Lambeth Palace Comments

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

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

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

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.

News from Kadugli

The news from Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains is less good.  The TFS office there remains closed, its work is suspended and there is no news of the stolen operating microscope and solar panels.  And we have just heard that the Sudanese authorities have turned down a request from the Director to visit Kadugli because of continuing insecurity in the town.

News from Khartoum

Good news from Khartoum is in short supply these days.  But we were cheered by the success of our last two eye care outreaches in the Khartoum displaced areas just before the Eid.  A total of 265 patients were seen by our doctor and 43 referred to hospitals for operations, to be performed this month.  Thanks to Dark and Light, our generous sponsors for this project.

Letters of thanks

Some of the Together for Sudan University Graduates have recently written letters of appreciation and thanks for the support that they received in gaining and passing their University courses. They are all very grateful for the opportunity of making a difference to Sudan and improving the lives of those around them. See their words on our website.

• A letter from Alia
• A letter from Hawa
• A letter from Hana
• A letter from Asia

Furniture Found

Better news from Kadugli in that some of the furniture looted from the TFS office on 21 June has been returned, thanks primarily to good local police work.  But the eye care microscope and solar panels are still missing.  However the situation in the town is still too insecure to permit the office to resume work.  Let us pray that the holy month of Ramadan, which is about to begin, will ease the tensions there.

All in the day’s work for Dr Nabila

We have just received reports on two eye care outreaches held earlier this month, in a poor suburb of Omdurman and the North Khartoum district of Haj Yousif.  In all 229 patients were seen, 17 operations recommended, 30 pairs of glasses distributed and over 100 patients received eye drops or other medicines.  All in the day’s work for Dr Nabila but what a busy two days!

A start to fundraising in the USA.

With pending, and now achieved, federal permission to fundraise in the United States, Friends Together for Sudan has made a giant step forward.  Already Alan and I have lectured about Sudan and the work of Together for Sudan at Malloy College in New York and St. John’s Episcopal Church in Mclean, Virginia.  And Alan did a splendid job informing American Friends of the Episcopal Church in Sudan about Sudanese history and present difficulties facing the Sudanese people.  It took two years for Friends Together for Sudan to gain official approval to introduce itself in the US, but now here we are all dressed up and looking for more opportunities to spread the word.  
Give us a call at this address or email us at lilliancharris@gmail.co, or afglch@verizon.net.

TfS Colleagues Go South

Together for Sudan’s friends and trustees join TfS field workers in mourning the loss of three colleagues who have decided to leave for South Sudan as a result of the 9 July division of Sudan into two countries. Deputy Country Coordinator Victor has already left for Juba and accountant Minalla and Messenger/cleaner Rina plan to leave as soon as transportation is available.  Our sadness at the loss of these valued friends and co-workers is overwhelming.  I ask the one God of Christians and Muslims to comfort, guide and protect all our Sudanese coworkers and supporters at this time of enormous change and uncertainty.      

TfS Kadugli Office Looted

Under pretext of an imminent air raid, TfS office guard Nazar was warned by soldiers to leave the Kadugli office.  When he returned some time later he found the office stripped of computers, furniture, safe, files and all other moveable equipment. Most other NGO and INGO offices had already been looted.  We are enormously grateful to Nazar for staying at his post as long as possible despite the threatening situation.   

The Nuba People return to war

Together for Sudan’s office in Kadugli has been closed since early June following an outbreak of heavy fighting in South Kordofan between government forces and the Nuba peole.  TfS Field Coordinator Ibrahim was evacuated by UNIMIS with other INGO Forum personnel and subsequently reunited with his family in Wad Medani.  He will work from our Khartoum office for the time being.  Kawther, a TfS university graduate, who was volunteering in the Kadugli office and Fatima, our cleaner/messenger have also reached safe haven.  Fighting continues 

Going Mobile - Text a Donation

From today you will be able to text a donation to Together for Sudan using your mobile phone. This great little innovation makes donating easier than ever before. We receive the whole amount of your donation and if eligible we can also receive Gift Aid from your donation.

Small amounts or large amount don't matter, please give what you can afford. The process is simple:

• Use any mobile phone
• Send a text to 70070
• Text this message with the amount you want to give - i.e. - TFSA01 £10
• Set the value to what you want to give
• Agree to Gift Aid if applicable

It's that easy. Please make a donation to our work and help us do more in Sudan. 

Yoga Challenge Update

We are delighted to let you know that two of our young supporters are undertaking the yoga equivalent of running a marathon in aid of the disadvantaged women of Sudan!


Melinda Bates and Hannah Mitchel (Mel and Han) have set themselves the challenge to practise Bikram Yoga for 30 consecutive days - and all to raise funds for Together for Sudan

Mel and Han are already twenty days into this incredible challenge which will end on the 22nd April! They are going strong and are absolutely committed to complete it for such a worthwhile cause.

For those of you who are not so familiar with what Bikram Yoga entails - Bikram Yoga is a style of yoga developed by Bikram Choudhury, consisting of a series of 26 postures carried out in a heated room that is 40 degrees C, each class lasting 90 minutes!

At the moment they are just over 50% towards their £1,000 fundraising target. It would be terrific if you could help encourage Mel and Han to complete their goal - please do go to their page at our fundraising website:

www.justgiving.com/Melinda-Hannah

Many thanks from all of us at

Together for Sudan

Yoga Challenge to Raise Funds for TfS

We (Mel and Han) have set ourselves the challenge to Practice Bikram Yoga for 30 consecutive days in aid of ‘Together For Sudan’.

For those of you who are not so familiar with what Bikram Yoga entails - Bikram Yoga is a style of yoga developed by Bikram Choudhury and which consists of a series of 26 postures carried out in a heated room that is 40C, each class lasting 90 minutes! We will be starting on the 23rd March and ending on the 22nd April! This will be challenging both mentally and physically for us, but we are absolutely dedicated and committed for such a worthwhile cause.

So dig deep everyone and get Sponsoring!
Click here to make a donation on Mel and Han's Just Giving web page

Our 2010 Annual Report and Accounts

The Charity Commission has acknowledged receipt of our Annual Report & Accounts for the year ended 31 Dec 2010. This completes the trustees' statutory duties for 2010. Phew what a relief !

If you're interested in seeing our report for Together for Sudan's activities coupled with our accounts for the same period look no further. A copy is here to view and share. It can be printed and saved for deeper reading. As you will see this year was not easy but showed that there is still faith in the work of Together for Sudan and much still to do. Make a donation online today and help us reach our 2011 goals. Donate to Together for Sudan online here

Open publication - Free publishing - More accounts

Good News This Week

After nearly two years of discussion with various US authorities, our sister charity, Friends Together for Sudan, has all the necessary permissions to start work. It is incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia, recognized by the Internal revenue Service as having tax-exempt status and licensed by the Office of Foreign assets Control of the US Treasury to work in Sudan in partnership with Together for Sudan. So our friends in the US can now make their donations to FTFS and claim the full tax relief allowed by US law.

Checks can be made out to Friends Together for Sudan and sent to FTFS, 2515 N Lincoln Street, Arlington VA 22207, USA.

We are very grateful to our American friends for this initiative and look forward to fruitful cooperation with them to expand our work, especially in the Nuba Mountains.
 
From Alan 29/1/11

SUDAN AT A TIME OF GREAT STRESS AND GREATER HOPE

This is a difficult time for everyone in Sudan as well as for Sudanese abroad and people who know and love the Sudanese – northerners as well as southerners, easterners and westerners. Understanding and compassion is needed for all Sudanese as the referendum voting continues and as they face a new and uncertain future in its aftermath.


There are many concerns but among them is the plight of thousands of southerners who have congregated on the outskirts of Khartoum in the belief that their journey south would be facilitated by government, international or church efforts. This is not apparently happening sufficiently and major health and security issues could develop.

Together for Sudan has lost two of our five key colleagues in the Khartoum office. One hopes to return after the referendum but may not be able to do so. Nonetheless, we are determined to carry on as a charity dedicated to helping, in particular, women and children who are marginalized and in need of education. But major adjustments seem to lie ahead.

TfS remains dedicated to Sudan and to its multi-cultured and worthy people. At this difficult time of enormous change we hold hope for the Sudanese people and ask God to guide and protect them.

May peace and justice prevail,

Lillian Craig Harris

Director, Together for Sudan

A Response to Hunger and Courage

Without giving away any names or information I would just like to say that the educational needs of David and Tony have been met and I am enormously grateful that this has happened. Together for Sudan is
grateful for every donation that we receive, whether for a specific project or for our general funds that allow us the flexibility to help people such as David and Tony in this way. These two now have a chance at a future that they did not have before.

HUNGER AND COURAGE IN KHARTOUM SHANTY TOWNS


  A December monitoring report on ten elementary schools in the deserts outside Khartum brought me to tears. In each of these schools TfS is paying salaries for two teachers and offering teacher training to all teachers. In return the schools – which are as poor and shabby as a school can get – allow ten HIV/AIDS affected children to study free. If you think this isn’t much on either side you are right. But little is better than nothing when you live on the edge of life. Listen to this:


Living on the edge !

 

Most of the 223 students at Equatorial School in Mayo are southerners but have remained in northern Sudan as they have no means to travel south. Among them are five orphaned brothers and many other children whose parents or guardians have died of AIDS. Another student, Tony, is 17, in grade 8 and interested in studying. However, as his father is dead and his mother “does not care for him” (I quote the monitoring report) he is homeless and sleeps on the street. The headmaster of Equatorial School asks TfS if we can pay Tony’s school fees next year if he fails this year, as seems probable. Our monitor could only reply that TfS, too, is uncertain of next year funding.

As I read this monitoring report today, several other tragic situations stood out, one in particular at Salama School in Khartoum South. David, age 18 and also in grade 8, is an orphan. He has two elder brothers and one younger sister and is dedicated to continuing his studies but is unable to pay tuition fees. This means that he will not be eligible to sit for the state basic school examination in March. More critically at the moment, according to the head master, David comes to school with no shoes, is often sick (faints) because of hunger and sometimes does not show up because he has no bus fare and, of course, no money to buy food. The head master wept as he described the tenacity of a boy who longs to be educated and may not make it, adding that there are many students like this but David’s situation stands out.

I have asked our Khartoum office to let me know the costs of school fees for Tony and David, two courageous and determined young people who are being pulled down by poverty and the effect of HIV/AIDS on their families. Would someone who reads this please help me help them?

See our scholarship project for AIDS affected Children

If you would like to help click here to send TfS a message

Lillian. 6 January 2011.

VOLUNTEER SUPPORT!

Together for Sudan was born out of volunteerism. Other that our full time TfS colleagues in Khartoum and Kadugli, all TfS supporters and trustees are volunteers. In particular, we depend on volunteers to help us fundraise. Recently something very heartwarming happened.


In November 2010, Paul, a graduate student at Oxford University in England, volunteered to research foundations and corporate programmes which might be interested in supporting TfS. This was excellent news, especially as Paul further agreed to advise us on possibilities of using social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter to publicise our work to the younger generation. This in itself was enormously satisfying but then almost immediately a second volunteer showed up, this time a woman.

In December Rasha, a young Syrian working temporarily in Khartoum, asked if she could help TfS in some way. Country Coordinator Neimat was delighted to send Rasha out to monitor the ten schools on the outskirts of Khartoum where our Teacher Training and Scholarships for HIV/AIDS Orphans are functioning.

Next -- and the sequence seems almost too good to be true – in late December an Iranian-American senior at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., heard about TfS. Amin and his friends did some fundraising in the school cafeteria and this week presented me with $55 for Together for Sudan!

By now, of course, I would not be surprised if other volunteers contact us from Cape Town or Budapest! So please don’t wait! We’re on a roll!

Lillian. 6 January 2011

Dr Nabila - Combating Blindness with Love and Persistence

Dr Nabila Radi

Some of my cousins from the southern part of the United States refer to family reunions as opportunities for us to “love on” each other. This is an appropriate description of the work of Sudanese ophthalmologist Dr. Nabila Radi, “mother” of Together for Sudan’s enormously popular Eye Care Outreach. Begun in the squatter settlements outside Khartoum in 2002, this project has benefitted thousands of people, including changing the lives of hundreds by cataract removal. Since September 2006 the TfS Eye Care Project has also been working in the Nuba Mountains where it has been funded through Together for Sudan by the Austrian charity Light for the World.

Dr. Nabila’s concern for destitute, displaced and outcast people is at the heart of the Eye Care outreach. Now widely praised, the project has benefitted thousands of poor and destitute

 adults and children, many of whom had not previously seen a medical doctor. Without Dr. Nabila’s ability to recognize illness and disease, I’m certain that many more displaced Sudanese, including children, would have died. Since this Together for Sudan project began I have often trailed around behind Dr. Nabila, usually in the wretched squatter settlements outside Khartoum, and understood from the start that she never does things half way. But before that I, too, was a “blind” person and she had to nag me for at least two years before I gave in.

“Together for Sudan is an educational charity, not a medical charity,” I used to tell Dr. Nabila when she urged me to set up an eye care outreach. “We have to specialize because we can’t do everything.” Her reply was swift: “So how are people going to learn to read when they can’t see?”

Read more of this article and view a slide show here

A Christmas Exchange

Lillian the Director of Together for Sudan sent a Christmas message to the hardworking TfS Centre staff. Read it and the heart warming reply below.

Dear Neimat,


Alan and I ask that you give our greetings and the hope for blessings at Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our Together for Sudan colleagues, including those in the Nuba Mountains. This has been an extraordinary year filled with opportunities and challenges, problems and achievements. The biggest achievement is that we are still going and still going strong. The US government has, for example, just agreed that we may begin fundraising here. Given all the difficulties and opposition which we have faced, this seems something of a miracle. And I am deeply grateful to you all for your ongoing loyalty to Together for Sudan during this time of tension and financial difficulty.

On behalf of the Together for Sudan trustees I send you our love and greetings and much gratitude for the dedicated work which TfS colleagues in both Khartoum and Kadugli have provided. Without your cooperation and hard work Together for Sudan would no longer exist. Relying on our Sudanese colleagues we can continue to reach out to people who are displaced, marginalized, illiterate and, in some cases, needing hope to keep on living. It is a blessing and a privilege for us to work with you and through you with them.

May God continue to bless and keep you in 2011. This coming period in Sudan’s history will be difficult for us all, in particular for those of you on the front line of caring and helping. Be assured of our prayers and may God give your strength and wisdom. It is my hope and expectation that the work of Together for Sudan will enable more people to understand that Muslims and Christians can successfully work together in service to people in need. This is a path to understanding, reconciliation and friendship which will help make our world a better place for us all. I ask God to protect you all at this time of tension and change in Sudan.

Thank you, Neimat, for sharing this message with all our colleagues in Khartoum and Kadugli.
With much appreciation for your leadership,

                                                                    Lillian
 
Dear Lillian,


Many thanks for your wishes to staff for Christmas and New Year. We return the blessing wishes to you and Alan hoping for a brighter future to Together for Sudan under your guidance and leadership.

It is good news that the US government has agreed that TfS may begin fundraising in USA and we pray that God will give us all the strength to continue supporting the work of TfS and keep us here all safe in this difficult time of stress and complexity.

We are all appreciating your encouraging words in this letter and feeling that there are people who care after us, pray for us and wish all the best for us. The staff felt happy when I read your message to them. Your words had a great comfortable impact on the staff including Ibrahim in Kadugli when I passed some words from the message to him through the telephone.

Thank you very much for this message which comes at a time when the TfS staff and all people in Sudan need such spiritual support.

I am attaching our Christmas card wishing you and Alan all the best for 2011.

Regards,   Neimat -- with greetings from all the staff

December 2010 Newsletter is Now Available

Following a short visit to Sudan and taking pains to visit the Nuba Mountains Lillian the director of Together for Sudan has produced a newsletter detailing our work and progress in Sudan. View a copy of the December Newsletter through our Issuu web account where you can zoom in, share and print our latest newsletter. 
Get it from our blog, Facebook page, twitter page, our website or simply the link below.

TfS December Newsletter


Enjoy - Dave

Still 1 Goal - Education for All

The World Cup may have ended but our commitment has not.

Schooling matters

Together for Sudan puts a huge amount of importance on its’ education projects, the needs of children and teachers in displaced communities and the rural communities of the Nuba mountains are considerable.

One of the founding principles of Together for Sudan is to listen to what the people we serve say that they need. Time and time again the request is for education.

Listening we have acted and providing education for those who would not otherwise be able to have it has become a major feature of our work. Together for Sudan provides support for funding the schooling of children who have been affected by HIV or AIDS.

The knock on effect of a child’s parents having died of AIDS can often leave them living with relatives that cannot afford to pay for their education. Children in this situation go without unless we step in.

It is only by your kind donations that we can step in when needed and provide the aid and support that is needed so much. Please donate to our ongoing work through this link : Donate online here

Children deserve education to help guarentee them a future

Looking on Suffering and grace and believing in the future of Sudan

From the time I was a small child my mother believed in my integrity and my worthiness. By this I mean she let her children know that it is necessary to grow into a person who is sensitive to the needs of other and ready to help those who are suffering. She lived that way herself, reaching out in kindness as a regular practice. On the day after Christmas when I was four years old, she took her three small children to visit an impoverished family whose children had received no gifts. Our instruction before visiting was that each of us would select one of our own Christmas gifts for the children with no gifts. The whole idea displeased me enormously. But grace broke through when my handing over of a toy telephone to another child set in motion a source of joy which has not ceased to grow with me. From that time I began to suspect that it really might be better to give than to receive.


My mother’s early trust that I would do what is right – if not now then at least later – has guided me towards a life of service although I admit to having wandered around for a few decades before getting serious about it. Not until my 40s did I understand more fully that service to the poor and attention to what people need is the best possible way to accommodate divine grace which strengthens and informs both giver and recipient. Living in London, Cairo and then Khartoum during this time of intense learning, I also came to understand that Muslims as well as Christians believe and practise the path to grace through service.

Among the most wonderful gifts of grace with can grow out of service are patience, humility and love for others. Although I cannot pretend to have advanced far along this path, I can now at least see the possibility that such gifts may eventually be given to me. At present my gifts are simpler, more mundane: an ability to listen to people in distress, anger against injustice and a desire to do something about it and, last but not least, “the gift of helps”, which, to put it simply, means facilitation. I have as well a particularly painful gift which involves openness to the suffering of others, animal as well as human.

This openness to suffering was first remarked on in my childhood in Taiwan when I was twice removed from the streets to the police station on a charge of attacking people who were abusing dogs. I suppose that the inability NOT to see the suffering of others is a common gift to people who have themselves suffered intensely – as I did when I was badly burned as an infant, later when I was sent to boarding school in Mississippi and refused permission to speak to my younger siblings and then as a teenager when I spent several months as the only child in a tuberculosis sanatorium. But the grace of seeing the suffering of others did not come on all at once. Visiting Istanbul early in my adult life, I was surprised when a friend with me suddenly cried out “O God! No! No!” Only then did I see the old man staggering by carrying on his back a refrigerator anchored by a strap across his forehead.

Several years later another friend suddenly turned to me in surprise and said, “You seem to see every wounded dog, overloaded donkey, exhausted woman and sick child on the road from the pyramids back to central Cairo.” Looking at me suspiciously she added, “Why is it that I don’t see all this but you do?” This statement came to me as a revelation because I had always assumed that everyone is able to see the pain and anguish all around us but most of us choose not to do anything about it. So I tucked my friend’s statement away quietly in my heart and began asking God to open my eyes wider.

All this is simply to say that divine grace works within us, particularly, I suspect, when we are willing to join forces with people of other religious beliefs and none, people of different races, tribes and cultures and people who need to feel that those who are more affluent care about them. Arriving in the southern Sudanese city of Wau with a group of fact finding diplomats during the eye of the great famine of 1998, I was surprised to find a Sudanese friend at work feeding the starving multitudes.

“Ahmed,” I cried stupidly, “Why are you here?” To which Ahmed gracefully replied, “Where else would you have me be?”

And I remember the reply of Sudanese ophthalmologist Dr. Nabila Radi when I told her of Together for Sudan’s decision to begin an Eye Care Outreach into the squatter settlements around Khartoum.

“If you are going to help the poor, you are going to suffer,” Dr. Nabila said joyfully. “I can start tomorrow.”



Lillian Craig Harris, June 2010

Great Grant News !

Mo Ibrahim Foundation (MIF)


A grant of over £61,000 has been received for the academic year 2010/11. The Foundation has agreed to continue funding the existing group of MIF-sponsored university scholars through to completion of their courses with the last of these aiming to graduate in 2015. We are extremely pleased to continue to work with the Foundation on this long term basis.


Gordon Memorial College Trust Fund

The trustees of this fund have given us a generous grant of over £15,200 for the academic year 2010/11. This will cover existing Gordon College university scholars and vocational trainees and, in addition, provide funding for up to 25 new places on vocational training courses for midwifery, nursing, community health, fabric printing and other subjects for people from displaced or disadvantaged communities in Sudan.
 
See the project work that we do  -  here.

Make a donation of your own learn how  - here

Hope and Challenges

My early May visit to Sudan was both exhilarating and painful. Our current challenges include unstable political conditions as the January 2011 referendum looms and the continuing difficulty of working with broken communities in the Khartoum IDP areas where it is often “every man for himself”. Then there is the ongoing challenge of working in Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains where there is an almost complete lack of government provision of education for children and of health care for those who are unable to pay for it.

We also have administrative challenges as Together for Sudan continues --for financial reasons -- to operate with at least one employee too few in both our Khartoum and Kadugli offices. I am deeply grateful to our Sudanese colleagues for their loyalty and to Country Coordinator Neimat Hussein for her dedicated and inspiring leadership.

Other challenges include inadequate funding for the Women’s Literacy Project and the Teacher Training Project. To keep teacher training active we have melded its work in the Khartoum area with the Basic School Scholarships Project and while in Khartoum I attended the first session of teacher training for selected teachers from ten self-help basic schools in the settlements for displaced people which surround Khartoum.

While in Kadugli I attended a teacher training course dedicated to primary health care and learned how to put a splint on a broken leg. The enthusiasm and creativity of the 25 teachers attending the course was inspiring. I was also able to meet with a few of our university graduates now working back in their home territory. Then, in a meeting with Ministry of Education officials, TfS’s Deputy Country Coordinator Victor Gali Thomas and I were pressed to train their primary and secondary school teachers. The request underscores a long standing crisis of under educated teachers which local authorities are unable to resolve due to lack of funding from Khartoum.

Because I was unable to reach Sudan on schedule – due to volcanic ash over Europe – I missed a phenomenal Eye Care Outreach at Abu Gebeiha, some 10 hours by dirt track from Kadugli. Sadly (from my standpoint only) the outreach could not be rescheduled due to onset of the rainy season during which travel outside Kadugli becomes virtually impossible. During the outreach the eyes of 1,063 people were examined, 806 were given medication, 252 were operated on for cataract, 292 were given reading glasses and ten individuals (mainly children) were referred for further medical help in Khartoum. One person told the Eye Care team that, “We don’t have money for medical help and we asked God to send you.” After telling me this, TfS Field Representative Ibrahim Ahmed Jabir added “I feel proud, grateful and happy as a result of our work.”

So, despite all difficulties, I remain encouraged by:

*Strong leadership in both our Khartoum and Kadugli offices, including dedicated employees in both offices who believe in their work and are even willing to suffer hardship to keep it going;

*Increased opportunity to expand TfS work in the Nuba Mountains;

*Loyal institutional and individual donors who are doing all they can during a time of international financial difficulties to supply the funding we need;

*Growing recognition among Sudanese friends and TfS Patrons that TfS will be able to continue to serve and,

*The most impressive group of TfS Trustees we have ever had including the best cooperation we have experienced to date in areas of management and fundraising.

We are Christians and Muslims working, as always, TOGETHER FOR SUDAN.

Lillian

A Gift of Grace - AFRECS speech 2010

A Gift of Grace - AFRECS speech 2010

Liilian spoke recently at an AFRECS conference about TfS. See her speech on our website through the title link above.

Dave

1 Goal - Education for All

Together for Sudan puts a huge amount of importance on it's education projects, the needs of children and teachers in displaced communities and the rural communities of the Nuba mountains are considerable.

One of the founding principles of Together for Sudan is to listen to what the people we serve say that they need. Time and time again the request is for education.

Listening we have acted and providing education for those who would not otherwise be able to have it has become a major feature of our work. Together for Sudan provides support for funding the schooling of children who have been affected by HIV or AIDS. The knock on effect of a child's parents having died of AIDS can often leave them living with relatives that cannot afford to pay for their education. Children in this situation go without unless we step in.

Together for Sudan supports the 1 Goal initiative because we believe that every child should have the opportunity of education.

Show your support for the 1 Goal initiative by signing up through the widget on our website. Cllick on the title to link to widget.

SMALL FUNDING, BIG HEARTS

When they learn of Together for Sudan’s current financial crisis, people sometimes ask how they can better support our life saving education and educational support work.

“I can’t afford a large donation,” someone might say, “but is there some way I can help?”

Indeed there is. Let me suggest several ways of supporting TfS which friends of Together for Sudan have very usefully employed to raise funds:

• Hold a coffee morning as Lele, Marietta and others have done and invite your friends to contribute.
• Collect unused but saleable items from your closet, attic and cellar and those of your friends and hold a back garden auction as Sarah and Julian did twice very successfully on our behalf.
• Give ten pounds a month on a regular basis to TfS, as our Treasurer Norman Swanney has suggested. You won’t miss it and it could save the future for someone in Sudan (our educational work) or even save someone’s life (our Eye Care and HIV/AIDS Awareness projects).
• Run a marathon or half-marathon on behalf of Together for Sudan as Adrian and Marie did last year.
• Give a piano concert in the name of Together for Sudan. This has been done very successfully by Bruce and also by Rosemary.
• Set up a meeting which convenes at least twice yearly, invite a guest lecturer such as a Together for Sudan friend or trustee and take a collection for TfS or some other Sudan focused charity – as the Beaminster Friends of Sudan have done very successfully for a number of years.
• Perhaps even more fun, hold a lecture, raffle or other event at your club, church or home and collect donations for TfS.
• Then, especially if there are willing teenagers around, there is the car wash way to raise funds.
• For those a bit older, why not put Together for Sudan in your will? I know of at least one dear old person who has done this. However, I still need his encouraging letters too much to even think of how sad I shall be when he delivers his last gift to Together for Sudan.

Back from Sudan

My early November visit to Khartoum and environs was, as always, both endearing and heartbreaking. The Sudanese people, both northerners and those displaced from the south and Darfur, are so friendly and kind that visitors tend not to understand how stressed, unhappy and even hungry many of them are. Victor Gali Thomas, Together for Sudan’s Deputy Country Coordinator, and I visited two of the “self help basic schools” in the squatter settlement of Soba Aradi . Together for Sudan has been helping these schools for more than ten years but circumstances at Soba Aradi, a miserable waterless wasteland of blowing sand and deep poverty, are worse than ever and the future more precarious.



Khartoum is expanding and one day when the bull dozers arrive yet again, they will not stop and even the schools and places of worship will go. Meanwhile, we do what we can although due to the present international recession this is far less than we have done in the past. A member of the Parent/Teacher Association at one of our partner schools wept as he explained present circumstances to us.

During every visit to Sudan I am reminded how precarious life is for the majority of the 38 million Sudanese and how important education is to their present and future. In a country which is oil rich, survival remains the primary objective of millions of Sudanese, including the perhaps three million who now live in squalid encampments for displaced persons outside Khartoum.
For thousands of these people – and for similarly impoverished and marginalized people in the Nuba Mountains – the Together for Sudan Eye Care Outreach is the only medical attention they ever receive: thus the importance of keeping Dr. Nabila in antibiotics as well as eye ointments.

Together for Sudan is using this time of economic recession to reconsider several of our projects. Readjustments already include combining the Teacher Training and Basic Scholars projects and a planned reduction in the number of universities included in our University Scholarships Project. The expansion of the Vocational Training Project is another intension but one which currently lacks funding, as does our previously dynamic Women’s Literacy Project. There is much to ponder and to plan but we face the current situation in full confidence that by listening to what displaced and marginalised people say they need, the way forward will be found. Please join us in this life saving effort.

Injury Overcome and the Marathon Itself

So finally we come to the culmination of my narrative. My training went smoothly until a fortnight or so before the marathon. I was feeling good and pushing myself a bit on one training session when I felt a pain in my hamstring. I assumed that it would quickly disappear but it didn’t. So, panic that all my training had been in vain, and I would not be able to run. Robyn then suggested the osteopath at the local leisure centre, who diagnosed a torn muscle. He used acupuncture and then pounded away at my leg. This was all unknown territory for me but I felt OK on my next run so was very grateful and relieved.

And now it is all over. I went down to Winchester on Saturday evening and a kind friend provided a bed and a carbohydrate-filled dinner and breakfast. Sunday morning dawned clear and fine, which was a relief, and the Wiltshire downs looked beautiful from the bus which took us to Salisbury. We got there soon after 9.00 am so there was plenty of time to loosen up before the start at 10.15 when some 400 of us set out.

I actually quite enjoyed the first couple of hours of the run. The sun was out, there was a gentle and cooling south wind, and most of the running was on reasonable tracks or smooth downland turf. The atmosphere was pleasant and supportive and we even managed to chat some of the time. Every nine or ten minutes we passed another mile marker so at the end of three hours I was beyond Kings Somborne and had covered some 18 miles.

So, only eight miles to go, but anyone who has run this sort of distance will know that it the last part of the run which is really tough. As we climbed out of the Test Valley and back on the downs, on the steepest part of the run, I felt my energy rapidly draining away. My leg muscles really began to ache and just putting one foot in front of the other became a great effort. I was no longer in control of my speed and I had to rely on will power – and the thought of how much money was raised each mile that I covered – to keep going. It was very encouraging to find Robyn and Juliet in Ham Green to cheer me on. By then I was within three miles of the finish and I got a bit of a second wind. Even so, those last eight miles took me two hours, so my final time was just under five hours.

For the first few minutes after the finish both walking and talking were difficult, but I gradually came round and once we reached our friend’s house a hot bath and cups of tea and scones revived me – the thought of those was the other thing that kept me going!

I am hugely grateful for the sponsorship I got. I have received some 60 individual donations already, with quite a few more to come. The total raised should exceed £2,500 and there will be Gift Aid to add to that, so it will be a significant contribution to Together for Sudan’s funds. My warm thanks to all the donors who read this.

Website Updated

It's been a while since my last blog entry but a lot has been happening behind the scenes and the Together for Sudan website has been updated with some interesting new articles. There are letters from some of our University Students and also notes from our new vocational scholarship apprentices. There is an appeal for this project which is on the homepage and a general appeal because as always there is never enough money to do all the things that need doing. If you've been reading the TfS blog you will know all about Adrian and his coming marathon - please support this if you can- but you may not know about a young lady in Bristol called Marie who ran a half marathon and raised over £300 for us. Thank you Marie, you're a hero.











Because of this we are inviting people to do the same. Create a Just Giving page, do something and raise some cash to help with the work we do. Become a TfS hero. If enough people do it I'll make a hero gallery page on the website. See our charity Just Giving page here.

All the pages mentioned above are connected by hyperlink so just click on any one of them to learn more or click here if you want to know more about being a hero. The picture I have included is of the Together for Sudan office staff in Khartoum, they manage all the good work that Together for Sudan does, they are my heroes.

Dave Lewis

Pushing Myself

I regarded today with some trepidation as it was the date for my longest training run. Previously I had not run for more than two hours but this one was supposed to be for three, so getting on for the marathon distance.

I am lucky around here in at least having plenty of pleasant areas to run in. I started below Alexandra Palace in Alexandra Park, then went via Highgate Woods to Hampstead Heath, which provides a long circuit with plenty of hills. I certainly felt myself slowing down after the first hour and a half and the hills became much more of an effort. Curiously my breathing, which tends to slow me down on shorter runs, was not a problem today; it was the weariness in my legs which affected me more and more as time went on.

For the sake of realism I extended my run along the local railway walk to Finsbury Park so I ended up doing 3hours. That was good psychologically as I now know that I can push myself to do a bit more even when I am pretty tired. I suppose that I did 17 or 18 miles altogether, so not to far off the marathon distance. Writing this three hours later I do not feel too exhausted so hopefully all the training has had some effect.

Now the training schedule tails off with a 1 hour run next weekend followed by a series of short runs to keep things ticking over until the big day. Then, hopefully, I shall have the responsibility of actually justifying the sponsorship to keep me going, and can reflect that any discomfort I suffer running is fairly paltry compared the challenges faced everyday by displaced and marginalized people in Sudan.

Adrian Thomas

Scotland and London - Thinking Ahead

Thursday 27th August. My last run in Scotland – a long one on the smooth sandy roads of the Balmoral estate; a beautiful early evening and I am surprised at how much distance I am able to cover. There is a bit of wind and it starts me thinking about the factors I shall have to worry about on 4th October: Salisbury-Winchester is an east-west route so hopefully the prevailing wind will be behind us. I shall need to take the gradients into account as well, even though Scotland has been good preparation for that. I shall plan to reconnoitre at least part of the route during September.

Wednesday 2nd September. A nice cool London day and I was able to get round my standard 4 mile course through woods and parks as fast as I have ever managed. That was a great relief as I found that I really struggled on a 2-hour run on Monday. It was much hotter then, and I covered about 11 miles, but I think that I was also short of sleep. One never quite knows how one is going to do, but it is certainly worth taking rest and nutrition seriously. I also need to think about hydration, and must remember to have plenty to drink at the start of the marathon. It was salutary to remember that the marathon is more than twice as long as my 11 mile run.
Adrian Thomas

Adrian THOMAS is fundraising for Together for Sudan - JustGiving

Adrian THOMAS is fundraising for Together for Sudan - JustGiving

Posted using ShareThis

Help Needed Now

In July Alan and I attended a meeting of five of the eight Together for Sudan Trustees, an unofficial meeting at a hotel in London’s Heathrow airport. The purpose was to discuss the funding difficulty into which Together for Sudan has been plunged by the current international financial recession. TfS Treasurer Norman Swanney laid out the situation: unless there is a dramatic upsurge in untied funds-- i.e. donations not ear marked for a particular project – TfS will be in dire straits by the end of this year. Essentially, this shocking situation has come about due to two difficulties: 1) the inability of several of our long term institutional partners to continue to support us and 2) the rising costs of operating our two offices in Khartoum and Kadugli.

As you can imagine, TfS Trustees are deeply concerned and asking all our supporters who can afford to do so to come to our assistance. Meanwhile, although we are already low budget, we are reducing costs in both the Khartoum and Kadugli offices and that, sadly, may entail closing one of the offices and reducing personnel . Meanwhile, although the situation remains uncertain we are determined to survive for the sake of the women and children we serve. What more can be done?

Together for Sudan is in process of registering an American charity – “Friends Together for Sudan” – which will raise funds for Together for Sudan. But clearance through US sanctions against transfer of funds to Sudan will likely take several more weeks, if not months. And what we need is more funding now.

Together for Sudan is not a religious charity. But, from the time it began, both Muslims and Christians have recognized that this is a work of grace. Otherwise how could we have accomplished so much on such a relatively small budget? One of our highest objectives has always been to bring Muslims and Christians into service to one another, a much needed form of peacemaking.

TfS Trustees and Patrons are dedicated to continuing an educational work which over the past decade has benefitted thousands of Sudanese, most of them displaced and disadvantaged women and children. It is an enormous privilege to serve the Sudanese people and we hope to continue.

But we need your support. You can make a donation on line at http://www.togetherforsudan.org/ by downloading Bankers Orders or Gift Aid forms. Or you can send a cheque payable to Together for Sudan to 33 Balmoral Road, Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 OJS. UK. Please note that all US dollar cheques need to be made out to the" Bishop Mubarak Fund "

Lillian Craig-Harris

Three Weeks Later

It is three weeks since I last reported so time to give an update on how my preparations for the marathon are progressing.

I have kept to a steady training schedule with distances gradually increasing. This afternoon I did a twelve-mile run which has left me quite weary. I feel that I have a long way to go before I shall be capable of running twice that distance but it is reassuring at least to be able to keep a steady pace for two hours.

I am still in Aberdeenshire and my current training route is along the upper reaches of the River Gairn. These days it is a remote and deserted area, but in many places one can see ruined farms and lodges. There used to be a strong community here with a school, chapel and shops, but it was a hard life. Poverty drove the people away, and now there are only sheep, grouse, deer, hares and birds. The harsh conditions inevitably prompt comparisons with Sudan. Ultimately most of Scotland’s displaced people achieved a more prosperous life – will the same be true for the Sudanese? Perhaps, but like all people in transition they will need support.

Adrian Thomas

My Marathon Task - Adrian Thomas

My name is Adrian and I am going to run a marathon to raise funds for Together for Sudan.


I have just completed the Ballater 10 mile road race. That is definitely a milestone in my training programme, though it’s still less than 40% of the marathon distance. The good news though is that I enjoyed the Ballater run and did not feel too exhausted at the end. It was not a stellar performance – I was 128th out of 188 runners, but most were a good deal younger than me!

I have been quite active over the last few weeks with visits to the Pyrenees and Alps. Walking at altitude should have been good for my lung capacity and endurance and the challenge is to maintain that. We are spending most of July and August in Scotland and I have been running every couple of days since I got back from Switzerland on 18th July. The moorland tracks are fine places to practise for running the cross-country course from Salisbury to Winchester.

I have discovered one particularly well maintained track on the nearby Balmoral estate. It is enjoyable running with good views and pure air, but being in such a privileged place does provide a real contrast to the heat, dust and poverty that is the lot of so many people in Sudan. I only hope that I shall get the support I need and that I will be able to raise enough to contribute in some small way to improving things there.

I now have 10 weeks left until the marathon on 4th October, which should be just long enough to build up my performance, but I shall have to work hard at it. I may enter another race to provide a target for improvement, and I will continue to report on how things progress. I'm making a Just Giving page for this run but you can always give anytime through the TFS website, see this link - www.togetherforsudan.org/donations.htm


Adrian Thomas

Women's Literacy Project

One of the most important means to empower displaced and destitute women is through education because this will help them towards a brighter future. The Women’s Literacy Project actually began in 1997 even before Together for Sudan itself officially began. What happened was that a Sudanese Episcopal priest working with displaced people in squatter settlements told two or three groups of women outside Omdurman to set up classes and Dr. Lillian would pay the teachers salaries! Although he had not consulted her, she felt she had to do it! Since then TfS has graduated over 2,500 women from its literacy classes and in 2007 & 2008 trained 52 teachers in the REFLECT literacy method.

Women’s literacy classes were sometime later set up in the Kadugli area of the Nuba Mountains and nearly 200 women have graduated from three centres there in 2009. Most recently Together for Sudan expanded the project to El Fasher in Northern Darfur where we have trained 14 women as literacy teachers. Despite the difficult circumstances, two classes have been set up. So Together for Sudan has been a pioneer in the field of women’s literacy.
From my point of view as a literacy monitor, the Women’s Literacy Project is significant for building peace and community reconciliation and in empowering women.

In February this year I participated in a workshop in Gadarif in the east of Sudan at which the Director of the National Council for Illiteracy Eradication, Dr. Abdelhafiz, described Together for Sudan as an “unrecognized fighter for humanity”. He said that he appreciated the role of TfS due to its effective efforts to eradicate illiteracy among displaced women. I hope that Together for Sudan will be able to continue this vital project despite the present funding difficulties.

Saudi Abdelrahman
TfS Officer Manager, Khartoum

Vocational Training Project

In 2008 Together for Sudan started to offer vocational scholarships to young men as well as young women from the settlements for displaced persons and to those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This was our first offer of education to males other than children in basic school. In its first year this project, funded by the Gordon Memorial College Trust Fund, sponsored eleven young men to study general electricity, automobile electricity, general mechanics and air conditioning. Four scholars who were on a one year course graduated and some of them wrote letters of appreciation to express how they have benefitted from TfS support and how this support has changed their lives.


Even in its first year the vocational project was highly popular with young men and their families because those trained are able to acquire professional jobs. In June and July 2009 I have received many telephone calls from young men and their parents asking TfS to sponsor them for vocational training. Sadly, our funding for this project has run out due to the international financial upheaval. I wish I could find a donor to continue this vital project which is currently inactive.

Saudi AbdelrahamTfS Office Manager Khartoum

Another Visit to Sudan

My evening flight from Washington Dulles to London on 3 May was followed by a six hour layover after which I flew on to Khartoum via Beirut, in total 22 hours of travelling. British Ambassador Rosalind Marsden, Together for Sudan Trustee and my long suffering hostess for the next two weeks, kindly sent a car to pick me up at the Khartoum airport by which time it was early morning of 5 May local time. I managed four hours sleep before Country Coordinator Neimat Hussein showed up for several hours of briefing and discussion. Despite the exhaustion I was, as always, exhilarated to be back in Sudan. And I am, of course, very grateful to Neimat and her colleagues in both Khartoum and Kadugli for putting up with my bi-annual fact finding missions which are very disruptive of their work!
Over the next several days Neimat and I did the rounds of local patrons and partners and international funding charities, thanking those which support Together for Sudan and seeking new partnerships. I also spend hours in the TfS Khartoum office talking to staff members and receiving visitors including Dr. Nabila Radi who runs our Eye Care Outreach. I have learned to love and sometimes to resist Dr. Nabila because she knows that those who “look on suffering” with the intention of helping are often greatly blessed and therefore usually insists that I go with her to visit those who are dying, diseased, deformed by leprosy or otherwise in a position to teach me more about compassion. I’ve learned a lot from her.



Another highlight of my Khartoum visit was attending the graduation of 127 Community Health Care Workers, over 100 of them women, in a makeshift tent in one of the settlements for the displaced outside Khartoum. When the Sudanese are happy they dance – and we did, celebrating the graduates’ new ability to contribute to their communities as well as support themselves and their children.
This visit was dominated by opposition from the government’s Humanitarian Affairs Commission (HAC) to my planned visit to the TfS sub-office in Kadugli, capital of the Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan. But after several days delay, which required that I extend my stay in Sudan, and having written a letter of apology for obtaining my visa from the Sudanese Embassy in Washington rather than from HAC (!), I was eventually allowed to travel to Kadugli. I am enormously grateful to TfS Office Manager Saudi Abdel Rahman for the hours he spend at HAC headquarters and the patience which he displayed.
When finally allowed to fly to the Nuba Mountains, Neimat and I spent four days in Kadugli getting to know Field Representative Ibrahim Ahmed Jabir and Field Coordinator Saleem Musa, both new employees since my last visit to Kadugli in early 2008. I was delighted to see how well they are working together. We arrived to find 25 community leaders, 10 of them women, from the countryside outside Kadugli engrossed in a course in Primary Health Care. All are members of “development committees” in their home areas. Neimat and I called on the Ministries of Health and Education where we were warmly greeted and asked to expand our training of teachers and community workers. At the Kadugli Hospital we were thanked for the TfS Eye Care Outreach which has resulted in the opening of an Ophthalmology Centre there. (The newly hired ophthalmologist was in Khartoum trying to raise money to run the centre!) Other highlights of the visit were visiting some of the now more than 30 young women put through university by TfS who are now back in the Nuba Mountains as teachers, health workers and government and INGO employees. As always, I felt blessed to be part of a growing work which is helping hundreds of individuals improve their lives. For further information see the June Together for Sudan Newsletter.

Lillian Craig-Harris

Website Updated

The Together for Sudan website has been updated and is now more accurate and relevant than before. Most of the updates are in the project areas although there are some in the About Us section. The home page has been refreshed with a clever rotating display of our new web banners. These link directly to the Together for Sudan project work that is so vital. All of the banners can be displayed from your website or blog - why not download one. We would really appreciate your support.

- Webmaster

Another Visit To Sudan

On Sunday, 3 May, I leave Virginia for Sudan, arriving in Khartoum at 3:15 a.m. on 5 May after a several hour stopover in London. Like many people, I endure rather than enjoy long flights and always find it near impossible to sleep. On these at least twice yearly visits, I bring along a good book or two and also use the time to mull over the work ahead. Usually I don’t talk much to my seatmates as most people find it hard to understand why anyone would voluntarily go to Sudan. So it would be too complicated to tell them that this is my 23rd return since I was expelled in late 1998.

This time I’ll spend a few days in Kadugli, the capital of Southern Kordofan, in order to monitor TfS educational and educational support projects, talk to government officials and meet the two new staff members in our four person office. I’ll also call on representatives of other charities and UN agencies with which we cooperate. And every night I’ll eat either beans or bread and peanut butter (this latter carried in by me) for supper. Although life in Kadugli is now even more expensive than Khartoum, there is little food in the area and many people are chronically hungry. But sitting after dark in the street market with the generators roaring in the background is always a magical experience, a feeling of solidarity with an “end of the earth” place where human needs are enormous and anything you can do is appreciated.

In Khartoum, where I’ll spend most of my time, life is much more up market. There are grand hotels and restaurants, most very recent, embassies and high rise buildings and too much traffic. I’ll spend a lot of time in the Together for Sudan office with our nine employees and even more time battling traffic to call on potential funders including embassies and international organizations. I’ll attend an Eye Care Outreach and the graduation of our first group of public health trainees in the IDP settlements and have meetings with some of our Sudanese Patrons. And I’ll do a bit of office encouragement and management and catch up with friends. After midnight on 14 May I’ll board a flight for London and then another for the US, chasing the sun, so that it will still be 14 May when I arrive in Virginia. I’m always both sad and relieved to leave Sudan – a country whose diverse people are very kind and hospitable and captured my heart over a decade ago.

Lillian Craig-Harris

Eye Care Outreach and Blindness Prevention in the Khartoum Area Squatter Settlements

The Khartoum office is busy churning out reports these days and another which I read this week filled me with particular satisfaction. What can you say about a project which prevents blindness, restores sight, enables people to learn to read and helps unite people in service to one another?

Up to three million people now live in the settlements for displaced persons which surround the increasingly modern city of Khartoum. The majority have no access to education, health care or secure livelihood.

In 2002 Together for Sudan set up an Eye Care Outreach Project led by Sudanese ophthalmologist Dr. Nabila Radi. Targeting children, women and the elderly, that effort has now benefitted well over 25,000 people through eye examinations, eye glasses, medications and eye surgeries. The Eye Care Outreach is a particularly satisfactory sort of charity work because its benefits are so quickly obvious. After all, if you can’t see you are unlikely to learn to read and glasses can usually fix that problem. Or put another way, if you have ever misplaced your glasses (as I do regularly) or have suffered from an eye infection or other condition which threatens or impeded your sight --- well, we all get the point.

This latest Eye Care Project report reminded me that TfS has learned many lessons from our work in this area. Among the most important are that eye disease and eye injury are two of the greatest threats to health and livelihood in the settlements for the displaced, that community cooperation is crucial to the outreach and that provision of eye care information to communities is vital.

A simple pair of glasses can provide a mother with the ability to sew and thus to support her children. Eye glasses can restore meaning to life. I recall a recent outreach when an old man, practically weeping with gratitude, thought to thank me for the gift of a used pair of reading glasses. I rejoice that this project does so much good and earns so much goodwill for Together for Sudan.

Lillian Craig-Harris

Training Teachers to Train Other Teachers in the Nuba Mountains

This week I read a report from the TfS office in Khartoum about teaching teachers to become trainers of other teachers in the Nuba Mountains of Southern Kordofan. That ought to be simple because Nuba people are clamouring for education of all sorts. But life in the Nuba Mountains is difficult for many reasons and this time we came up against the weather when delay in a funding transfer took us into the July to October rainy season.

When it rains in the Nuba Mountains everyone and everything bogs down; even tractors are often unable to get through the mud. So training had to be rescheduled for November/December 2008 when 25 kindergarten teachers, all women, were finally taught training techniques, administrative skills, preparation and use of teaching aids, how to identify possibly useful materials, etc. This may sound simple to those who have enjoyed the benefits of well equipped schools and university trained teachers. And so it is: simple, effective and efficient. So efficient, as the report revealed, that two months after the training some of the participants had already set themselves up as teacher trainers and were teaching other teachers how to become teacher trainers.

Things don’t usually happen this quickly in Sudan and the reports writer in our Khartoum office allowed himself a bit of rather unrestrained rejoicing. The impact of the training was, he said, “good news”, in fact it was “a triumph for the people of the Nuba Mountains”, as well as “a milestone to our endeavor to upgrade education in the region” and “a beginning which makes us hopeful that more work will follow”. Well, that sums up fairly well how I feel, too.

Lillian Craig-Harris

Banners to Download from our Website

Once again the website has been updated and now includes downloadable banner images. These are designed to link back to our site. We would be very grateful for the support of anyone displaying a banner on their website or blogsite. All the images on the banner download page are of work that TFS does and are coupled to a word that defines an aspect of what we do and you could join in with. Please display one and show your support for our work. I placed the hope banner on the blog and put two here to show you what our banners look like.

Check the rest out on our website. With this link - Banner download page - Webmaster.

Shedding Light on Solar Panel Issues

The TfS Solar Project continues to have difficulties in the Nuba Mountains due both to its great popularity and to unfamiliarity with the need to keep even simple equipment maintained. The project is, in fact, so popular that panels on schools, clinics and community centres have to be closely monitored least they change location or disappear completely. One recent incident involving a “replanting” of the panel was followed by great consternation when the apparatus did not simply turn itself on and provide the thieves with light! More seriously it is a nuisance that, as a very grass roots charity, we own no vehicles. Let me know if you can recommend a Kadugli area organization or individual able to volunteer use of a four wheel drive for a few hours a week. TfS will pay for the petrol and hundreds of “enlightened” people will pour blessings on the car owner’s head!

Lillian Craig-Harris

Activity in Khartoum and Kadugli Offices

Country Coordinator Neimat Hussein is on well-earned holiday from mid-March to mid-April and Deputy Country Coordinator Victor Gali Thomas is in charge of the office. Consequently, I am working through Victor, an energetic and committed southern Sudanese whom I met many years ago while living in Khartoum. The mixture of Sudanese from several areas of Sudan enriches our Khartoum office and allows me insights into a variety of Sudanese cultures. I always feel it a privilege to work with Sudanese so deeply committed to educating women and children. Since Alan and I were obliged to leave in 1999, I have been back to Sudan 21 times and plan to visit both Khartoum and Kadugli again in May. Each return to Sudan is a joyful reunion.

In the past few days the Khartoum office has concentrated on an application to the European Union (EU) for funding for our Teacher Training and Support Project in the Khartoum area and Nuba Mountains. This is probably the most difficult funding application we have ever worked on. If successful, our application to the EU will allow TfS to continue our Teacher Training and Support Project by training up to 660 teachers over a three year period and providing them with small “incentives” during a subsequent period of monitoring. In TfS experience, such gratuities have often allowed displaced people living in squatter areas to keep open the self help basic schools which they set up for their children. This is an area in which Together for Sudan has been a pioneer. We are also hoping to ask the EU for funding for ongoing training of our office staff, another necessity as the work expands and becomes more complicated.

The Khartoum office and I have also been busy recently working with a request from the Mohamed Ibrahim Foundation (MIF) for further information about our university scholars. MIF is one of three major contributors to TfS’s flagship project, the University Scholars Project (the other contributors are the UK Department for International Development and the Gordon Memorial College Trust Fund). And now the MIF offers us an opportunity on their impending website. Dr. Mohamed and his wife Dr. Hania Fadl, both TfS Patrons, inspire all who know them.

Our Kadugli office is still settling down following a major turnover of employees in recent months. TfS Field Coordinator, Saleem Musa Agoaf is supported by an assistant field coordinator, an office guard and a cleaner – and is showing signs of being a natural for the job. The Khartoum office knows that I am happy when accurate and timely reports keep coming in and Saleem seems well able to fit in with this requirement. TfS plans another Eye Care Outreach in April which will target some one thousand people, for the majority of whom it will be the first time they have been examined by a doctor of any sort. Dr. Nabila Radi, a saintly ophthalmologist, will travel to Kadugli from Khartoum once again and has offered to sleep in the office to save money.

We’ll see about that.
Lillian