Blog Action Day 2013 | How Can YOU Help?

Blog Action Day is a one-day international event that brings thousands of bloggers together to talk about an important issue. Throughout Blog Action Day, participants help raise awareness and money for charities and social causes. This year I'm blogging on behalf of Samaritan's Purse.

The focus of Blog Action Day 2013 is on human rights. Samaritan's Purse would like to draw attention to the crisis situation in Sudan and South Sudan that has been caused by brutal human rights violations carried out by the Sudanese government and its president, Omar al-Bashir.

This is the third of three posts today to bring awareness to this situation. If you missed the previous posts, you can read them here and here.

The Underlying Problem

The root of the refugee crisis is ongoing government-sponsored violence against Sudanese citizens. While Samaritan’s Purse is committed to meeting the urgent needs of refugees, the underlying problem can only be addressed with broader issues of governance and constitutionality. We encourage Christians to:

• Pray for the violence to end and for comprehensive peace for all of Sudan. 
• Give as God calls to help meet the needs of displaced people living in South Sudan. 
• Spread the word to raise awareness of the problem and encourage others to get involved.

Ways You Can Help

Here are some of the areas that need your prayer and support ...
 

Displacement

• The Need: Approximately 190,000 refugees populate camps in northern South Sudan. These refugees fled across the border as Sudan’s government troops conducted aerial bombings, ground raids, and orchestrated famine – atrocities that continue to this day. 
• The Response: Samaritan’s Purse works with partners inside the refugee camps to meet basic needs in Jesus’ Name, including food, water, and medical care.

Hunger

• The Need: Many children arrive in the refugee camps suffering from moderate and severe acute malnutrition. Families cannot provide food for themselves because the violence forced them to leave their farmland.  
• The Response: Samaritan’s Purse screens and treats children for moderate to severe acute malnutrition with outpatient therapeutic feeding programs. We partner with the World Food Programme to conduct routine food distributions inside the camps.

Scarce Medical Care

• The Need: Bunj Hospital is the only healthcare provider to offer specialized surgical care, at-risk childbirth intervention, and life-saving nutritional programs in Maban County, a large border region in northern South Sudan.
• The Response: Samaritan’s Purse began operating Bunj Hospital, in partnership with the UN High Council on Refugees, in January 2012, and since then more than 600 life-saving surgeries have been performed. We are currently expanding to meet increasing demand.

Lack of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene

• The Need: Access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene is always a challenge in refugee situations.  
• The Response: Samaritan's Purse supplies the majority of clean water access in Yida refugee camp. In August, we produced approximately 13,605,000 liters of water, built 173 latrines, and trained 1,900 people in health and hygiene.

If you would like to contribute financially to the ministry of Samaritan's Purse as they assist in meeting needs in Sudan and South Sudan, you can donate here.

Blog Action Day 2013 | A Photo Essay

Blog Action Day is a one-day international event that brings thousands of bloggers together to talk about an important issue. Throughout Blog Action Day, participants help raise awareness and money for charities and social causes. This year I'm blogging on behalf of Samaritan's Purse.

The focus of Blog Action Day 2013 is on human rights. Samaritan's Purse would like to draw attention to the crisis situation in Sudan and South Sudan that has been caused by brutal human rights violations carried out by the Sudanese government and its president, Omar al-Bashir.

This is the second of three posts today to bring awareness to this situation. If you missed the first post, you can read it here.

Nurse Erin Whitehouse examines a child at Yida refugee camp’s Stabilization Center. Many refugees arrive with malnourished children who need immediate care. Mothers throughout the camp know to bring their children to the center if they become ill or need medical attention.

When roads are flooded during the rainy season, the only way to get food to the refugee camp in Yida is to drop it by plane.

Samaritan’s Purse has established nine water points throughout the Yida refugee camp, providing clean water for more than 20,000 people per day.

Yida refugee camp’s most vulnerable women, including widows and mothers who are heads of households, are learning income-generating skills like sewing, jewelry making, embroidery, and weaving. They can sell or trade the goods in the marketplace.

Dr. Evan Atar is on call 24 hours a day at Bunj Hospital in South Sudan. He is the only full-time surgeon in an area where more than 200,000 people live, including over 110,000 refugees who have been driven from their homes in Sudan.

The food laid out here will only feed 250 families for a month.

Choirs sang the national anthem of South Sudan at the Independence Day ceremony on July 9, 2011. Part of the lyrics include: “Oh God! We praise and glorify You for Your grace on South Sudan; Land of great abundance, uphold us united in peace and harmony.”

If you would like to contribute financially to the ministry of Samaritan's Purse as they assist in meeting needs in Sudan and South Sudan, you can donate here.


Photo Credit: Samaritan's Purse

Blog Action Day 2013 | Human Rights for Sudanese Refugees

Blog Action Day is a one-day international event that brings thousands of bloggers together to talk about an important issue. Throughout Blog Action Day, participants help raise awareness and money for charities and social causes. This year I'm blogging on behalf of Samaritan's Purse.

The focus of Blog Action Day 2013 is on human rights. Samaritan's Purse would like to draw attention to the crisis situation in Sudan and South Sudan that has been caused by brutal human rights violations carried out by the Sudanese government and its president, Omar al-Bashir.

This is the first of three posts today to bring awareness to this situation.

Background Information
In July of 2011, after decades of civil war between the Arab-dominated northern Sudanese and the predominantly African and Christian people of the south, the Republic of South Sudan was born. The new nation of South Sudan celebrated its first independence day on July 9, 2011. Most of the people in the areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile are African but are located north of the newly recognized boundary between South Sudan and Sudan. Although they also fought for freedom and dignity, the government of Sudan, led by President Bashir, continues to wage war against the people of those areas.

More than two years later, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir continues to attack thousands of his own citizens with aerial bombings, ground raids and orchestrated starvation. Hundreds of thousands of victims have fled into refugee camps in South Sudan.

Samaritan Purse's Involvement
Samaritan’s Purse began working in Sudan in 1993. Our work in Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan began in 1998, and we conducted extensive humanitarian aid operations in those areas until the Sudanese government cut off international humanitarian access in June 2011.

In 2012, Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham called for strong action by international leaders while affirming his humanitarian commitment, “The United States government and our allies need to increase the pressure and force a regime change to allow an opportunity for peace. Until then, I remain committed to meeting critical needs of those who are fleeing for their lives into South Sudan.”

In July of 2013, Samaritan’s Purse Vice President of Programs and Government Affairs Ken Isaacs testified at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in Washington, D.C. A transcript of the testimony can be found at samaritanspurse.org.

If you would like to contribute financially to the ministry of Samaritan's Purse as they assist in meeting needs in Sudan and South Sudan, you can donate here.


Photo Credit: Samaritan's Purse