Stirring the Pot

If you are a woman, be glad you were not born in South Sudan, where your lot in life would be one continuous uphill struggle to stay alive and provide for your family. In fact, if you are female in Sudan, your chances of dying in childbirth are much greater than your chances of ever attending a school. Mercy Beyond Borders is working to change that dismal statistic because, of course, it is not statistics we are talking about but real human beings with the same dreams and desires as you and I.

Sr Kathleen has been teaching health and hygiene workshops to Toposa women in the villages. The big "draw" (aside from Kathleen's sparkling personality and fine teaching techniques!) is the fact that Kathleen brings with her sacks of sorghum flour and heads of cabbage. As you can see in the above photo, at the end of the workshop the women cook the flour into "ugali" porridge to enjoy with stewed cabbage beneath the shade trees. For these village women this is a marvelous feast, made all the more wonderful and welcome because the rains have not come and there is much hunger at this time of year. The women express their gratitude by singing and dancing spontaneously.

As we in the U.S. approach our national holiday of Thanksgiving, let us be grateful for the abundant blessings we have--and eager to share our resources with our sisters and mothers and daughters in Sudan.

Wonderful Volunteers

The work of Mercy Beyond Borders depends on all of YOU, the people who support our efforts with your time, talents, connections and donations. I am so impressed by your creativity and commitment--I only wish there were a way for me to profile EACH of you individually! 

Mercy Beyond Borders relies on its wonderful volunteers across the United States.  You have collected pledges for running a marathon, organized a pennies competition at your primary school, set up monthly contributions via the PayPal button on our website, hosted dinners and brunches at your homes and donated the money that would have been spent at restaurants, designed original jewelry to sell and then given all the proceeds to MBB, invited friends and family to honor your birthday or jubilee or anniversary by donating to MBB instead of giving you a gift, convinced your local parish or Rotary Club or book group to fund MBB, studied about Sudan at your high school or college and raised thousands of dollars for your displaced sisters and mothers and daughters in Sudan.  The result?  MBB is able to channel more and more funding into its projects on the ground in Southern Sudan. 

We also have several brave volunteers who travel into S. Sudan with their expertise.  One is pictured here with a Sudanese health worker: Shirley Tamoria, MD, a medical doctor and member of the MBB Board.

As the intermediary for all this energy and kindness and generosity, I am the one privileged to say, "THANK YOU as I stand amazed and grateful for all that you are doing for women and girls in Southern Sudan!"

Why is she smiling?

If you read the news, you'd think that there isn't much to smile about in Southern Sudan these days.  It's true that there has been a resurgence of violence, and that during 2009 there have been more people killed in Southern Sudan than in Darfur....  It's true that the rains failed again this year, such that each passing month spreads the scourge of hunger...  It's true that two of the faculty at St Bakhita School in Narus fell ill in September: Sister Agnes was hospitalized with severe malaria, and Sister Kathleen was bitten by a scorpion in her tukul.

Despite all the hardship, this young girl is smiling.  Why?  Because she is lucky enough to be a student at St Bakhita School.  Because she's learning and growing, and receiving two meals each day from the school.  And because she has just learned about Mercy Beyond Borders' new scholarship program for girls graduating from 8th grade!  MBB will provide full scholarships for secondary school to the top academic achiever each year and also to the girl who has displayed the best leadership and service at the school.  MBB scholarships motivate the girls to study well, and enable the best and brightest to continue their education through college.  It is one concrete was to ease the severe "education gap" that exists in the country, where fewer than 10% of girls have any formal schooling.

Check out our website next month (http://www.mercybeyondborders.org/) for details on how you can particpate in the MBB scholarship program in Sudan.

Skyscraper, Sudanese style

I have a distinct memory of browsing through a copy of National Geographic when I was about 9 years old and being riveted by a photo of a termite mound in Brazil that appeared to be taller than the buildings in the new capital city, Brasilia, then under construction. The photo made a serious impression on me. I studied and studied that picture, convincing myself in the end that it must have been the clever angle of the photographer that made the work of mere termites look mightier than the work of construction crews with bulldozers, carving their new city out of the jungle.

Since traveling and working in Sudan, I now realize that my childhood conclusion was wrong--frightfully wrong. Indeed, termites do create mounds that rise 15 or 20 feet in the air, vertical dung heaps more imposing and in some ways more solid than their surroundings. Nothing stands in their way. Terminix wouldn't stand a chance! The termites go about their work, unseen and unhurried but unstoppable.

My colleague and friend, Sister Maureen Limer, told me that she once returned to her mud and thatch hut in Sudan after having been away for a week. The painted wooden posts that framed the doorway looked somehow different, so she put her hand onto the frame to take a closer look. The paint was still there, a thin layer of color in the shape of the doorframe, but it encased only air. The wooden branches beneath had been entirely eaten away. When she touched the paint, it crumbled to dust. What could she do but laugh?

Good Morning!

When I flip on the stovetop burner in my California kitchen each morning to boil water and then --just a few short minutes later--enjoy a fresh cup of coffee, I marvel at what I do NOT have to do to begin my day.

I do NOT leave home long before dawn. I do NOT walk several hours in the predawn darkness to find and cut firewood. I do NOT bundle it into a heavy load. I do NOT carry that load on my head for hours. I do NOT break some of those branches into smaller twigs and carefully coax a flame from flint on the dirt floor by using bits of leaf and dry bark. I do NOT tend that flame in a mud hut til it becomes a steady fire. I do NOT boil the water (hauled during yesterday's chores) for a good long while to kill the parasites. I do NOT develop an eye infection from the smoky interior of the hut. I do NOT worry about infants falling into the fire. I do NOT go without breakfast myself in order to save the precious grain for the children.

In short, I do NOT start my day as the displaced women of Southern Sudan do.

Mercy Beyond Borders works with the displaced women and girls of Southern Sudan in ways that alleviate their extreme poverty. Thank you for partnering with us to make their lives a bit easier.

When there is no water

The rains have failed for two years now in the southeastern part of Sudan, adding to the difficulties of daily life. The villagers must now walk farther and farther each day so that their animals can drink and they themselves can survive.

In neighboring Kenya, ongoing drought has meant a crippling loss of hydroelectric power, with consequent sporadic blackouts of electricity throughout the country, including in its capital, Nairobi. But in Southern Sudan, there are no rolling blackouts--there is a constant blackout. Electricity is rare--and where it exists, it's usually limited to a few hours per day. Fuel to run the generators is prohibitively expensive to purchase and also to transport into Sudan.

The plentiful oil that originates in South Sudan is piped only to the North (where it is sold for wealth and weapons by the government in Khartoum) and has not yet "trickled down" to the villages that still lack the basics for survival.

The Daily Grind (not the coffee kind)

This young girl in Sudan is grinding sorghum by hand, rolling a heavy rock over and over another rock. The picture was taken, not in some past century, but this summer in a typical southern Sudanese village. If you've ever been tempted to think of your own life as a "daily grind," take a long look at this picture and realize just how lucky you are.

This girl is about 10 years old. She does not attend school. She does not belong to a soccer team. She has no toys or books or bicycle. From daylight until darkness, every day is filled entirely with tasks related to survival: hauling water, washing, finding firewood, growing food, preparing food, cooking meals, taking care of younger siblings, making (goatskin) clothing, etc.

Mercy Beyond Borders encourages families to allow their daughters to attend school, and we support the education of 830 girls at St Bakhita Primary School in Narus, Sudan. We know that on average, a girl who completes 7 or more years of education will marry later and will have 2.2 fewer children, and that those children will themselves be healthier and better educated. Education is the key. Help us make it a reality for more girls in Sudan!