Americans will do anything for Africa, someone once said, except read about it. This is something that people who write about Africa think about. People like Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times’ columnist. Kristof has his methods—using Americans as an avenue through which to hook people on African issues—and he wrote about them recently.

There’s another way to get people to care about Africa. Convince Americans to go to visit. Let them rub up against rural poverty. Let them cuddle Burkinabé babies, drink home-brewed sorghum beer, and rock back and laugh with Ghanaian villagers. That’s exactly what a group of Hispanic Americans did recently. They traveled to Burkina Faso and Ghana to learn about Catholic Relief Services and the people we help.
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“To bring lasting peace to Congo, earnings from the country’s rich mineral deposits must be shared with the entire population, particularly through state funding of education and health care, Pope Benedict XVI told Congo’s new ambassador to the Vatican.”

See the full Catholic News Service story on AmericanCatholic.org.

Goats in Bor are on the move now that chain-link fencing is keeping them out of the CRS compound.. Photo by Renee Lambert/CRS

Renee Lambert, Catholic Relief Services’ area coordinator in Bor in Southern Sudan, sends in this field story.

The goats of Bor town have been a thorn in my side ever since I arrived in Southern Sudan. While quite adorable, these goats are also clever and very persistent.

Goats will eat anything and everything. They love our compound because we have lots of green stuff to nibble on. And unfortunately for me, they seem to think the beautiful fresh green leaves of my young papaya and mango trees are the goat equivalent of veal.

Repeated attempts to keep the goats out have been completely unsuccessful. I’ve chased them around the compound on more than one occasion—a task that is definitely not in my job description. So a couple of months ago, in an attempt to keep the goats out, we installed some heavy duty wiring along the bottom portion of the fence. Unfortunately, this only resulted in our compound looking a bit like a low security prison without deterring the little rascals one bit.
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The volatile situation in Sudan – not just in the Darfur region, but also the tenuous peace between the North and South brought about by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) – is becoming more serious. The country is bracing for national elections now and a referendum on whether the South should secede from the North in January 2011. The potential for increased violence, death, and displacement at the hands of a renewed North-South war is real.

Significant steps must be taken to avert such a disaster. Read this editorial from Sean Callahan, Catholic Relief Services’ executive vice president for overseas operations, published today in The Baltimore Sun on how CRS is addressing the hope and potential peril in southern Sudan.

Paul Nantulya, CRS’ technical advisor for peacebuilding in Sudan, sends in this field report.

From March 23 – 26, an historic event took place in Juba with CRS’ assistance: the Sudanese Church Leaders Forum. More than 60 leaders from Sudan’s various Christian churches came together under the umbrella of the Sudan Council of Churches to unify their voice and vision for promoting peace. They were joined by Muslim clerics, government officials and church officials from other African countries. Members from CRS’ Africa Justice and Peace Working Group which has been accompanying this process were there to provide support.

It was incredible to watch these leaders from all regions of Sudan discuss crucial issues and quickly come to agreement. The last time church leaders met in a forum like this was in 2002 when they set forth a comprehensive agenda for peace which informed many of the protocols of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that in January, 2005, ended Sudan’s second major civil war.
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Come rain or shine—and by donkey or horse—CRS’ Darfur staff get the job done. Photo by Rasheeda Ahmed Hassan/CRS

Rachel Hermes, Education Program Manager in West Darfur, sends in a field story. She is based in El Geneina, Darfur.

CRS works in a number of project sites in the northern corridor of West Darfur. To get to these remote villages, all humanitarian aid workers travel by U.N. helicopter. Logistical plans are made by radio before arrival, but things don’t always go as planned.
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By Debbie DeVoe

On my first trip to Southern Sudan in 2008, I visited Ikotos and the surrounding area. I had already been to Darfur, Ethiopia, Uganda and more. But it was Southern Sudan that floored me.

I don’t like admitting this, because I have such deep respect for my Sudanese colleagues, but I remember thinking over and over, “There’s nothing here.” The land was dry and rocky, with occasional scrub brushes. The distant hills offered a stark beauty, but I couldn’t understand why so many people were flooding back to the region, tentatively returning to their homes after a peace agreement signed in 2005 ended a 22-year civil war. We drove for hours on horrendously rutted roads. Every 30 minutes or so, we passed a handful of mud huts being built, and little else. Schools were large shade trees, clinics were practically non-existent, and wells were a rare sight. And yet the people kept coming.
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This month, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the Bishops of Sudan during their visit to the Vatican. In his address, The Holy Father shared the following:

“I know how much you and the faithful of your country long for peace, and how patiently you are working for its restoration. … you have spoken out with one voice in rejecting ‘any return to war’ and in appealing for the establishment of peace at every level of national life.
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The graduates clap and ululate as each participant receives her certificate. Photo by Melita Sawyer/CRS

Melita Sawyer, Microfinance Technical Advisor at CRS headquarters in Baltimore, recently attended a graduation ceremony in Sudan.

Graduations are a big deal in Sudan. Not that they go unnoticed in the United States, but here in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, graduations mean singing, dancing, showering graduates with congratulations (and sometimes fake snow too) and lots of food—all during the ceremony.

I was really looking forward to attending the graduation ceremony for 150 women who received vocational training through CRS’ Khartoum State Poverty Reduction program, and it far exceeded my expectations. The minute we arrived and heard the all-women’s marching band playing a lively tune, surrounded by graduates happily dancing, I knew that this graduation would be different.
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While southern Sudan desperately needs more schools, efforts are being made by the government, CRS and other agencies to give children the education they deserve. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

Tom Purekal moved to Juba in July 2009 to serve as CRS’ program manager for peacebuilding and governance in southern Sudan. Here is his first report from the field.

I chose a critical time to work in southern Sudan. So much of what happens over the next two years will set the tone for the country’s future, which is especially relevant for my work in peacebuilding and governance.

After finishing an intense two years with CRS in India, I was looking for a challenging project that would bring me to Africa for the first time in my career. In terms of need, Sudan doesn’t disappoint.
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