Program:
Facilitate Grassroots Reconciliation
- Budget:
-
$150,000
- Category:
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Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy, General/Other
- Population Served:
-
Other Named Groups
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Other Named Groups
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Poor/Economically Disadvantaged, Indigent, General
Program Description:
This program lifts up a vision for peace and forgiveness among former enemies who are choosing reconciliation rather than violence. We envision a just, free and democratic New Sudan where all people are equal citizens, particularly those who have been marginalized, where all Sudanese, regardless of race, religion or gender, have liberty and justice. Sudan Sunrise has sponsored a number of strategic meetings in the US and in South Sudan for Sudanese over the past five years. We co-sponsored Southern Sudanese to Stand in Solidarity with Darfurians in April '06 in Washington, DC, sponsored a Conversation on Reconciliation July 2-4, '07 in Kansas City, and a emergency reconciliation gathering November '08 in Washington, DC. In January 2009 we had the opportunity to show the Sudanese Reconciliation video to groups of students at Juba University in South Sudan, and have established a partnership with the Darfur Students Association, Juba University. In November 2010 we participated in the Sudanese Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya to strengthen grassroots leadership, empower South Sudanese youth, and promote peace and stability in Sudan. In 2011, Darfurian and other Northern students are volunteering to help build the Manute Bol School in Turalei and get aid to Abyei refugees.
Program Long-Term Success:
In a momentus statement from the July 3, 2007, Conversation on Sudanese Reconciliation held in Kansas City, MO, Sudanese delegates from across the US as well as Sudan vowed to acknowledge their brutal past and recognize diversity for the greater good of the Sudanese people. The diverse composition of the conference marked a crucial turn in relations between the ethnic groups of Sudan. "This is a picture of the real Sudan. The interpretation of the New Sudan we have been striving to achieve. People view Sudan in the context of North versus South, Muslim versus Christian. But the same oppression and marginzlization has been happening to groups across the country from the South to the North, and from the East to the West. The group set forth a vision for the future of Sudan, urging justice, freedom, democracy and equal rights for all Sudanese citizens.
Program Short-Term Success:
In April 2006 Sudan Sunrise co-sponsored a "Standing Together Against Genocide" dinner in Washington, DC attended by hundreds of Sudanese, both Darfurian Muslims and Southern Sudanese Christians. On July 2-4, 2007, almost 40 Sudanese leaders gathered in Kansas City for a Conference on Sudanese Reconciliation with a Statement on Sudanese Reconciliation issued dated July 3rd declaring a vision for the future of Sudan. With adequate funding, we will continue to hold reconciliation meetings across the U.S., hold a large conference in 2008 or conduct regional meetings, and begin sending teams to Sudan to share the message of reconciliation. In January and June 2009, the president of the Darfur Students Association at Juba University joined our teams teaching and building a primary school in Turalei, in a show of solidarity with Southern Sudanese and to deliver a message of reconciliation.<br />
Program Success Monitored by:
Constant dialogue and feedback is solicited and received from Sudanese. Conference calls and regional meetings are held. Open meetings are held with Sudanese. We seek input from the Government of Southern Sudan Mission Office in the US. Success is shown in videos filmed during reconciliation meetings in July and November 2007, and through the Sudanese Reconciliation film distributed November 2008.
Program Success Examples:
A July conference participant stated, "In our situation, if you want to bring people together, you have to start with grassroots and create a sense of unity. We must begin with reconciliation with community leaders and bring it back to the people". Francis Bok, author of "Escape From Slavery" challenges the international community to take action against the policies that continue to tolerate slavery and the conflicts that lead to it. "For ten years, I laid awake at night, wondering who would come to free me. I saw Hotel Rwanda when I was seven years old. I saw people's heads cut off. I saw people lying on the ground, as if to relax, but they were dead", he said. Depiste the atrocities experienced by each member of the Sudanese community, conference participants were uniformly resolute about reconciliation. "This event is priceless. Today we can unite in the common goal of encouraging the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement", said one member.
Program:
Southern Sudan Community Building
- Budget:
-
$350,000
- Category:
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International, Foreign Affairs & National Security, General/Other
- Population Served:
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Other Named Groups
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Other Named Groups
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Poor/Economically Disadvantaged, Indigent, General
Program Description:
The Southern Sudan Community Building recognizes that after four years of prevailing peace in South Sudan, many Southern Sudanese do not have access to basic services such as primary education, health care and clean water. Heavy rains for six months of the year can delay many projects. Community building is capital intensive due to the large territory, lack of commercial transport, and poor infrastructure. Sudan Sunrise seeks to help the marginalized people in the villages of Turalei, Gor Ayen, and Doung-Paloi by providing access to primary education and clean water. We seek to help the marginalized people in the village of Kimotong by rebuilding a church and community center.
Program Long-Term Success:
Expected outcomes include: 1) The people in Gor Ayen have access to clean water; 2) The village of Paloi will be able to increase their food supply by using fishing nets to catch fish in the local river as part of a beginning micro lending program; 3) All children in Paloi, Turalei and Gor Ayen will attend school full time; 4) The students in Turalei, Gor Ayen and Paloi will have access to clean water through rain harvesting; and, 6) Plans have begun to build a church and community center in Kimotong.
Program Short-Term Success:
Goals/Indicators include: 1) Through a partnership with PACT Sudan, a bore hole has been drilled in Gor Ayen by the end of 2009; 2) Fishing nets have been delivered to Paloi by April 2009 to allow villagers to catch fish in the Nile river; 3) A compressed earth block press has been delivered to Turalei and Paloi by April 2009, a site study and soil testing completed, and construction budget developed; 4) Cistern has been installed in Turalei with harvesting roof rain water in place; 5) School supplies have been delivered to the school in Kimotong; and, 6) A leadership team has been formed to institute the Lopez Lomong Kimotong Church and Community Center.<br />
Program Success Monitored by:
Internal progress reports and on site visits are used to monitor program progress.
Program Success Examples:
Three classrooms were constructed in Turalei in May 2009. A teaching team visited Turalei in June 2009 to instruct 20 volunteer teachers on basic English language and Math skills. Two bore holes were drilled in Gor Ayen in April 2009. Fishing nets were delivered to Paloi in May 2009, and 33 huts and 17 barns were raised for returning refugees.
Program:
Peace through Education: Building Schools in Sudan
- Budget:
-
$400,000
- Category:
-
Education, General/Other
- Population Served:
-
Other Named Groups
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Other Named Groups
-
Poor/Economically Disadvantaged, Indigent, General
Program Description:
The Education and Reconciliation Program recognizes the most enduring means of reconciliation is education, with the building of primary schools in South Sudan that, from their inception, welcome Darfurian and other Northern students, to which Darfurians are invited to help build the schools, help teach at the schools, and send their children to the schools. Children currently learn outside under trees and they cannot attend school when it rains during the long rainy season in Sudan (April through October). These schools will stand in the communities as symbols of the benefit of cooperation among the marginalized of Sudan, use technology and materials in a context to make a difference in empowering people to build schools, and to grow a reconciliation and education movement to impact the next generation of Sudanese. Currently less than two percent of Sudanese finish primary school. We seek to fulfill former NBA humanitarian Manute Bol's dream to build 41 schools in Sudan.<br />
Program Long-Term Success:
Children will be able to attend school full time, and will grow up learning that Darfurians and Southern Sudanese can be friends and learn together, which will bring peace, unity and an end to oppression in Sudan. The Islamic fundamentalist government in North Sudan will not be able to divide and conquer to keep war present in Sudan.
Program Short-Term Success:
Expected outcomes include: 1) All primary age children in Turalei, Gor Ayen and Paloi attend school full-time, even during the rainy season; 2) A new building technique using compressed earth blocks has been taught, thereby providing a new skill to the community and low cost way to mobilize for further development; 3) Reconciliation between Darfurians and Southerners has been deepened by Darfurians volunteering to help build schools in South Sudan and teach at the schools; 4) Children are welcomed at each school from all areas of Sudan; 5) Teachers in Turalei have been trained on teaching English as a second language; and, 6) A clean water source has been provided to the schools through rain harvesting.
Program Success Monitored by:
Trips are made to Sudan to visit the areas and measure progress. Contact will be made with leadership in the villages. Internal progress reports.<br />
Program Success Examples:
<div>A total of six classrooms have been constructed in Turalei, South Sudan, a clean water system has been provided to the school, and children at the school receive one meal daily.</div>