HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SUDAN

Alaska to Sudan: Mission to Old Fangak

In November 2007 Anchorage doctor Jack Hickel and nurse Lori Gibbons visited a remote village in southern Sudan. They we're in the village of Old Fangak at the invitation of Dr. Jill Seaman. What they found was even more desperate than they could have imagined. (see video) In just a ten day period Jack and Lori watched several villagers die from preventable diseases and malnutrition. Jack and Lori came home to Alaska convinced that Alaskans can do something to help these people in their hour of need.

You can hear more in this Alaska Public Radio Network interview with Jack by reporter Duncan Moon:

Through friends and word of mouth a team has been assembled and a plan put into action. In November 2008 a group of Alaskans will travel across the globe to Old Fangak, Sudan, The mission of the Alaskan team is to build a health center, dig water wells and build a latrine system. It's an ambitious project in an extremely remote area without clean water, sanitation, roads, electricity or infrastructure. The people here maintain a very traditional lifestyle on an island in the middle of the largest swamp in the world. There is very little here except poverty and disease. (more about Old Fangak)

Currently in Old Fangak there is no reliable physical structure in which to provide medical care. The physical structure in which medical care is currently being provided is soon to be re-claimed by the new government of southern Sudan for its use. What Old Fangak does have is a dedicated friend from Alaska. Her name is Dr. Jill Seaman.

Jill's Story: Bethel Alaska to Sudan Africa

Jill Seaman is one of the quiet, unheralded sources of light in the darkest corner of Africa. For the last 19 years Jill has given medical help to the Nuer people in the southern Sudan. They are mainly semi-nomadic cattle herders and are plagued with disease and famine. With financial help and logistical support from Crosscurrents International Institute and from her friends from Alaska and around the world, Jill set up shop in Old Fangak 3 years ago where she provides the only medical help for a population of thousands. For six months of the year (the dry season) Jill treats every thing imaginable. For the other 6 months she works in Bethel, Alaska providing health care to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Yup'ik residents. (more about Jill)

The menu of diseases of Sudan includes malaria, leprosy, tuberculosis, kala-azar, brucellosis, trachoma, meningitis, measles, whooping cough, infectious hepatitis, syphilis and now HIV. Only one doctor, and no permanent health clinic. Jill's friends and new friends like you are coming to help.

Friends of Jill Volunteer

From Anchorage, Wasilla and Bethel, friends of Jill are volunteering to take on this ambitious project. The news media is starting to tell the story and more and more Alaskans are getting involved. The new organization is called the Alaska Sudan Medical Project or ASMP.

Now we need your help. The project construction budget is $500,000. The time is short and the need is great. Every dollar raised will help save a life in Sudan. Your help today will save lives and bring hope for the future. Alaska to Sudan. Building Hope through Health For Life. (Please donate today)

 

The Alaska Sudan Medical Project has three major goals for Project Old Fangak in November 2008.

• To build a health center
• Provide functioning wells
• Build a latrine system