Humanitarian Projects

In addition to delivering donated books to Sudanese academic and public libraries, SAFE has also sponsored four humanitarian projects in the Sudan. Each was supported by donors who visited the Sudan and, who, as a result, wanted to do something to help displaced persons and other needy persons in the Sudan Mrs. Magalen O. Bryant, Middleburg, VA, supported three of these projects:

• A five-year scholarship at the Ahfad University for Women (AUW) for a student from southern Sudan;
• A three-year project to provide psychological services to women in the Dar El Salaam Camp for displaced persons; and;
• The Catesby Foundation, The Plains, VA, supported the fourth project — repair of a pump at the el-Sabah Children's Hospital in Juba, Sudan .

Scholarship at the Ahfad University for Women
With funding from Mrs. Magalen O. Bryant, Middleburg, VA, the Ahfad University for Women selected Mary John Luwala Gore, a student from the Juba area, to receive a full five-year scholarship to complete her studies at AUW. In 2006, Mary John graduated the School of Rural Extension Education and Development and received her bachelor’s degree. She is now working in the Juba area to help the people of the south.

Psychological services

Mrs. Magelen Bryant also funded this project, designed and carried out by the staff of the Ahfad University for Women, mainly from the School of Psychology and Preschool Education. Services were provided to women in the Dar ElSalam camp for displaced persons near Khartoum. AUW took a broad approach to improving the psychological well being of women in the camp. The program consisted of an intensive schedule of group and personal counseling sessions, supplemented by special events, each of which was designed to help women cope with the burdens of their daily lives. Activities included:

1. Group counseling sessions, held several times a week with groups of six to eight women;
2. Individual counseling sessions, conducted three times a week with women who show acute psychological distress;
3. Special event activities to address health and related issues in the women's lives;
4. Meetings with the sultan of the camp and church leaders to sensitize them to the problems the women have to contend with, such as abuse by husbands, the burdens of outside work and care for the families, while husbands fail to seek work; and
5. Counseling with husbands on marital issues, including abuse and exploitation of their wives.

In carrying out these activities, AUW involved staff from the School of Psychology, School of Medicine, School of Family Sciences, and the School of Rural Extension Education and Development. In addition, AUW supplied translators, cars and drivers, and other assistance. Staff members of several nongovernmental organizations and hospitals in Khartoum also participated in the special events arranged by AUW.

Group counseling sessions, generally held twice a week, were used to identify:

1. The kinds and severity of problems the women confront and the resulting psychological problems manifest by women;
2. Women who need and can benefit from individual counseling;
3. Women who can become group leaders and who can assist with various aspects of the project, such as arranging and assisting with home visits by the counselors and with the organization of special events.

Five of the women who originally received individual counseling became group leaders and assistants. These women were also aided in assuming a more active role in the management of the camp.

Three special events were also organized. These day-long programs focused on:

1. AIDS awareness and prevention
2. Health Day
3. A field trip by AUW students.

Hundreds of women participated in each event. The purpose of the AIDS Day was to:

1. Raise the awareness of women about HIV/AID
2. Explain how to prevent infection and the spread of AIDS
3. Demonstrate how to deal with persons infected with AIDS
4. Eradicate the stigma associated with the disease

In addition to AUW personnel, staff for the event included doctors and one AIDS counselor from the AUW School of Medicine, a representative from a local AIDS association and an AIDS patient

.

The Health Day involved group meetings and discussions and individual clinical examinations for women and children aged one to five. The staff for the clinics consisted of medical doctors from AUW and a Khartoum hospital and auxiliary personnel from AUW. The latter included a pharmacist and assistant, laboratory technicians, several midwives, counselors, translators, and drivers. A local drug company, Amipharma, donated pharmaceuticals needed to treat patients during the clinical examinations.

A total of 160 women and children were treated during the day. Among the children treated, the main diseases in descending order, were pneumonia, gastroenteritis, malaria, protein malnutrition, and anemia. Among women, the main diseases, also in descending order, were malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, visceral leishmaniasis, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, peptic ulcer, hemorrhoids, and AIDS. Additional women participated in the large group sessions on health issues and the prevention of disease.

AUW students also participated in this project. All third-year students at AUW must participate in a field trip. In the past, rural villages were selected as the sites for these visits. As an alternative, AUW selected twenty-four students to do their field experience at the Dar AlSalam camp. The students conducted interviews with women to identify living conditions and their problems and led group discussions on hygiene, sanitary care and use of water, sanitary food preparation, child development, and other home-related activities. Additional topics were also addressed, such as women's roles in achieving peace in the Sudan . The students extensively used role playing to illustrate points and to stimulate discussion. Other skits focused on prevention and treatment of tuberculosis and AIDS.

The success of activities at Dar AlSalam also stimulated AUW to send a group of students to another camp for disabled persons (Jabel Awlia). In this way, women in that camp also benefited from of the Dar AlSalam project.

Hundreds and perhaps thousands of women have been reached in some way. The special events involved hundreds on women on each occasion. Additional women have participated in group counseling sessions, and still others have received individual counseling.

Micro-enterprise Project

A third grant from Mrs. Bryant provided funds for the purchase of six donkeys and water carts for delivering water to families in the Dar ElSalam camp for displaced persons.

The project was established with two objectives:

1. To provide badly needed water delivery to families in the camp, and
2. To establish income-generating activity for six women selected from the camp

The water-delivery project was managed by AUW as part of its broader Micro-Enterprise Program begun in 1977 with a grant from the UN Population Fund. Since 1977, over 300 loans between approximately $80 and $350 have been made to poor women. Women selected for the water delivery project were identified among those coming to the Ahfad Reproductive Health Center, which has a large proportion of poor women as clients. The program was managed by a women banker with over 14 years of experience in finance. As with all other loans, loans were provided in the form of merchandise, in the form of carts, water tanks, and donkeys, and not in cash. Repayment schedules were established based on the market value of the goods provided.

The project provided a number of benefits. Most important, many families enjoyed increased water supply at lower cost than previously. The women operating the carts also benefited from increased income. For example, one woman, Amna Khamis, was very successful. Using funds from her business she added a second room to her dwelling for her sister and her family. Amna and her family of eight persons, whom she supported with her business, could live in two rooms instead of one. She fully repaid her loan and has moved into other income-generating activity. As loans are repaid, funds received are used to support additional income-generating projects.

Pump for the AlSabah Children's Hospital in Juba

This project was funded by the Catesby Foundation of The Plains, VA. It provided the funds for repairing the water pump at the AlSabah Children's Hospital in Juba and for installation of new water lines. The hospital has a greatly enhanced supply of badly needed water.