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Greetings!
The current debate raging
around healthcare reform in the US prompts me to reflect on the health of the women and
girls in Sudan whom I have come to know through Mercy Beyond
Borders.
"What type of health insurance system would
you prefer?" is a question never asked in South Sudan. There is no debate. Why? Because,
quite simply, there is no health insurance whatsoever. And for most of the
people, there is little or no healthcare, either. It is common for a woman to
walk 6 or 7 days to reach a rural clinic or for a seriously injured person to ride
atop a lorry jostling through the bush for 8 hours to get to a distant hospital - which
may or may not have the needed personnel or medicines. As you will read below, Mercy Beyond Borders
is addressing these problems. Thank you
for supporting MBB in these efforts!
With warm regards, 
Sister Marilyn Lacey |
Events
This Flowing Toward Me book signings with Marilyn Lacey, founder of MBB
Nov 8: Los Gatos Presbyterian Church, Los Gatos, CA
Carnival Cruise for MBB
Nov 9-12: 4 Day Baja Mexico Cruise from San Diego.
Book with Anne Johnson at 650-697-1341 or email mytravelcove@yahoo.com.
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Fast Facts
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15% of Sudanese children die
before their 5th birthday. That's one in every seven.
More people have died from violence in Southern Sudan this year than in Darfur.
A campaign by the Carter Foundation
has eradicated the guinea worm, an excruciatingly painful parasite
that invades the body through contaminated water, everywhere in the
world-- except in Southern
Sudan.
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| Read Our Blogs |
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Mercy Beyond Borders blog provides a weekly commentary from MBB's founder, Marilyn Lacey, rsm, on MBB activities at home and abroad.
Mercy in Sudan blog chronicles the experiences of Kathleen Connolly, rsm, who moved to Africa in Jan 2009. She is living at St Bakhita School in Sudan. |
Help us spread the word about MBB by forwarding this eNewsletter to friends who may be interested. Simply click on the above button. |
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It's free! It's easy! If you do not already subscribe
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Ambassador Of The Month
Mary Clark, a seasoned Family Nurse
Practitioner/Certified Nurse Midwife from the SF
Bay Area and a supporter of Mercy Beyond Borders, volunteers for a month each
year in Kuron Medical Clinic in rural Sudan. In her own
words:
"This is extremely challenging medical work, and the
scale of human suffering is unlike anything I have ever seen. The setting is incredibly harsh - very hot weather, little water, few meds and supplies, lots of deadly snakes, scorpions, malaria, parasites, daily
violence and warring tribes. The women and children suffer the most. Sr. Angela
also does women's health and obstetrical care.
Many of the tribal women have settled near the clinic with their children
to be closer to her; she has saved many lives. The Toposa women revere her (already,
5 babies born this year in Kuron have been named "Sister Angela") and it's an
honor for me to work side by side with her."
Ambassadors of MBB volunteer to raise $1,000 each year for Mercy Beyond Borders. To become an ambassador, contact Sr. Marilyn Lacey. |
Archived Newsletters
You can find previous issues of this newsletter in the below links.
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The Long Road from Surviving to Thriving
Emma Ross, medical writer for the Associated
Press, has described Southern
Sudan as "one of the poorest
and most neglected areas on Earth, with possibly the worst health situation in
the world."
There is, in essence, no health care system.
Foreign humanitarian agencies provide nearly all of the doctors and medicine.
Three surgeons serve southern Sudan, a span of 80,000 square miles (one and a half times
the size of Iraq). The number of proper hospitals can be counted on
one hand, and in some areas there is just one doctor for about 500,000 people. War
has displaced much of the population and prevented a proper census, but experts
estimate that 6 to 8 million people
now live in the region.
"This really is the forgotten front line
when it comes to health," said Francois Decaillet, a public health
specialist at the World Bank who has 20 years of experience in Africa.
Southern Sudan has the world's highest rate of maternal death by
childbirth. Diseases which have been eradicated in most parts of the world
remain stubbornly common in Sudan: guinea worm, Hansen's disease, tuberculosis,
polio. And even now, 4 years after the
signing of the peace agreement that ended the North/South civil war, gunshot
wounds rank as the #1 "presenting problem" of patients appearing for clinic
treatment.
What can be done?
The fledgling government of Southern Sudan is building clinics and attempting to set up an
infrastructure for healthcare. That will
be a long process and ultimately a fruitless one unless Sudanese students
themselves can train for health careers.
Thanks to your support, Mercy Beyond Borders is now launching two new programs to improve the
situation:
#1. Nursing
Scholarships and Internships:
Mercy Beyond Borders supports the academic training of young women
graduating from 12th grade who wish to pursue careers as doctors,
nurses, midwives or nurses' aides at local colleges. MBB also underwrites yearlong internships for
young adults interested in nursing who need practical work in a medical clinic
to qualify them for entrance into a nursing school. Sister Angela Limiyo, recovered from the
gunshot wound she suffered in a random vehicle ambush in Sudan earlier this year, has graciously offered to
supervise interns willing to work with her at the remote Kuron Clinic in Eastern Equatoria, Sudan.
#2.
Women's Health: Mercy Beyond Borders began its Women's Health
Outreach workshops in villages in and around Narus during September. Sister Kathleen Connolly works in partnership
with Anna Mijji, a Sudanese woman who knows the local area and its Toposa
people and can negotiate the protocols (e.g., permissions from local chiefs)
essential for a successful program.
Kathleen and Anna are conducting half-day workshops to teach basic
health practices to the women: Wash your
hands. Boil the water. Cover the food.
These health habits may seem obvious, but they are challenging to
implement in regions where both water and firewood are scarce and burdensome to
obtain each day.
Postscript: Kathleen was
bitten last week by a scorpion that had nestled in the clothes in the suitcase
in her tukul. "Never have I experienced
such exquisite pain," she wrote. What a
master of understatement.
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"What Pure Gratitude Looks Like"
 Immediately after a torrential day-and-a-half
rainstorm (the first real rain in two years, welcomed by everyone in that
drought-stricken region), Sister Kathleen conducted the first women's health
workshop in the town of Narus.
This is her description:
"At first we thought the workshop might be
canceled due to the rains, but no, the show went on when we learned that 30
women had assembled and were waiting for the training to begin...... We wound up
walking in absolute muck twice to and from the compound and the workshop site
because we underestimated the number of women who would come and I had to go
back [about 1/2 mile] to get more cups and soap.
25 Toposa women came, not
counting their children, and 5 more straggled in at the end. I mimed a
little scenario of what happens when you DON'T wash your hands before
eating. The women actually clapped and I curtsied. Two Sudanese
women and I taught as a team for 45 minutes and then there were animated
questions and comments... Afterwards, while we were doling out maize flour into
large plastic cups for each woman, all the women spontaneously erupted
into song, and after we gave each some soap they started dancing. I wish
I'd had a camcorder. I had
forgotten what pure gratitude looks like. Next week we are to go
into the bush to another small village....."
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You're receiving this email because of your interest in MERCY BEYOND BORDERS. MBB was founded in 2008 by three colleagues-- a Sister of Mercy, a university professor, and a medical doctor--determined to improve the lives of displaced women and children living in extreme poverty. We are a 501(c)(3) registered in California and committed to linking U.S. resources with displaced women & children overseas. We are currently targeting Southern Sudan, which has one-quarter of the world's displaced peoples.
Please feel free to forward this to others who may be interested in hearing about us.
Sincerely,
Sister Marilyn Lacey
Executive Director
Donations to support the work of Mercy Beyond Borders can be made online by clicking on the button above or sent to Mercy Beyond Borders, 1885 De La Cruz Blvd #101, Santa Clara CA 95050-3000. |
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