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The 21 year civil war between the North and the South of Sudan has ended, although the situation is still volatile. People who had fled the war are nonetheless beginning to return home, but are having to re-build their lives from scratch. There are no roads, no electricity, no running water, few schools and inadequate medical help. A whole generation of Sudanese people is uneducated.
IRT is supporting a number of small projects to help the people re-establish their lives, particularly women and children.
It is the women in African culture who keep everything going. Often their husbands have been killed in battle, have died of AIDS or have moved on to take another wife. The women have to collect firewood every day and chop it up. They have to walk to the well and carry home backbreaking jerry cans of water. They have to find the money to buy food, clothes, medicine and educate their children.
In the towns of Nzara and Wau IRT is supporting the Comboni Sisters in their projects to teach women skills so that they can make goods to sell and make some desperately needed money. Sewing, soap making, peanut butter making – all small scale activities, but big enough to make a huge difference to these women’s lives.
The small town of Wau was badly affected by the civil war. People who fled are now returning. The Comboni Sisters remained there throughout but their activities suffered. Their two primary schools were damaged and there is a chronic lack of text books and other school equipment.
IRT is going to fund the repair of the buildings and provide much needed teaching equipment. We also hope to establish income generating projects such as cow grazing, which would also be a valuable skill for the students to learn.
There is no such thing as free education in Sudan and the Sisters pay for a few of the many orphans to go to school. IRT is going to pay for 200 more. The fees and uniforms for each child for one year cost around £30.
The situation is the same in Nzara, further south. Here we are going to help the Comboni Sisters at their primary school with funding for a new classroom block and equipment
Two of the Sisters run a small health clinic in Wau where, with the help of local people who they have trained, they manage to treat about 4,000 people a month. Malnutrition among mothers and children is rife. The Sisters identify the most needy children and they feed them. At the same time they make sure that the children receive vaccinations and basic vitamins. They also give food to breast-feeding mothers.
We are supporting this precious work of the Sisters by paying for the food and the wages of the locally employed staff.
Yambio is another small town to which people are now returning. Here we are helping the Christian Brothers in their project to counsel the ever-increasing number in the community suffering from HIV/AIDS. In January this year they numbered about 400. The Brothers saw that these people needed somewhere to meet and IRT is funding the building of a room where they can go for counselling, group workshops and recreation.
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