2010 Fundraising Focus

2010 Fundraising Focus - Sudan

The proceeds of the 2010 Peach Cobble Mennonite Relief Auction will go to Mennonite Central Committee with a focus of supporting the work of MCC in helping the people of Sudan to rebuild their homeland.

Special Project
During the auction you will have a chance to fund a piece of job related training programs and equipment to help people, many of them mothers, to be able to address the poverty their families are currently experiencing.   For example:
$30.00 provides a month’s salary for a tailoring instructor.
$150.00 provides a sewing machine 
$175 will provide one scholarship to help a student complete four years of a university education.

Coming home to southern Sudan
A 22-year civil war shattered communities in southern Sudan, which is one of the most impoverished regions in the world. Now that the war is over, southern Sudanese people are returning in great numbers. But their homeland lacks necessities such as schools, health facilities and water sources. About 1.7 million people have returned to southern Sudan since the 2005 peace agreement. Millions of others, ready to return, wait to see how rebuilding efforts are progressing, and whether a fragile peace will hold.

MCC’s response
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is working with long-time Sudanese church partners in a multimillion-dollar, multiyear response that grows out of more than 35 years of partnership with Sudanese churches. During the civil war, MCC worked with Sudanese church organizations to distribute food aid and support peacemaking efforts. Now the churches have asked MCC to help with recovery and rebuilding as people are returning to their homes in southern Sudan.

MCC is helping communities rebuild by committing programming funds in Sudan for the next 10
years. Programming will focus on helping to build and furnish medical facilities and schools. In addition,
MCC is providing school kits and relief kits and working with local partners to drill boreholes that provide clean drinking water.  Compost latrines will be provided for basic sanitation. MCC also will work with local communities to build peace through intercultural and interfaith awareness training for religious, community and civic leaders.

Go to mcc.org/sudan for more information

Coming Home: Parkiela John’s Story
I was about 17 when my family fled our village near Rumbek, southern Sudan, because of the war. We went north to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. After 22 years, we traveled home because the war was over. I had six children while we lived in Khartoum. When the peace was signed, I decided to bring back these children to their land. They should come and know their people and their people should know them. Last July, we traveled back to Rumbek by bus. But life is worse here now than before the war. We haven't been able to grow crops, such as sorghum or peanuts, because the rains haven't come. So, I catch fish in a swamp and sell them to buy food. There is no health center in our community. When my children are sick, I take them to a clinic in another village. I haven't enrolled my children in school yet, but I will next year. Currently, children have school outside under trees, but people are beginning to construct buildings for them.

I am glad that we came home, but the war hurt our community. When we were here before the war, people loved each other. When the war came and people scattered, people lost their love for each other. That is what is different. It is because of poverty. If we had what we needed, we would gather together to eat in each other's houses. But neighbors can't share food now because there is too little. The lack of food, the poverty, means there is a lack of love.

 
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