The rainy season in South Sudan lasts from June to November. This photo paints a picture of the striking landscape and also tells a raw story of the reality of the people’s lives. During the rainy season, rainfall creates streams such as these and serve as the people’s dishwashers, baths, bathrooms and drinking water. Hard to believe. As you can see the water is in no condition to drink. But the danger lies within something that cannot been seen with the human eye: The Guinea Worm.
Guinea worm is a painful, debilitating and gruesome disease that is contracted when a person consumes stagnant water contaminated with microscopic fleas carrying infective larvae. The larvae mature and grow inside a person’s body, with worms sometimes growing to be over a metre long. The worm winds through the body and after a year, slowly emerges through an agonizingly painful blister in the skin. There is no cure. (UNICEF, 2004) According to the Jimmy Carter’s Foundation, 98% of the world’s guinea worm cases are in South Sudan. The source? Dirty water. It not only affects the health of the people but is also detrimental to the economy and the community, causing productive people to become bedridden or stuck at home caring for those that have been affected by this disease.
Although the civil war ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, the country is far from being at a state of peace. The local villagers burn the brush to clear the grounds and make sure there are no tyrants hiding in the bush preparing for ambush. The smoke is a chilling reminder that danger is all around, even still today.
Right now, we are mapping out our well sites with key target areas where the guinea worm disease is most prevalent. If you’ve read our other blog posts, you can see not only the health and education benefits water brings, but also the de-weaponizing effect it has had where villagers are trading weapons for water at the 100 Obakki Foundation well sites we drilled last dry season.
This time we’re drilling 200 more wells and we need your help. Our Rainmaker Auction on eBay ends on Monday November 14th with signed celeb items and one-of-a-kind pieces closing everyday. Big items ending today are a personalized autograph from Garth Brooks on his guitar or a VIP concert package and meet & greet with Lady Antebellum. Make sure you bid, and if you can’t please share it as much as possible with others that might be interested: ebay.com/ObakkiFoundation. Follow us on twitter (@ObakkiFdn) or facebook for updates and insights.
I am thrilled with some of the bids so far, been checking everyday. What a great assortment of stuff, something for everyone, it is just great!
My husband has his eye on the Steeler’s football!!!
Congrats on the success thus far of this fundraiser!