A partial view of what greeted the group each morning at their medical clinic (which was the local church compound).
Bill Andress shared the latest news of the people of South Sudan with the members of the Trinity Presbytery Sudan Advocacy Action Forum. There is jubilation and relative peace now in South Sudan, news that was met with great delight by the volunteer members.
On Monday night, July 11, 2011, they met on the grounds of the Presbyterian Home in West Columbia for their regular monthly meeting to discuss their ongoing mission projects for the people of South Sudan. Andress, leader of the group, shared the news just days after its celebration of the “Day of Independence” held July 9, 2011.
However, all present agreed that problems and issues such as poverty, malnutrition, the mistreatment of young women, and the presence of tribal warfare still exist, and there is much work to be done.
Dr. Richard Sribnick, a Columbia doctor, became interested in the welfare of the people of South Sudan when he learned about the genocide that has been ongoing in the region of Darfur in South Sudan led by the military of North Sudan in 2004. Sribnick says he found the news from Darfur “very appalling” and acted on his conviction that something had to be done to stop the Darfur tragedy. He formed a group called the “Darfur Action Group of South Carolina” and held a rally at the South Carolina statehouse in 2007, the third largest rally for the people of Darfur in the United States with over 5,000 present.
Baby with congenital glaucoma who was transported to Uganda for surgery. She has had some improvement in her sight.
Dr. Sribnick soon became a partner of Bill Andress and the work of the Sudan Advocacy Action Forum and has participated in the annual medical mission teams that Andress has led to the town of Pibor in South Sudan in 2010 and 2011.
Sribnick says every year a group of five physicians, four nurses, and several other non- medical personnel transport medications and deliver free health care to hundreds of South Sudanese. He says he plans to go on the next mission in February 2012. Sribnick says that South Sudan is the “most primitive area I have been to.” Everyone lives in grass thatched huts with dirt floors, have no electricity, and a primitive well for water. The country of South Sudan is the size of the state of Texas and has only 22 miles of paved road in the entire country.
Pibor Medical Team: first row, (l–r): Amy Smith, Leigha Cogdell, Carrie Huber, and Andy Leisring. Second row, (l-r): Charlene Horan, Annelise Olson, Rich Fry, Jan Pilcher, Robert Cely, and Richard Sribnick
On the subject of the newly independent South Sudan, Sribnick says,“ It can only do well for the people.” He says that “people are very hopeful.” In fact, only minutes after South Sudan claimed independence, the United States recognized them as an independent nation, as did the United Nations, the nation of Israel, and many other nations. Sribnick says it is not appreciated how many lives have been saved by this decision. The civil war between North Sudan and South Sudan had already taken over two million lives.
Robert Cely, a member of the Trinity Presbytery Sudan Advocacy Action Forum, works yearround planning and continuing the work begun by the group’s annual medical mission trips. Cely plans transportation details and the shipment of medications and other supplies into South Sudan from Kenya. He prepares the teams, arranges travel plans, and seeks to make the trips more comfortable and safe by tackling problems such as dehydration and meal readiness for the teams.
Thatched huts in a Pibor village.
During the medical mission trips, the physicians often arrange for a patient to be transported out of the country for further necessary medical treatment. Cely monitors each of these patients throughout the following year and stays in communication and assists them and their families until they are back home in South Sudan. Cely concludes that on these medical mission trips, “sometimes we change lives… sometimes we save lives.”
For more information about the Sudan Advocacy Action Forum visit www.sudanadvocacy.com. For more information about the Darfur Action Group of South Carolina founded by Dr. Richard Sribnick. www.dagsc.org.
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