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.
(more…)

With the recent expulsion of aid agencies from Sudan, Catholic Relief Services is working closely with the United Nations, government and local authorities, and donors to help address growing gaps in humanitarian aid.

Over the past three months, we’ve started activities in two new areas for CRS—Habila and Mukjar—south of our main operational hub in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state. Partnering with the World Food Program, we’re delivering emergency rations to displaced people and distributing essential household items such as plastic sheeting and water cans. We are also undertaking sanitation and hygiene initiatives to help prevent disease spread and improve overall community health.
(more…)

Neal Deles, CRS Sudan’s northern area coordinator and education program manager in West Darfur, Sudan, sent this report.

Groups of 10 women come together to help shape mud and cow dung into a strong wall that will serve as an industrial-sized stove for cooking school meals. Photo by Habib Abdurahman/CRS

After six months in Darfur, my thoughts are filled with images of the people I have encountered during my visits to our field offices and those I’ve passed by on the road. Among this patchwork of images are ones of women stooping—to sweep the wind-scattered trash and dust that has collected in front of their homes, to light fires to heat water for their daily tea, to till their small plots of land early each morning, and to prepare the heavy loads they hoist on their heads.

Last year while I was working in Baltimore, I was fascinated by a photo essay of fuel-efficient stove trainings in Darfur. The stoves looked easy to make. I also liked that they used less firewood, helping to care for the environment while reducing the need for women living in camps for displaced people to risk venturing out to remote areas to gather firewood.
(more…)

Lane Hartill visited Sudanese refugee camps in eastern Chad last week. CRS’ partner, Secours Catholique et Développement, manages three camps.

It’s been a while since Mahmoud has heard from his old friend, President Barack Obama.

“I sat under that tree and talked with him for half an hour,” says Mahmoud Anoor Hamed, a leader in Milé camp, a Sudanese refugee camp in eastern Chad. Most European leaders don’t get that kind of face time with Obama.
(more…)

Debbie DeVoe, CRS’ regional information officer for East Africa, sees a drilling rig in action in Southern Sudan.

The sun is scorching. This blond head is frying five minutes after arriving. But the men from CRS’ Southern Sudan program are entranced….
(more…)

By bringing people together to save and lend money, SILC groups in Sudan are building bonds of friendship that help promote peaceful coexistence. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

John Katunga, CRS’ regional technical advisor for peacebuilding and justice in East Africa, shares thoughts from his recent visit to Khartoum, Sudan.

A few months ago, I traveled to Sudan to explore ways to integrate peacebuilding activities into our vocational training initiatives and development of Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) in the Khartoum area. Little did I know that peacebuilding was already taking place on its own.

I sat down with two of the 50 SILC groups our local partners have helped form in camps near Khartoum housing people displaced by various conflicts. I learned that these groups are bringing together very diverse women—women of different religions, ethnic backgrounds and regions of Sudan.

The women told me that through their SILC groups they had created strong bonds of friendship. The members of one group also shared that they have pledged to address any conflicts that arise internally before calling upon external assistance.
(more…)

Debbie DeVoe, CRS regional information officer, East Africa, submitted this post.

17-year-old Ayen Deng plans to become a surgeon after finishing primary school, attending high school and graduating from university. Photo by Debbie DeVoe

Yesterday I met Ayen Deng, a 17-year-old attending her third year at a boarding school built with CRS’ assistance in a remote village in South Sudan. Even though most families across the country relegate their daughters to the fields and cooking huts, Ayen’s parents value education. Somehow they found the money needed for the mattress, washing tub, cup, plate, spoon and personal items to send Ayen to Anyidi Girls’ School. The education itself is free, with the Government of South Sudan covering the salaries of the nine teachers and CRS providing food donated by the U.S. government for meals.
(more…)

CRS is helping to build temporary and permanent classrooms in West Darfur for students displaced by the ongoing violence. Here, first-grade students sit down for their lessons in a semi-permanent classroom CRS built at a school for displaced children. Photo by Neal Deles/CRS

Neal Deles is Catholic Relief Services’ northern area coordinator and education program manager in West Darfur, based out of the El Geneina office.

I’ve been having fun meeting students at schools for children displaced by the ongoing conflict in Darfur. Most are shy, coming near me but keeping a comfortable distance and just smiling when I greet them. The more brazen ones shout out English words they have learned in class: “OK! How are you? What is your name?” I shout back “Neal!” or ask if they are “tamam,” Arabic for “good,” which always elicits big smiles. One time as we were driving away, a student shouted “Sit down!” I laughed because I was already sitting down in the car, but then I realized it was his earnest attempt to communicate with me.
(more…)

CRS provides food, health and nutrition among  other basic needs.

With assistance from the U.S. government and concerned parish donors, CRS built a water tank that allows families, who once had to travel more than a mile for water to simply turn on a tap and step back as they watch their water cans fill. Toilets, mud stoves, hand-washing stands, shower stalls and garbage pits have been great comforts for displaced residents.  Photo by Lana Slezic for CRS

CRS North Sudan country representative Mark Snyder shows Bishop Ricard temporary shelters built by CRS for families recently displaced by the Darfur conflict. Photo by Bill Schmitt/CRS.

El Geneina, West Darfur, Sudan – July 26, 2007

Three years after my first visit, I have returned to Darfur. The conflict is now four years old, and it is far from resolved. But hopefully the tide is turning as a new mood emerges and peace efforts continue.

On my last trip, I traveled with Catholic Relief Services’ president Ken Hackett to the town of Nyala in the state of South Darfur. This time I am in the town of El Geneina in West Darfur, seeing once again the situation on the ground firsthand with staff from CRS.

The emergency response has matured, and it is clear that CRS and other leading agencies are making a difference in people’s lives here. The work is difficult and challenging, especially due to security concerns. Risks are very real, and adjustments have to be made daily, which can be very costly and impact the scale of the response. But the overall situation seems to be stabilizing in terms of reaching people in need.

CRS country representative Mark Snyder shows Bishop Ricard temporary shelters built by CRS for families recently displaced by the Darfur conflict. Photo by Bill Schmitt/CRS.

Today we visited Ardamata camp where thousands of people are living just outside of El Geneina. In the last three weeks, CRS erected 750 new shelters for families recently driven from their homes. Agencies are partnering here to create a planned community that mimics village life. People live in very small structures that are very close to each other, but each families’ area is clearly defined, and schools and water pumps bring the community together.

We also spent time talking with a local wali, some sheiks and an imam, who represent the civic and religious authority in the town. They expressed a great deal of gratitude for CRS’ work and for the engagement of American Catholics and the American people in responding to the crisis. Ongoing needs are still considerable, however, and will require long-term assistance, such as improving access to clean water, building clinics and continuing to expand education services. But I’m seeing a greater level of cooperation and collaboration between the local government and aid agencies, and there is respect here for the work of CRS and that of other agencies. There is also a recognition of their contribution to this difficult situation rather than troubling indifference or animosity.

I’m sensing a different mood in Sudan. I believe that the governors, the Church and the Sudanese people are demonstrating a new sense of confidence in their ability to move toward peace. Sudan is a vast, beautiful country with considerable resources. The Sudanese must resolve the conflict in Darfur in order to move forward in achieving sustainable development.

I hope that American Catholics, who have responded generously to the conflict in Darfur, would continue to provide financial contributions to support ongoing emergency interventions. And I hope that these contributions would be matched by a serious effort on the part of our own State Department and administration in Washington to bring all involved parties together so that these skirmishes and disruption can cease. All Sudanese must be able to live in peace to realize their whole human potential.

Pope Paul VI said in his magnificent encyclical letter Populorum Progressio that development brings about peace, and peace is synonymous with development. It is my hope that this happens across Sudan.