Together - the Blog of Together for Sudan

Eye Care in Soba Aradi

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:51:00 +0000

In two eye care outreaches in the suburbs of Omdurman and Khartoum at the end of April 2012 patients were seen of whom 140 were prescribed medicines, 50 received glasses, and 55 were recommended for operations, most of which have since been performed. Many thanks to Dr Nabila and her colleagues for their work for the displaced needing eye care in the Khartoum area.

Women from Soba Aradi wait after eye surgery

One of these women was operated on for Glaucoma
and the other had a foreign body removed.

This foreign body was removed from a patients eye

Our funding for eye care outreaches is running out so to keep this vital work going we need donations. Please donate to TfS, there is a button to donate on line through the blog but you can find out more from the donations page on our website. Please click here for the link. http://www.togetherforsudan.org/donate.aspx

Eye Care Outreach in Um Ruwaba

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 19 May 2012 21:52:00 +0000

The crowd masses before the eye care outreach starts

Our Khartoum office report the conclusion of a very successful week-long eye care outreach at Um Ruwaba in North Kordofan state, near the border with the Nuba Mountains. Sadly continued fighting made it impossible to conduct the outreach in Talodi, in the Nuba Mountains, as we had planned. We chose Um Ruwaba instead because it has a large population of people displaced by the fighting in South Kordofan. The outreach was conducted by a medical team from Khartoum assisted by staff from Um Ruwaba and a team of volunteers from the Sudanese Red Crescent. Our project coordinator, Saudi Abdul Rahman, had his hands full to ensure that everything worked smoothly!

The Optician was checking people sight so as to distribute reading glasses

The doctor carefully performs a sight saving operation

During the week 1692 patients (well above the targeted 1000) were examined and 160 operations performed, including 142 cataract surgeries. A further 55 operations were recommended and will be carried out during a follow up visit at the end of May. It is worth noting that this was the first occasion on which our new operating microscope was used and that it worked very well. This microscope replaced that stolen from our Kadugli office by looters last June and was part-funded by a grant from the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum. The outreach itself was supported by a grant from two European charities, Dark and Light, and Light for the World. Many thanks to all our donors.

An old woman waiting to see a doctor fell a sleep due to fatigue.

A Special Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:18:00 +0000

The forthcoming retirement of Together for Sudan's founding Director offers an opportunity for a qualified volunteer to take over the lead in our work to help Sudanese women and children.

Candidates should be flexible , patient, and courageous as well as able to engage sensitively with people in Sudan and South Sudan. They may be male or female and should have some experience of fund-raising, advocacy and liaison with donors.

They must be willing to visit Sudan and South Sudan at least twice a year (expenses will be paid). Working closely with TFS Trustees the new Director will promote, develop and administer a growing charity dedicated to the education and medical needs of marginalized women and children, which is supported by Friends Together for Sudan, a US charity.

The Director will be expected to work from his/her home or office for a minimum of 16 hours a week, reporting to TFS Trustees and keeping in close contact by email with TFS colleagues in Khartoum and Juba, managing as well as monitoring their work.

The Director will have considerable autonomy. (S)he should therefore have a good track record as a self-starter and preferably with some knowledge of Sudan and South Sudan. Willingness to adopt and take forward the ethos of the charity's founders will be key.

A more detailed description of the position can be downloaded here.

Interviews are expected to be held in central London during July 2012.

Applicants should send their details by June 20th to:

Malcolm Grundy (TfS Trustee),
4 Portal Road,
York YO26 6BQ.

+44(0)1904787387 malcolm@togetherforsudan.org

A Fortunate Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:52:00 +0000

TfS Trustees were fortunate to meet on 13 April Ms Islam Ali (on the left) and Mrs Martina Yanga for an in-depth discussion of how Sudanese residents of the UK can help the work of Together for Sudan in both Sudan and South Sudan.

Ms Islam Ali (left) and Mrs Martina Yanga

It is noteworthy that thanks to an initiative by Islam Ali two teachers in a self-help school in Omdurman are already being supported by the NGO, Children of Sudan. Many thanks to them. And a warm welcome to anyone willing to join in supporting this important work.

Please contact us through our enquiries e-mail: enquiries@togetherforsudan.org

A Teacher for Kenneth Fraser

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 22:43:00 +0000

Our Khartoum office report that a generous Sudanese donor has offered to fund a teacher in one of the self-help schools for the displaced in the Khartoum area. We have chosen the Kenneth Fraser school in Omdurman to benefit from this support. The school has lost many students and 6 teachers who have recently moved to the South, but is still working with some 300 pupils, mostly displaced from Darfur and Kordofan, and 12 teachers.

It is interesting to note that the school is named for Dr Kenneth Fraser, a medical missionary from Scotland, who ran away from home at the age of 14 to join the army and eventually retired as a major-general in the army medical corps. He moved to South Sudan in 1920 and died in Lui after 15 years’ medical missionary work among the Moru people. It seems fitting that a school should still commemorate his legacy of service.

We hope that others will be moved to join the supporters of schools for the displaced in Sudan.

Learn about making a donation to Together for Sudan

The Teacher Training and Support Project

Scholarships for Elementary Education

Closing day of Literacy Training

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 22:11:00 +0000

Our Khartoum office reports the successful conclusion of the training course for literacy teachers. One of the trainers commented that the trainees were highly motivated and had participated effectively in the training programme.
See the start of this training here.

The British Embassy representative participated in the training too.

Teacher Leila went on to say that she was sure that all the trainees were qualified and motivated to set up and run their own literacy classes.

The trainees come from all areas surrounding the three towns which make up the Sudanese capital and should therefore be able to ensure a wide availability of classes for displaced women.

Trainers and Trainees proudly pose with their certificates.

The challenge now for Together for Sudan is to mobilize resources to support at least 20 of these classes. Each class, for 20 women, will cost us around 50 pounds a month.

Can you help ?
If you can help please donate what every you can spare.

Learn about making a donations to Together for Sudan or

Donate online now with a credit or debit card using our Paypal charity account

International Woman's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:46:00 +0000

Neimat speaking at the British Embassy

Together for Sudan was well represented at the celebration of International Women’s Day organized this month by the British Embassy in Khartoum. Country Coordinator, Mrs Neimat Hussein, gave the first speech, focusing on the literacy teachers’ training organized by Together for Sudan and funded by the British Embassy. She also gave an interview to a local TV station.

Fatihia, Mona, Eman, and Muahib, literacy teachers attended he celebration

Five of the trainees also attended and briefed the participants on their experience of the training.
Please consider supporting our Women's Literacy Project, to learn more click here.

More Good News From Khartoum

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:21:00 +0000

“ Good news today from Khartoum! One of our Nuba graduates, Ms Naglaa Yacoub Abbo, has been awarded a scholarship to attend the prestigious St Gallen symposium next May. The symposium at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland brings together 600 thinkers and decision-makers with 200 talented young personalities to develop solutions to key issues of our time. Naglaa has been invited as one of these 200 ‘leaders of tomorrow’ from all over the world. This year’s symposium has the title “Facing Risk”. That’s something with which Nuba women are all too familiar!

Naglaa graduated last year with a BSc (Honours) from the Faculty of Rural Extension, Education and Development at Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman. Her degree project was on Violence against Women. Her university fees were met by Together for Sudan thanks to the generous grant from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, who also nominated Naglaa for the St Gallen event. Many thanks to the Foundation for their interest and support.

This award to Naglaa is also a recognition of the work of Together for Sudan and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for the education of women in Africa. Thank you to our friends at St Gallen.”

Literacy from Lambeth

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:35:00 +0000

In October 2011 Together for Sudan held a charitable auction event to raise funds for its work in Sudan. Through the kindness of many people around £10,000.00 was raised some of which has now been spent on our Womens Literacy Project in Khartoum.
Neimat Hussain of the Khartoum TfS project centre reports below.

"The literacy training is going on well, Saudi had accompanied the trainees to Alfateh -2 (Philip’s class) yesterday to practice what they have acquired from the training course. It was absolutely enjoyable for both the trainers and trainees, because every person was put into practice.

A TfS trainee practices her newly learned skills.

One of the course enrollees’ acquired the skills of reading and writing in just four months".

This is not unusual with the right training. The provision of literacy is a key skill that enhances and enables marginalised Sudanese women. You can help us to keep this vital training project going by making a donation either online or directly to our treasurer.

Please click here to learn more.

The opportunity to provide this training was made possible by the kindness of those donating and bidding at our Lambeth Auction event all the trustees of Together for Sudan are truly grateful for the generosity of all those that took part in that event - Thank you all.

Embassy Grant Update

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:20:00 +0000

Baha el Din Mohamed seen addressing the trainees.

The training of 30 literacy teachers in the Reflect method started today in our Khartoum office, with a bunch of very enthusiastic and interested trainees. The training is being funded by a generous grant from the British Embassy, whose representative, Baha el Din Mohamed is seen in this photo addressing the trainees during their first session. The training will last two weeks. Thereafter we expect the trainees to set up classes for women using the meeting facilities of self-help schools and community centres in the displaced areas around Khartoum.

Check out some pictures of this on our Facebook Page.

British Embassy Grant

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:40:00 +0000

A recent grant from the British Embassy in Khartoum will allow us to train 35 literacy teachers in the Khartoum area. The majority of these will be women, several of whom we hope will be able to set up literacy classes. It seems a miracle, given our present financial crisis, but four of our eight projects continue to function, including University Scholarships for Women, Vocational Training, Women’s Literacy classes and Eye Care Outreach. However, funding needs urgently to be replenished if we are to continue to support education for Sudanese women in both Sudan and South Sudan.

Small regular donations help us to plan ahead and are a really effective way of supporting our work.

Learn how to donate here

South Kordofan Update

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:40:00 +0000

Our colleague Saudi from the Together for Sudan office in Khartoum visited Kadugli in late December and reports that he found Together for Sudan watchman Nazar still on duty despite the looting of our office. No usable equipment remains in the building. Our two colleagues visited the landlord who promised to do general maintenance but all equipment will need to be replaced. Meanwhile, Kadugli remains tense and during Saudi’s visit to the local Commissioner, Together for Sudan was asked to move our upcoming Eye Care Outreach to Talodi – to which some 2,000 people from other areas of South Kordofan have fled seeking safety in recent months. The local Humanitarian Affairs Commission has lost most partners in UN agencies and international organizations. And it was not possible for Saudi to check on the more than 20 solar lighting panels, most in unstable areas, which Together for Sudan had recently set up on schools and clinics.

See the Nuba section on our website

Eye Care News

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:16:00 +0000

News just in of two successful eye care outreaches in the suburbs of Khartoum and Omdurman last month. A total of 214 patients were seen; 139 were prescribed medicines, mainly eye drops; 51 were referred to hospital for sight tests; and 50 were recommended for operations. Many thanks to our indefatigable doctors who undertake this work and to Izdihar and colleagues from our Khartoum office who organize the day’s work and provide indispensable support.

We have just collated the eye care statistics for 2011. 5074 patients were seen, just over half of them at 24 day-long outreaches in the Khartoum displaced areas and the rest in the Nuba Mountains. 477 of the recommended operations were carried out, mostly for cataracts, and with an excellent success rate. The others will be arranged as soon as security conditions permit in the Nuba Mountains. We are glad to have been able to help so many people but the needs remain enormous and our generous donors - Dark and Light and Light for the World - have been obliged to suspend funding for us in 2012 because of the financial crisis. Can you help?

Our Eye Care Project web page

This team helped many in the Nuba Mountains early in 2011

News and Developments

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:56:00 +0000

Plans To Set Up Closer Ties with Ahfad University for Women.

TfS is currently in conversation with Ahfad University, our first partner, to strengthen the relationship by helping Ahfad improve the English language kills of first year students. President Gasim Badri, a TfS Patron, has made it a policy through the years to include southern and other displaced women, many of whom now remain at Ahfad, to complete their education. We salute Dr. Gasim for his far sighted and humanitarian approach to education as he follows in the footsteps of his grandfather who insisted on the need to educate girls and of his father who founded the school which eventually became Ahfad University for Women.

News from South Kordofan.

The Together for Sudan field office at Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan has been closed since early June when widespread fighting broke out between Sudanese government forces and local militias. The area remains insecure and the TfS office closed although some of the looted furniture and equipment has been returned. Office guard Nazar keeps an eye on the situation but TfS Field Coordinator Ibrahim is unable for security reasons to return to Kadugli and now works in our Khartoum office. Sadly, a planed TfS Eye Care Outreach at Kadugli hospital later this year, using a team of eye specialists from
Khartoum, has been indefinitely postponed.

Eye Care Outreach in Women’s Prison, Omdurman.

During October Dr. Nabila Radi examined 113 women, 17 children and six men in the women’s prison in Omdurman. Appropriate medications as well as eye drops and vitamins were given to 88 people. Thirty seven women in need of corrective lenses were scheduled to be seen by a volunteer refractionist and prescriptions were sent to Together for Sudan to follow up. Three operations – two for bone malformation/obstruction and one for glaucoma – were scheduled. TfS Assistant Project Coordinator Izdihar reports that there are currently 180 children living with their mothers in the prison. The majority of the imprisoned women will have been arrested for brewing beer which is illegal but often the only way displaced and impoverished families can provide for their children. A second TfS Eye Care Outreach involving over 100 people was held by Dr. Shadia Alkhir Alshafia in Haj Yusuf outside Khartoum also in October.

Lillian

WHY SUDAN AND WHY EDUCATION OF WOMEN?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:15:00 +0000

People often want to know how Together for Sudan began. The answer is that TfS was born in Sudan following a request for help from Sudanese women. But what, people ask next, is Together for Sudan accomplishing? And does it work?

These questions are on target and usually result in those of us who know Together for Sudan beginning to speak all at once. It’s true that working in Sudan can be difficult due to the enormous needs of the people, the size of the country, extreme climate and increasingly difficult travel regulations for foreigners. Then there are the many requests for medical, financial and other help which are beyond our mandate, to say nothing of our limited means.

From time to time bureaucracy, misunderstanding and delay have turned into the “Are we really getting anywhere?” feeling, especially when the work which our Sudanese colleagues are doing has been impeded. But that doesn’t last long when we remember what Together for Sudan has accomplished, how we have developed through the years and the opportunities which lie ahead. Finding ourselves now on the verge of starting work in South Sudan as well as continuing in the north, I shake my head and wonder at the audacity — and the privilege — of it all. Working with women to help other women is what TfS is about.

My response to the question “Why Sudan?” is that I was living in Khartoum in the mid 1990s, a time of great neglect of the Sudanese people by the international community, when a group of Muslim women invited me to set up peace dialogue between northern and southern women. About this same time a Christian mother in the Nuba Mountains asked me to put her daughter through university and I agreed to do so because several people, some of them unknown to me, had helped me through university. The work which is TfS grew from those small beginnings, changing many times along the way but always listening to what Sudanese women say they need most: education for themselves and their children. More broadly, what Sudanese women need most – and this is true in both Sudan and South Sudan – is a hand up rather than a hand-out. They can take it from there.

The first project in the work known today as Together for Sudan was University Scholarships for Women. Since then TfS has sent some 200 women through universities in Sudan and currently has 154 women at universities in Sudan and South Sudan. In the late 1990s a number of projects, including a mobile library, a listening service for suicidal and despairing people and a women’s centre, flowered and faded for various reasons.

At present TfS has eight projects, most urgently in need of funding. In addition to University Scholarships for Women, Women’s Literacy Classes, HIV/AIDS Awareness Outreach and Eye Care Outreach, there are also Vocational Training, Scholarships for HIV/AID Affected Children and Solar Lighting Panels for schools,clinics and community centers off the electricity grid. May I ask you to choose one of these projects – perhaps one related to help given to you at a time of need – and send us a cheque? There is joy in sharing!

Lillian Craig Harris

Dear Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:48:00 +0000

In recent months there have been major developments in both Together for Sudan’s work and in Sudan
itself. We remain Muslims and Christians working together in service to the poor and dispossessed, women and children in particular. But Sudan’s recent transformation into the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan presents us with both difficulties and opportunities. Thousands of southerners living in the north have returned to their home areas and our office in Khartoum has been hard hit. Former Deputy Country Coordinator Victor and former TfS Accountant Minallah are among the thousands of people now living in Juba, capital of South Sudan, many with no proper housing or employment. Meanwhile, a significant number of Together for Sudan university scholars have left the north and re-registered at Juba University, hoping that Together for Sudan can continue to support them.

Arriving in Khartoum in early October, TfS Secretary Alan Goulty and I knew —despite the present TfS funding deficit – that we must answer the question “Should we expand our work to South Sudan?” During a brief visit to Juba, we called on contacts at Juba University, the Episcopal church and various international and local organizations. It was not, however, until we visited a recently set up organization dealing with HIV/AIDS awareness that I realized how well prepared TfS is to work in South Sudan. Editha, former leader of our HIV/AIDS Awareness Outreach in the Khartoum area, is now in Juba and eager to be re employed by TfS – as are Victor and Minallah.

Together for Sudan’s roots go back to a small group of Muslim and Christian women who sought to bring understanding and peace between the two religions and, seeing the number of minarets as well as churches in Juba, I decided that TfS will be right at home there.

With your support we can continue our work in Khartoum and environs and also begin work in South Sudan. To start with, we hope to find funding for more university scholarships as well as for women’s literacy classes and HIV/AIDS outreach. And already the indefatigable Dr. Nabila Radi who heads the TfS Eye Care Outreach in the Khartoum area is talking about an outreach to the South Sudan city of Wau.
November 2011

Lillian Craig Harris

Fr Giovanni Vantini

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:15:00 +0000

All friends of Sudan mourn the passing of Father Giovanni Vantini, for nearly 60 years one of the leading scholars in the rich field of Sudanese studies. TfS Trustee, Herman Bell, has generously launched a fund in Father Vantini’s memory, to support the educational work of Together for Sudan. Contributions will be greatly appreciated. Donate on line here or go to our Donate page for other options.

Herman has also written the following tribute:

Father Giovanni Vantini was inspired by the extensive history of Christianity in the Sudan and spent most of his life serving the people of the Sudan. He is remembered with affection by his Muslim and Christian friends and students.

Father Vantini was born in Villafranca di Verona on 1 January 1923. He was ordained a priest in 1947, trained in Arabic and sent to the Sudan. There he spent 58 years, teaching in schools established by the Comboni missionaries, working in parish churches and St. Matthew’s Cathedral (Khartoum), engaging in journalistic endeavours such as Assalam [Peace], a bi-weekly journal launched at the time of independence in 1956, and conducting research on the history of the Church along the Nile for most of the past 2000 years. In 2005, he published La Missione del Cuore - I comboniani in Sudan nel ventesimo secolo [The Mission of the Heart – The Comboni Missionaries in Sudan in the Twentieth Century] (Bologna). In spite of ill health in his final years he managed to achieve the publication of Rediscovering Christian Nubia (Khartoum) in 2009. He died in Verona on the 3rd of May 2011 at the age of 87.

His command of Arabic was a vital skill for the production of his Oriental Sources Concerning Nubia (Heidelberg & Warsaw, 1975), an important companion study to the historical and archaeological work in which he was involved at that time in the Nile Valley. He wrote one of his major publications in Arabic: Ta' rikh al-masihiyya fi-l mamalik al-Nubiyya al-qadima wa-l- Sudan al-hadith [The History of Christianity in the Old Nubian Kingdoms and the Modern Sudan] (Khartoum, 1978).

In the colloquial Arabic of the Sudan there is a relevant expression of condolence which is widely used: al-baraka fiikum ‘Blessing upon you.’ Death reminds us of the great store of blessing that is available to us all. ‘Blessed be those who mourn for they shall be comforted.’

Saint Anna, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Faras Cathedral.

Father Vantini was admired as a scholar and a man of faith. He was also a kind and generous friend. Even though the Canticle of the Creatures was composed almost 700 years before his birth by Saint Francis, the following verses still seem particularly appropriate.

Altissimu, onnipotente bon Signore,
Tue so le laude la gloria e l'honore
et onne benedictione.
………
Laudato si', mi Signore, per sora nostra Morte corporale,
da la quale nullu homo vivente po skappare,
………
Laudate et benedicete mi Signore et rengratiate
et serviteli cun grande humilitate.

Good Lord, most high and almighty,
To thee be praises, glory, honour and all blessings.
………
Be praised, my Lord, for our sister bodily death
From whom no human being can escape.
………
Praise and bless my Lord; thank Him,
And serve Him with great humility.

By Herman Bell - TfS Trustee.

Together for Sudan visits Omdurman Women’s prison.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 21:38:00 +0000

On 20 October the TFS eye care team led by Dr Nabila Radi visited Omdurman Women’s prison and saw 113 patients, of whom 90 were women and 17 children. There are reportedly 180 children in all staying with their mothers in the prison. Medicines were provided for 88 patients and arrangements made for 37 women to have their sight tested by a volunteer refractionist so that corrective lenses can be supplied by TFS. It is worth noting that 50 of the women seen on this visit were studying in literacy classes in the prison. So it is all the more important that they see well enough to read.

Three patients were also referred for operations, which will be carried out at the police hospital as the women are not allowed to leave custody to have the operations done elsewhere.

Alan Goulty

Kadugli Office Update

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:31:00 +0000

It is a great sadness that the TfS office in Kadugli, South Kordofan, has been closed since fighting swept across the area in early June. None of our colleagues were injured but among items looted from our Kadugli office was a very expensive microscope essential for eye surgery during Eye Care Outreach. We remain hopeful that the microscope will be returned and that – working through the Kadugli office – we may be able to continue Eye Care Outreach in the Kadugli hospital. We hope that a colleague from our Khartoum office will be able to visit Kadugli soon. Meanwhile, our loyal guard, who was sent away by soldiers before the looting, is back in the office for which we had paid rent for several months in advance. However, our TfS Field Representative is now working in the Khartoum office. Alan and I were denied permission to go to Kadugli on our recent trip.

Lillian Craig Harris - TfS Director

Together for Sudan in the Nuba Mountains - click here to learn more

A group of trainees outside the TfS Kadugli office and project centre

Lambeth Palace Event Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:48:00 +0000

The Sudanese Ambassador attended

The TfS fundraising event at London’s Lambeth Palace was a major success – and also great fun. Lady Patey and Dr. Christine Green arranged the event with excellent support from Lambeth Palace. Over 8,000 sterling was raised, some 4,600 during the auction of promises. The Barbershop Quartet, which has sung for us on several occasions, was another highlights of the event and I avoided creating a third highlight by not falling off the ladder which I climbed to give a short speech. Together for Sudan is enormously grateful to Lambeth Palace personnel for their assistance and hospitality. TfS Patron Archbishop Rowan Williams was in Africa and thus unable to attend the event.

Lillian's comments at the event

Read the report on our website

A Trip to Juba

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:34:00 +0000

During an early October visit to Sudan Alan and I make a quick trip to Juba, now the capital of South Sudan. Two of our substantive staff from Khartoum, including Deputy Country Coordinator Victor, had moved to Juba and we hoped to check out how feasible it might be to expand TfS work to South Sudan. We were impressed by the vitality of the new state and the need for literacy training for women, HIV/AIDS Awareness outreach and other work which would fit our projects. Although TfS has at present no funding to begin working in Juba we would welcome all donations to do so!

Lillian Craig Harris

Donate to our work online here

Go to our Donate web page to see other options

Lambeth Palace Comments

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:10:00 +0000

Lillian Craig Harris, director of Together for Sudan spoke at our recent charity auction in Lambeth palace London. Her comments are replicated below.

11 October 2011

Lillian speaking at the event

Good evening and thank you for joining Together for Sudan for this fundraising event which is also a celebration of our service to the Sudanese people. I am grateful to Together for Sudan Patron Archbishop Rowan Williams and his staff for inviting us here this evening even though the Archbishop is currently in Africa.

Many thanks are due as well to Dr. Christine Green and to Lady Patey for the many hours they have spent organizing this event. And, of course, special thanks to Peter Arbuthnot, our auctioneer, and to member of the Barbershop Quartet who have sung for us on several occasions. I am also grateful to fellow Together for Sudan Trustees Norman Swanney and Adrian Thomas as well as to Dave Lewis, the Together for Sudan webmaster, who publicised this event. And, of course, my great appreciation to all our helpers and supporters, especially you who are here this evening.

Together for Sudan has been a blessed charity since it began in the late 1990s. Our educational and health care projects remain in great demand in the Khartoum area and in South Kordofan where we have a second office in Kadugli. However, the charity presently faces severe financial difficulties as well as disruption of our work due to violence in South Kordofan. Our Kadugli office has been closed since early June due to fighting and subsequent looting of our office there. We also face the challenge of recent loss of southern colleagues who have left Khartoum for South Sudan with the birth of that new nation.

Alan and I arrived in the UK yesterday after visits to both Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and Juba, the capital of the new nation of South Sudan. We are invited to begin work in South Sudan and even have there two former colleagues from our Khartoum office who would gladly work for us in Juba. The needs and opportunities are enormous and we lack only the necessary funding. Today many people are reaching out to help South Sudan but relatively few are engaged directly with the critically important education of women and children.

Sudan’s present circumstances are the greatest challenge which Together for Sudan has faced in our more than 15 years of service to the Sudanese people. From the beginning – and at the request of Sudanese women – the work which became Together for Sudan has brought Muslims and Christians together in service to the poor. We hope to continue this work because it is a peace building gift which Muslims and Christians can give to one another. Our basic intent is to cross tribal, religious and social barriers in order to make peace by demonstrating that people of different faiths and backgrounds can work together to help other people in need.

This is who we are and what we believe.

In our present circumstances of combined peril and opportunity, I am reminded of my mother who was a missionary nurse and loved people of all sorts, mothers and babies in particular. Mom taught me to look on, rather than look away from, the suffering of others. When there were difficult times and seemingly insurmountable obstacles she would say, “Sometimes you just have to do it!” And then she would get busy helping.

So what would she do if she were here today? I think that she would reach out to desperate Sudanese women who long for education for themselves and their children. Several years ago when I asked displaced women in Darfur what they needed they cried out “Teach us to read and we will help ourselves!” With that mandate, Together for Sudan carries on although several of our projects are currently unfunded and the future is not clear.

Thank you for joining us at this critically important time for all Sudanese people. It remains extremely important that we as individuals ask ourselves “Am I my sister’s keeper?” And that we respond positively. Thank you all for being with us tonight. Enjoy!

LILLIAN CRAIG HARRIS, Director .

Read about the event on our website here

A Story on Vocational Training Scholars

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:49:00 +0000

Displaced families face a daily struggle to survive on the outskirts of Khartoum, where there is lack of running water, electricity, or healthcare. In spite of these harsh conditions, young people in these areas are determined to gain qualifications and lift themselves out of poverty. We felt this determination while we were supervising them during their year of study and it was obvious in their results where all our 21 vocational scholars passed the exam with very good grades. We have sixteen scholars in Alfiha centre, two in Vocational Training Centre No (1), and three in St. Joseph Centre.

Vocational Scholars learn while tackling a practical challenge.

The majority of our scholars (fourteen students) study Electricity, five study Mechanics and one each auto electricity, and refrigeration and air-conditioning. It is worth mentioning that even our two scholars who couldn’t attend the exam because of medical problems, sat the exam later and gained good results. Their success shows that people whose lives were devastated by war in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, and South Sudan are hungry to learn and they just need guidance, support, and care to achieve their dreams. Thanks to the Gordon Memorial College Trust Fund for financing this project!

The TfS Vocational Scholarship Project

Eye Care Results

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:33:00 +0000

This lady has Pterygium

Our eye care team led by the indefatigable Dr Nabila Radi continued their excellent work for the displaced around Khartoum in September. At outreaches in squatter areas north of Omdurman on 11 September and south of Khartoum on the 29th, she saw 232 patients, 141 of them women and 7 children. In the second outreach there were an unusually large number of advanced cases of glaucoma, sadly diagnosed as beyond effective treatment. The patients concerned were given drops as a palliative. In all 118 patients received medicines, 20 were referred for operations, 48 received glasses and 76 will have further tests to determine the lenses they need. Thanks to Dr Nabila for all she does to help.

Sadly this boy's eye must be removed

But there is no sign of the demand for these services diminishing. How much more could be done if we only had more resources!

The TfS Eye Care Project

Please donate to our work even small donations add up !

Khartoum Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:11:00 +0000

One of the challenges facing a small charity is to keep down the inescapable overhead costs. Our Khartoum team have just made a useful contribution through finding a new office, smaller than the previous one but adequate, in better condition and at a lower rent. It is in the same area of the city known as Khartoum 3. Here is a snap of the outside and one of Rasha in her office interviewing one of the TfS university scholars.

Sadly Rasha is leaving us at the end of September to return to England. We shall miss her great contribution especially to the drafting of project reports and of notes for this site. We wish her well in whatever she decides to do next.