thing is that it is NOT very contagious and isolating people with this disease in “leper colonies” is not needed. Despite this, they are treated as the bottom of humanity with little regard. There is a fear of catching the disease and they must send their unaffected children to a neighboring village to fetch water as people with leprosy are not welcome. When we visited these people, we immediately moved their well to the top of our list.
Our Obakki Foundation correspondent, Ed Smith, writes: “The people were overjoyed when we told them, these are the days when it is great to be a part of this project.”
We also need your help. There is still an incredible need in so many other places: 200 wells is our goal. The Rainmaker Auction on eBay ends tomorrow, November 14th, and items are closing this evening. Check out the signed drumskin from one of rock’s biggest bands, Journey along with many more signed items for music and sports fans at ebay.com/ObakkiFoundation. 100% goes to the people of South Sudan- no middle man, just The Obakki Foundation to the people.
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