You may hold the key

When I snapped this photo in S. Sudan last year, I was focused on the peacefulness of the scene, the bright stripes of the blanket draped on the young man walking along the dusty path and the colorful gourd he was carrying in his left hand. Only later did I notice the head of a small girl popping up from the basket on the donkey.

Now as I look at this picture, I wonder, "What will be the future of this young girl?" Will she end up --like so many girls in S. Sudan today--hauling water and firewood all her days, toiling by hand to grow a patch of vegetables, mothering a family, perhaps dying in childbirth? (Sudan has the highest mortality rate in the world during labor and delivery.)

Or will this girl be given the chance to enroll in formal education? If she does go to school, her options will be vastly expanded beyond her village hut. And her own children will be fewer in number, healthier, and better educated. Your gift to Mercy Beyond Borders raises her chances.
You may hold the key to her future!

Creature Discomfort

In the book THIS FLOWING TOWARD ME, my recently-published memoir, I devote an entire chapter to my mortal fear of spiders. My rather tame suburban upbringing had not prepared me for the frightful range of creepy crawlers that greatly outnumber us bipeds on the planet. Southern Sudan has more than its share!

During my 2008 trip to Narus, I nervously shared an outhouse with a disturbingly large black spider that eyed me from the wooden wall about 12" from my bared bottom. He stayed there all week, menacing but motionless. I, on the other hand, made my daily visits as short as possible, all the while praying that this hairy thing was not from any species that hopped.... I never did learn if that spider was poisonous. No matter: if it had edged any closer to me, I would have died from sheer panic long before venom had a chance!

The Southern Sudanese are puzzled by this phobia of mine. They have fears far more real and more deadly: malaria, cholera, meningitis; land mines, attacks by bandits, tribal conflicts, and the ever-present awareness that their fragile peace agreement with Khartoum could crumble, dragging them back into civil war.

Mercy Beyond Borders works with displaced women and children in Southern Sudan to lift them up from extreme poverty. By supporting the education of girls and the entrepreneurial efforts of returning refugee women, we improve their lives bit by bit.

Join us! You'll find more info at our website: http://www.mercybeyondborders.org

You can also sign up to receive our monthly eNewsletter: simply send your name and email to mercybeyondborders@yahoo.com

What would you give for a Klondike Bar?

A few years back, there was a tv commercial portraying the extravagant contortions which ice cream lovers would put themselves through in order to obtain a Klondike Bar. It always made me laugh, but lately I've been wondering about that tagline, "What would you give for a Klondike Bar?" in relation to the situation in southern Sudan. So I ask today, "What would you give to improve the life of a woman or girl in Sudan?

Most of you, of course, have not had the opportunity of visiting Sudan. You haven't seen, up close and personal (as I have), the strength and resilience of the people and their innate dignity even in the midst of extreme poverty. Look at this girl: she is literally wearing a gunny sack, yet she is as beautiful as any Hollywood movie star! I snapped her picture when she ran out of her hut to dance in the rain during a rare and precious downpour at Kakuma Camp in the northern Kenyan desert, temporary home for 82,000 refugees, most of them from Sudan. For many of them, the camp has not been very temporary; they have lived in it for 10 or 15 years.

For those refugees who are now returning home from the camp to their villages in Sudan, life will remain difficult. With your help, MERCY BEYOND BORDERS will be there to ease their way a bit. MBB supports the education of girls, and funds entrepreneurial projects designed and implemented by the displaced women themselves. If you can help, send a check to Mercy Beyond Borders, 1885 De La Cruz Blvd #101, Santa Clara, CA 95050. Or use the PayPal button at www.mercybeyondborders.org

You will have found an inspired answer to the question, "What would you give to improve the life of a woman or girl in Sudan?" I'm confident, too, that your own life will be enriched in the giving. THANK YOU.

War or Peace?

Technically, Southern Sudan is at peace. The 21-yr civil war between North and South ended in 2005. Yet violence remains a fact of life, and this anti-aircraft gun beside a thatched hut reminds us that the globalization of arms sales has brought weapons of destruction to even the remotest places on the planet.
On March 6th the President of Sudan, Omar Bashir, was indicted by the ICC for war crimes. He retaliated immediately by evicting all major aid organizations from the Western, Northern and Eastern sectors of Sudan. Mercy Beyond Borders was not affected because we are operating in the South--but Bashir's actions show how vulnerable the displaced are throughout Sudan.
Southern Sudan itself was disrupted this month by a strike organized by former rebel soldiers, all of them disabled by war injuries. Claiming they had not been paid their pensions for many months, they blockaded the roads and stopped all traffic in and out of Southern Sudan. After ten days or so, the dispute was resolved, but not before 17 people were killed for trying to run the blockade.
So violence in Southern Sudan persists, but Mercy Beyond Borders remains committed to easing the extreme poverty of displaced women and girls there. The girls' school we are supporting, St. Bakhita's, now has 850 students. Educating these girls, with English as a common language across tribal divisions, just might tip the future of the country toward peace.... It certainly will help them to raise the standard of living for their own families in the years ahead.

School to School

These twin girls, orphaned by the Sudanese civil war, are now students at St Bakhita School in Narus, southern Sudan. The setting is less than ideal: blazing heat, 100 or more girls per classroom, some rooms without any desks or benches, few amenities, no running water, rustic outhouses, plenty of scorpions and spiders.... but the 800 students love being there. They come from two dozen different tribes, many of which have long histories of conflict. Here at St Bakhita's, all are learning English, making friends, and starting to bridge those ancestral divides.

Imagine the surprise of the students and faculty when they heard that 4 schools in the United States have been raising money for them! St Mary's elementary school in Sacramento, CA, St Francis elementary school in Bakersfield, CA, Sacred Heart elementary school in Sacramento, CA, and Mercy High School in Middletown, CT have already raised a total of $14,000 for their "sisters" in Sudan.

I am dreaming large dreams now: I dream that the day will soon come when every Catholic School in the U.S. will reach out to schools in Sudan with generous hands. If Mercy schools can set the pace, then everyone will catch the spirit. $50 buys a goat for the students' nutrition. $100 supports a girl at school for a full year. $3,000 pays the annual salary of a teacher. Imagine what we could do together to boost the future of this first generation of girls in Sudan ever to go to school!

Emerging from Violence

The signing of a peace agreement does not, alas, erase the effects of violence bred during decades of civil war. St. Bakhita School in Narus, Sudan, was attacked more than once from the air. Some of its students lost limbs from shrapnel; damage to the buildings is still visible. Cement-lined bomb shelters carved deep into the earth outside the classrooms bear silent witness to the threat of bombardment that hung over the students for many years. Since the peace agreement in 2005 ended active conflict in southern Sudan, life is slowly improving.

School is now a safe place for these girls--safer than home, where they may be exposed to abusive relationships from demobilized soldiers, family members who have turned to alcohol, or random violence. School offers them not only a current haven, but the hope of a future where they--that is, females--will actually have a voice. Mercy Beyond Borders feels privileged to support the students and faculty of St Bakhita School for Girls. $100 keeps a girl in school for a full year. $50 purchases a goat whose milk and offspring improve the diet of the boarders. Join us in this effort if you can! Donate via PayPal at www.mercybeyondborders.org, or MBB, 1885 De La Cruz Blvd #101, Santa Clara CA 95050.

Marginalization of Women

Why is Africa so mired in poverty? Surely it's because of the scourge of AIDS, the enmity that tribalism fosters, the corruption endemic to governments there.... All of that is true, of course, but I would add another reason, less often cited: the marginalization of women in many African cultures.


In Africa, women hold up more than half the sky. They do much more than half the work. They rise long before dawn to fetch water. They till the soil with hand tools. They raise and cook the food for their families. They bear children in situations where death-by-childbirth is all too common. They hold families together when the males are either away from home (at war, or seeking employment) or dysfunctional at home (abusive, alcoholic). Yet women's gifts are neither recognized nor honored. They have no voice. In Sudan, for example, girls are literally the property of men, deemed valuable only insofar as they can bring in a dowry of cattle when the parents marry them off--cattle which are then used by the parents to buy wives for the all-important sons.


Cultures change slowly, but education is the key. That's why Mercy Beyond Borders is supporting the education of girls in south Sudan. Once women are literate, aware of their potential, and developing their gifts, there will be less poverty and more hope in Africa! Slowly, slowly, when women are less marginalized, life will improve for everyone.

The Geography of Sudan

Sudan is not only the largest country in Africa (roughly the size of western Europe) but also one of the least developed.

Sudan is really two countries: its northern half lies just below Egypt and shares Egypt's geography--vast, dry deserts flanking a narrow fertile swath created by the mighty Nile. Its peoples either live along the Nile or survive as nomads with their camels.

Sudan's southern half, however, contains mountains and plains, land made arable by heavy rainy seasons, and the world's biggest swamp (the "Sudd"). Its peoples include both farmers and herders who move with their cattle and goats. What little infrastructure existed in Southern Sudan was largely obliterated by the North's bombs during generations of civil war. That North-South ended with a peace agreement in 2005. But the war did not really end. It merely moved to the southwestern part of Sudan, known as DARFUR.

Increasing desertification is pushing the Sahara farther and farther south, and causing the northern camel herders to forage deeper into south Sudan to find water and pasture. The government in Khartoum has armed these herders--now known as "Janjaweed"--providing horses, machine guns, and air cover for them to destroy villages in their path. The devastation wreaked throughout southern Sudan for the past quarter-century is now being wreaked throughout Darfur. Omar Bashir, President of Sudan, has been cited for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

Mercy Beyond Borders is currently working in Southern Sudan with women and children displaced during the civil war, including some from Darfur.

It Takes A Child

Some of the greatest supporters of Mercy Beyond Borders' work in Sudan are children here in the United States. Young children. When they learn that MBB is supporting the first school for girls in the whole of Southern Sudan, they are intrigued. When they find out that $100 will pay tuition, lodging and food for an entire year for one student, they are hooked!

The first school to jump on board with MBB was St Francis Elementary School in Bakersfield California. The leadership of one teacher, Annemarie Anchordoquy, generated a creative burst of energy among her students, who subsequently raised nearly $2,000 for their "sisters" at St. Bakhita School in Narus, Sudan. Their enthusiasm spilled over to the Parents Group, too, who then made a sizeable contribution to the work of Mercy Beyond Borders. The picture shows the upper classes at St Bakhita School receiving postcards from the students at St Francis School in May 2008.

The most recent school to take up the challenge of providing education for girls in Sudan is St Mary's Elementary School in Sacramento, California. Though the school has fewer than 400 students, they raised $1,600 for St Bakhita School in one week! Amazing! Kudos to teacher Mary Jo Riehl and Principal Laura Allen, but most of all to their students' remarkable compassion-in-action. When I met with the student body on Jan 29th to share pictures and stories of Sudan, I was incredibly impressed by their engagement, their intelligent questions, and their evident caring for their fellow students half-a-world away.

What if every American student cared this much and acted this effectively for their peers in developing countries? What a different world we would have....

Perhaps you've wondered why Mercy Beyond Borders chose Southern Sudan as the location for its projects. Our mission--partnering with displaced women and children in ways that alleviate their extreme poverty--drew us to Sudan. That's where one-quarter of the world's displaced live! Nearly 40 years of civil war between North and South Sudan finally ended 3 yrs ago, allowing tens of thousands of refugees to finally leave the U.N. camps in Uganda and Kenya and walk back to their villages, and allowing Mercy Beyond Borders to start projects with them in villages throughout the South without the fear of being bombed.

[Tragically, war erupted in Darfur, the western part of Sudan, shortly after the peace agreement between North and South was signed. So the suffering of the Sudanese people continues, with the North still inflicting genocidal brutality on the people of Darfur.]

South Sudan, though technically "at peace," remains a difficult and dangerous place. It's like the Wild West: cattle-rustling, abductions, generalized violence. Removal of landmines will take many years. Returnees start with nothing. So the women have warmly welcomed Mercy Beyond Borders. We are in dialogue with them regarding the types of projects that will help them most. At the moment we have a Women's Bicycles Project and we are supporting the education of young girls. Stay tuned for future projects coming very soon!

On the ground in Sudan

Thanks to the fundraising of our MBB Ambassadors and the generosity of hundreds of donors across the United states, Mercy Beyond Borders is now supporting 2 wonderful projects in southern Sudan.

Ms. Teody Achilo, one of the founders of the Sudanese Women's Voice for Peace, oversees our Bicycles Project with women in several villages of Eastern Equatoria (the vast region of Sudan that is immediately above the northern Kenyan and Ugandan borders). The returning refugee women requested bikes to enable them to get their hand-grown vegetables to markets at neighboring villages without having to make the dangerous pre-dawn trips on foot. Bartering and selling their produce provides basic goods for their families as they literally rebuild from the ground up after long, fruitless years in refugee camps.

Sr Kathleen Connolly, a California Sister of Mercy, flew from San Francisco to Nairobi this morning, and will be moving on to St Bakhita School in Narus, Sudan at the end of January (or as soon as her visa is in order). Kathleen will help out at the school, tutoring some of the 800 girls, helping with after-school activities, and teaching maternal/child health and hygiene to the women in the area. Stay tuned for regular updates.