Saturday, April 12th, food and medicine were delivered to the Buckeye Health Clinic in Piol, South Sudan. With the assistance of the Twic East County Health Director, James Magok, 5,500 pounds of sorghum, beans, lentils, cooking oil, salt, and sugar was distributed to 120 families (about 600 individuals). Much needed medications (malaria, amoxicillin, oral hydration salts, vitamin A, and other medicines) were delivered to the clinic, and 200 mosquito nets were distributed to families. The clinic website www.southsudanclinic.org or the Facebook page “lost boys of Sudan the Sudan clinic” will soon have photos of the food arriving and being distributed in Piol. Because no humanitarian aide from the United Nations or the World Food Program has reached the area, this is the first aide received since the crisis began on December 15th. Chief Atem Riac Biar said, “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I thank Bol Aweng and Jok Dau and their white men and women friends for this much needed food and medicine”. He said it is a sign of hope and will encourage the villagers to return to Piol from the swampy area near the Nile River where they fled when the fighting began in December. He stressed how important the Piol village is to the area and it must not be abandoned.
Thanks to everyone who has donated since January to make this shipment possible. The crisis, however, is far from over. Both government and rebel troops continue to violate the ceasefire agreement, and negotiations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a peaceful resolution are not producing any results. The UN warns that South Sudan “will face the worst starvation in Africa since the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands of people died in Ethiopia’s famine”. If people cannot return to their homes and plant crops before the rainy season begins, a famine will become a reality. In the mean time, the Buckeye Health Clinic will continue to assist in whatever way possible.
The people of South Sudan continue to need your help! Items currently needed are plastic tarps to help provide shelter for those still in hiding near the Nile River, food, and nutritional supplements for malnourished children. We need to raise $20,000 by the end of May to provide this assistance before the rainy season begins and the roads become impassable. Jok Dau and Bol Aweng are asking you to please contribute what you can to help reach this goal.
Tax-deductible contributions can be made to the Buckeye Health Clinic
- Online at www.southsudanclinic.org
- By check, payable to Scioto Ridge United Methodist Church/South Sudan Clinic, and mailed to SRUMC, 4343 Dublin Rd. Hilliard, OH 43026
