Monica Anthony

August 15, 2024

“My Dream is to be in School”

Saving Lives and Little Girl’s Dreams

When Monica Anthony was just eight years old, her world was turned upside down. After her father died, it seemed that everything in her world was falling apart.

In rural South Sudan, job opportunity for women is dismal. Without a father to provide for the household, a family can be thrust into the trappings of poverty, homelessness, hunger – a frightful downward spiral.

If children get sick, there’s no money for medicine. If the crops don’t grow, there’s no means to purchase food. School tuition is an impossible dream. Children become victims to the cycle of poverty, with no education to provide hope for their future.

Monica was a bright student who enjoyed school. Now it seemed that her dream of graduating was out of reach, her entire future changed.

As Monica’s mother struggled to provide for her children, something happened that felt like a miracle to her family. An organization called Star Support Group (SSG) brought life changing help.

Through the generosity of our donors, Sudan Relief Fund partners with Star Support Group (SSG) to intervene at the root cause of a family’s distress. SSG seeks to provide meaningful solutions for a sustainable long-term future, so people served are empowered to become self-sufficient.

SSG provides skills training to help widows find employment. The organization rescues families from malnourishment with a nutrition program and agricultural assistance, until the family is on their feet. SSG offers microfinance loans to help launch small businesses, along with training in basic finance and management.

What’s more, Star Support Group recognizes how crucial it is for children to go to school to break the cycle of poverty. An important part of their program is providing scholarships for school tuition, to allow at-risk children the vital gift of education.

After Star Support Group came into their lives, everything changed. Monica is in fifth grade now, and her younger sister, Josephine, is in third, because of a scholarship received from Star Support Group for their tuition. 

Monica’s mother works as a tailor, using the training and equipment she received from SSG. Monica’s family even lives in their own house built by Star Support Group so the family wouldn’t be homeless. It turned out to be that miracle it felt like after all.

Monica says, “I want to thank Star Support Group for letting my younger sister and me be in school. And for the support they have given to my mother by enrolling her in tailoring class, and eventually giving her the sewing machine, which she uses to generate a small income for our family’s basic needs.”

Every child should have a roof over their head, enough food to eat, and the chance to go to school to pursue their dreams. Thanks to your support, Monica and her little sister are no longer hungry, homeless, or without hope for their future.

Without the assistance of Star Support Group and your partnership, their life would look very different today.

These stories of Lives Saved are made possible by your support of Sudan Relief Fund. Thank you for transforming lives and bringing hope to dark places.

Would you like to pray for us? Sign up for our email prayer group to receive weekly emails sharing important needs to pray for. You’ll join a faith community around the globe praying to bring hope and help to suffering people in a forgotten part of the world. Click here to find out more.

Defying the Odds

August 14, 2024

South Sudan Team Proves Olympic Spirit Transcends the Games

“It’s more than just basketball”

From refugee camps to the Olympic Village. From obscurity to the world stage. From having no place for their team to practice, to winning the coveted chance to represent the entire continent of Africa in men’s Olympic basketball.

The South Sudan men’s basketball team proved that victory comes in many forms.

And to many viewers who’ve been following the 33rd Olympiad, the journey of this unlikely team embodied the Olympic spirit of struggle and triumph in ways that transcend trophies and platform ceremonies.

It’s about so much more. To the South Sudanese team that made world history this year, it’s about putting their country – the youngest nation in the world – on the map in a global arena.

“South Sudan and its people are known all over the world now,” said Aninyesi Tereza Mark, a 33 year-old university lecturer in the South Sudanese capital of Juba. “We are very proud of them and we are happy.”

While none of the players live in South Sudan currently, all of their roots hail back to the country that just gained its independence in 2011, and has since been marred by a history of conflict and challenges from poverty to droughts to famine. Many of their parents fled the country either before or after its civil war, and are familiar with life in refugee camps.

Million Starving In Sudan.
Please Help

South Sudan President, Salva Kiir, shared in the nation’s collective pride over their Olympic basketball team, raving in a post on X: “Your impressive performance has inspired many open-minded people across the globe to get to know that South Sudan as a country has more to offer the world.”

South Sudan’s Nuni Omot, right, and South Sudan’s Majok Deng walk off the court after being defeated by Serbia in a men’s basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Former NBA player, Luol Deng, became president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation in 2019. No stranger to turmoil, his family fled to Egypt during South Sudan’s lengthy and bloody battle for independence. Later they moved to Britain. Deng eventually went on to a successful NBA career.

The South Sudanese basketball franchise has struggled to exist throughout the years, in a war-torn country that has only a single outdoor court made of dirt, with one rim higher than the other, and no official 10-foot regulation goals.

In 2021, Royal Ivey, then the assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets, contacted Deng about working together. He said he was excited about the idea of South Sudanese players putting their differences aside and giving its young men the opportunity to nurture their talent.

“We are blazing a new path for the nation,” Ivey said, who became head coach for the team. “Through sports you can bring a country together, heal, give hope and inspire.” South Sudan is home to more than 64 different tribes and ethnic groups, some with a long history of hostility and conflict.

Members of the South Sudan team gather after being defeated by Serbia in a men’s basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

But many team members expressed feeling a unity through shared past experiences, like living as migrants, enduring financial hardships, language barriers, discrimination and isolation. Many also confided their common aspirations to make it to the NBA.

There was no red carpet route to the Olympics for team South Sudan. Not dissimilar to life in their country, it was a rocky path ridden with training on sweltering outdoor concrete courts, flooded fields, and working around power outages when they traveled all the way to Rwanda to locate the nearest practice gym – some 500 miles away. Overcoming hardship is endemic to the nation’s people.

Ivey mused, “I’ve never been a part of something where you have to travel to a different country just to have some resources. This whole thing has been humbling.”

No one thought they would make it this far.

But in 2023 the ragtag team hit their big break by defeating Angola at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in the Philippines. They had just qualified for the Olympics.

Naysayers didn’t take the African team seriously, and some even said they weren’t tall enough to be able to win.

Team members admitted they struggled with different styles of play when new players were added. They were a diverse group, with a common hope of making a name for their homeland, and giving their beleaguered country a moment of national pride.

And that they did. After their stunning showing in the exhibition match against the USA, where South Sudan lost by just one point while going shoulder to shoulder with NBA players the likes of LeBron James and Stephen Curry, people started to take notice.

South Sudan’s Bul Kuol walks off the court after being defeated by Serbia in a men’s basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The team went on to make Olympic history for their nation by registering their first ever win in the Olympics in a matchup against Puerto Rico, achieving a decisive 90-79 victory.

“It means a lot, just to be here,” said forward Majok Deng. “It was a surreal moment and emotional in a way, too, because to raise your flag at that stage means everything. And that’s what we’re fighting for.”

Which is what made it all the more difficult emotionally when the team suffered a 96-85 loss in a highly respectable performance against Serbia – a team ranked fourth in the world – that eliminated South Sudan from the tournament, ending their 2024 Olympic run.

Despite questioning some of the officiating, the team shared embraces with their Serbian opponents from whom “they’d earned total respect,” wrote one news outlet.

“Hats off to them,” said Serbian star Bogdan Bogdanovic. “What Luol Deng has done for their federation is amazing.”

Bogdanovic was referring to the former Duke star who played 16 seasons in the NBA before presiding over South Sudan’s basketball federation. Deng used millions of his personal funds to finance the team and invest in a future of basketball for South Sudan.

Deng also took a moment to appreciate how much the team had accomplished on international basketball’s biggest stage.

South Sudan’s Wenyen Gabriel, right, dunks as Serbia’s Nikola Milutinov defends during a men’s basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

“I’m proud of my guys. I’m proud of the federation. I’m proud of South Sudan. I’m proud of our fans. I’m proud of the continent,” Deng said. “We thank everybody that’s been able to help us out. This was a group effort.”

Team member Marial Shayok believes what they accomplished over the past week will resonate with a generation of young players who’d never seen South Sudan basketball on this level.

“It’s just the beginning of a bright future. And it’s just an amazing feeling,” Shayok said. “I hope it inspires…South Sudanese kids all over the world.”

While none of the team members currently play for the NBA, some play in leagues for countries that include Australia, Canada, China and Serbia. All eyes are on seventeen year-old Khaman Maluach, a 7 foot 2 inch player who is considered to be a rising star, and will debut as an incoming freshman at Duke this year.

As the ceremonies draw to a close shortly and team South Sudan goes their separate ways to pursue their futures, they will share the lasting bond of their 2024 Olympic experience, being the team who rose from obscurity to etch its place in Olympic history.

Point guard Carlik Jones, who achieved a triple-double in the US exhibition game and scored 19 points in the matchup with Puerto Rico, described his experience in words that captured the soul and spirit of the intrepid South Sudanese team. “I am here not just to be a basketball player, but also to be a brother. It’s more than just basketball.”

Referenced articles:
https://apnews.com/article/2024-olympics-south-sudan-basketball-073a8651367f8d4a6eab158a5a171530

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/world/africa/olympics-basketball-south-sudan.html

“On the Verge of a Humanitarian Catastrophe”

July 29, 2024

Over 3 Million People Could Die of Hunger as War Crimes Mount

Local authorities in the Nuba Mountains are amplifying their call for humanitarian assistance as fear of widespread starvation intensifies, and the number of people at risk of dying from hunger climbs to more than 3 million.

The immense population of refugees who’ve fled to the vast and remote region of Nuba are a result of the unrelenting war raging in Sudan’s capital – a war that continues to spread across the country over a year later, forcing the displacement of over 10 million people.

Rania Bakeker Wanza, spokesperson for the regional administration in Nuba, issued an appeal for immediate help saying the region is “on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe” and “there is no food, clean drinking water, or medicine.”

“Over three million people in the Nuba Mountains are facing death because of hunger and we appeal to all the national and international organizations to intervene,” said Bakeker.

She also pointed to a failed harvest this year due to malevolent weather, followed by a locust invasion that devastated crops and caused additional food insecurity.

“All these have led to health problems and malnutrition among IDPs, especially children, the elderly, and pregnant women in the camps,” she reported.

Longtime medical missionary, Dr. Tom Catena, and the director of Mother of Mercy Hospital – the only referral hospital in the Nuba Mountains – confirmed to Sudan Relief Fund the situation is the worst he has seen in fifteen years.

Sudan Relief Fund has partnered with donors to establish local health clinics throughout the Nuba Mountains, currently the only source of medicine and medical treatment available to thousands of refugees across Nuba. 

We also continue to provide transportation and food assistance to refugee camps like Malakal in the northern region of South Sudan, as more families fleeing the expanding warzone continue to cross the border to find safety.

Human Rights Atrocities Pose Another Threat to Civilians

In addition to the threat of starvation, widespread concern has grown over human rights violations afflicting civilians caught in the throes of Sudan’s civil war.

The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (known as Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF) is calling the conflict “a war on people.”

MSF reported finding a “shocking level” of indiscriminate violence being perpetrated against civilians from powers on both sides of the conflict. MSF Emergency Coordinator, Ada Yee, described, “There seems to be an uncaring notion that human life will be sacrificed as a result of collateral damage.”

MSF reported civilians being attacked and killed inside their homes, at checkpoints, and even in hospitals. They further reported that sexual violence has become “a characteristic feature” of the war, with women and girls commonly suffering rape in homes, along displacement routes, and at checkpoint centers.

Forty percent of 135 survivors MSF interviewed said they had been assaulted by multiple attackers.

Ada Yee described the humanitarian situation in Sudan as the most desperate situation she’s seen. “It’s so difficult that many aid groups just don’t have the resources to operate there.” Yee called Sudan effectively “a humanitarian desert.”

Aid workers fear survivors of the brutal conflict will need not just medical care but also psychosocial support for trauma. Sexual violence still carries a stigma in Sudan, making it difficult to create an environment for victims to be heard.

Support Sudan Relief Fund’s aid work in Sudan and South Sudan during this humanitarian crisis.

News Reference Links:

Read the full article on the threat of starvation here. 

Find the full report on human rights abuses here.

Hundreds of Thousands Face Starvation as Sudan War Rages

July 22, 2024

Sudan Relief Fund Keeps Up Humanitarian Aid to South Sudan

The devastating effects of Sudan’s civil war have put three quarters of a million people at risk of starving in the coming months, humanitarian aid agencies now warn.

As the war rages into its second year, the displacement toll climbs to more than ten million people who’ve been forced from their homes, most fleeing to neighboring countries and refugee camps.

Besides a massive displacement crisis, the war has brought agricultural production in Sudan to a drastic halt. Farmers are unable to plant. Transportation routes have been occupied, and the distribution of supplies has turned into a weapon used by factions on both sides of the conflict.

The result is a disastrous food shortage throughout Sudan and among civilian refugees who’ve already lost homes and livelihoods. Now the region is on the brink of severe and widespread famine. The area of Darfur is of extreme concern, surrounded by the Rapid Support Forces who comprise many of the same militia that perpetrated war crimes and attempted genocide in Darfur in Sudan’s previous civil war.

Meanwhile the fighting continues between two military powers struggling for control of the nation. Adding fuel to the conflict is the lack of high level attention Sudan’s war has garnered on the global scene, usurped by interest in the Ukraine war and events in Gaza.

Lack of action from world governments has only strengthened resolve by each side to refuse any form of negotiation. The International Rescue Committee has placed Sudan at the top of their emergency list for 2024, while watch agencies fear a collapse reminiscent of Somalia. The IRC charges “the world has failed Sudan” in this humanitarian disaster.

“We just want the fighting to stop,” says a representative from the IRC who spoke with NPR. She is herself a resident of Sudan’s capital city, whose own home in Khartoum was demolished and looted in the fighting. She says the number of deaths from the war and stories of starvation have been under reported.

Sudan Relief Fund continues to serve in refugee camps in northern areas of South Sudan, administering emergency food and relief supplies as the number of arriving refugees continues to grow.

Listen to more reports from NPR here and here. Find out how you can partner with Sudan Relief Fund to help feed starving families here.

Jimmy Andraus

July 18, 2024

“Without this hospital, my baby would have died”

When an unidentified illness slowly consumed four year-old Jimmy Andraus’ body, his family was certain he wouldn’t live to see another birthday.

Thanks to your partnership and a providentially placed hospital in the remote Nuba Mountains, that didn’t become Jimmy’s fate.

In March, Jimmy’s mother noticed he’d come down with a fever – not necessarily a serious occurrence in young boys. But something to keep an eye on.

When his fever didn’t disappear, his mother took him to the local clinic, where she received medicine to reduce his fever. At first this seemed to work for Jimmy. But within a few days the fever returned with a vengeance and the medicine no longer had any effect on him. He grew extremely sick.

Once more Jimmy’s mother took him to the local clinic. Upon seeing how ill the young boy had become, the clinic told Jimmy’s mother to get him to Mother of Mercy Hospital as soon as possible.

It isn’t quick or easy to get around in the Nuba Mountains. There are no paved roads, and the path can be completely blocked in the rainy season, or treacherous to traverse in times of conflict. It often takes days to walk to the hospital. But Jimmy’s condition was growing severe, and this was the only hope for her son. 

When they made it to Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel, where missionary Dr. Tom Catena has served for more than 15 years, little Jimmy’s condition was dire. By this point he was unconscious and completely unresponsive. He couldn’t eat, and could only be fed through a tube. His mother was filled with panic and dread that she would lose her little boy.

The team at Mother of Mercy quickly jumped into action and diagnosed Jimmy with severe tetanus. The toxin from tetanus creates a poison in the body that restricts nerve signals from the spinal cord, causes swelling in the throat that interferes with breathing, and may lead to pulmonary embolism. Even with treatment, 10 to 20 percent of severe tetanus cases end in death, especially in the vulnerable.

The hospital immediately began filling Jimmy’s body with powerful medications to fight the tetanus toxin and its devastating effects. There were moments when even the hospital staff wasn’t sure he would make it. It took several grueling weeks of treatment before any encouraging signs appeared. But one day Jimmy began to respond and turn a corner. After a long road spending over a month and a half at the hospital, this four year-old boy was finally well and ready to go home.

Jimmy’s mother says he now runs and plays with his twin brother like any other four year-old. He has recovered completely from his life threatening ordeal. She wanted to tell Jimmy’s doctors and the donors, “I am so grateful to Dr. Tom and his team for the excellent work of saving my child’s life. Without this hospital, my baby would have died. Thank you and may God bless you!”

These stories of lives saved are possible because of the generosity of our donor community, which fully funds all of the medicines used at Mother of Mercy Hospital. Sudan Relief Fund thanks you for your compassion on patients like Jimmy, and for your partnership that saves the lives of many people who wouldn’t have this medical care available without you.

Would you like to pray for us? Sign up for our email prayer group to receive weekly emails sharing important needs to pray for. You’ll join a faith community around the globe praying to bring hope and help to suffering people in a forgotten part of the world. Click here to find out more.

War in Sudan Leaves Capital City in Ruins

June 21, 2024

Humanitarian Crisis Becoming Worst in the World

In Khartoum, a once bustling city known as a gem of the Sudan lies in ruins. 

The battle that erupted without warning on an ominous April afternoon in 2023 has left a trail of devastation in its wake – not just of the once glittering skyscrapers that reflected the success of the rich oil and gold trade in the region, but also in the lives of more than 9 million people who lost their homes and left the city a shell of a ghost town.

Some structures stand empty after being hastily abandoned, while others are pocked with gaping holes from artillery shells sustained during the months of fighting. Businesses shut down. Banks have been robbed and looted. The international airport is no longer operating. Most hospitals closed as well. The few remaining ones operate in the dark without electricity, in buildings also marred with tattered walls and windows from bombardment by the RSF.

The Rapid Support Forces who once served Sudan’s military traded their allegiance to become its brutal enemy, now locked in a power struggle with the government for military control. The official death toll from soldiers on both sides is estimated at 150,000, though is suspected to be much higher. 

But it’s the survivors who struggle to carry on in crowded refugee camps in neighboring countries like Chad and South Sudan, or remote locations they fled to in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, where an abysmal lack of resources leaves them only marginally better off than the wartorn ruins of their home.

With nowhere to return to and livelihoods destroyed, many with loved ones lost or unaccounted for, the displaced languish in the heat in overwhelmed refugee camps trying to recover from their trauma and loss. There’s not enough food to go around. Infrastructure has broken down. Distribution routes are interrupted. Most camps lack medicine to meet the needs of the sick and injured. 

Malnourishment and the threat of starvation are rampant. The UN has called it the world’s worst displacement crisis and simultaneously the world’s worst hunger crisis, comparing it in severity to the great Ethiopian famine of the 1980’s. More than 220,000 children could die in the coming months alone, warns the UN. It is children who suffer the worst effects from malnutrition and are left the most vulnerable to starvation.

The war has radiated outward from its origins in Sudan’s capital city, and great concern exists over the area of Darfur, a coveted breadbasket of the region and also the target of attempted genocide years before. The diverse ethnic and religious composition of Sudan’s demographic, once regarded as adding rich cultural contributions to the fabric of the country, now creates a prime scenario for divisive prejudices to descend into violent war crimes.

“One of the most horrific situations on earth is on a trajectory to get far, far worse,” said Tom Perriello, United State envoy for Sudan.

But stories of hope persist within the war weary citizens among the calamity. Some orthodox churches strive to remain open despite shards of light that penetrate through shelling holes in their ceilings. One sheik and muslim cleric housed over 1,000 people on his property. He runs a soup kitchen for anyone who can make their way to the area, and purchases food whenever possible from his own stores of cash to feed the destitute that have heard of his oasis through word of mouth.

A rickshaw driver who ventured out in search of food chimed, “We will have a beautiful future, God willing,” as he clutched a plastic bowl in one hand.

With famine reaching epic proportions, the need for international aid is critical. As the world watches the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, the humanitarian toll in Sudan’s forgotten catastrophe continues to rise. While global organizations are slow to mobilize, Sudan Relief Fund is already on the ground in Sudan and South Sudan, distributing emergency aid in the form of food, shelter, and medicine.

Mother of Mercy Hospital – the only outpost of medical hope in a vast region of the Nuba Mountains – remains open to help victims of the war and famine, thanks to your support to provide the medicines needed. Missionary doctor and hospital director, Tom Catena, has seen the hospital through wartime before, and he’s committed to keeping the facility running to serve those in need during this critical time.

Our teams on the ground continue to provide emergency aid to famished refugees in the Malakal transit camp, as well as keeping the rescue boat running as a vital lifeline to transport families escaping the warzone into safety.

Please consider joining our efforts to reach more desperate families with lifesaving help as this tragedy unfolds. Starvation doesn’t wait, and your gift will save a life.

Read more about the developing situation.

See Firsthand What’s Happening – Watch SRF Zoom Event

June 20, 2024

We recently brought you a special live Zoom event with Senior Vice President, Matt Smith, sharing an up close view of his latest visit to our projects on the ground. If you missed it, there is good news. You can now view the recorded presentation!

Don’t miss the opportunity to watch this up-to-the-minute report that follows Matt Smith as he travels through Sudan and South Sudan to monitor the current crisis in the region. You’ll have the chance to visit virtually with an up-close look at what’s happening on the ground. And you’ll witness firsthand the sights, sounds, and faces that reveal how you’re tangibly helping to save lives in the middle of one of the world’s worst crises.

Join Matt as he accompanies Dr. Tom Catena during a challenging day of work at Mother of Mercy Hospital, where tragedy and hope intersect daily. Witness the joy of Sister Bianca Bii as you see the new orphanage being provided for more than 100 children because of your support. See for yourself what the refugee crisis looks like as families flee Sudan en masse to escape a brutal war and take refuge at camps in South Sudan.

Invite family and friends to join you to watch this compelling story the world has largely forgotten. As always, we thank you for partnering with us to save lives and bring hope to suffering people in conditions we can scarcely imagine. You’ll come away knowing how you’re making a difference.

Catherine Migidi

June 11, 2024

Saving Widows and Children through Self Sufficiency

Opportunities for women to support themselves in places like South Sudan are few and difficult to come by. If a wife loses her husband, she often loses her means to survive. 

With no income, a woman can suddenly find herself with no way to buy food, or clothes for her family. Children risk malnutrition and illness. There is no money for school or medicine. Severe poverty threatens the future of the entire family.

Catherine Migidi is a 35 year-old mother of four children, who is extremely grateful for the difference Star Support Group made in their lives.

Star Support Group (SSG) is a Sudan Relief Fund partner in Yambio, South Sudan. They offer programs to at-risk families to equip them with skills for job opportunities and help them achieve self sufficiency. 

When Catherine’s husband died, she was left with the responsibility of providing for four children – one son and three daughters. Her greatest need was food. 

Star Support Group offers members a chance to be part of a community farm. With crops and livestock already in place, Catherine and her children wouldn’t need to struggle during the weeks and months it would take for food to grow on their own land. Catherine could work by helping to maintain the farm, and receive food immediately for her household.

In the meantime, Catherine was able to receive tools and resources to establish her own kitchen garden for her family. By now her personal garden is flourishing, and she’s able to grow enough food to sustain her family of five.

Catherine also does small-scale farming as an additional way to achieve income for her household, by selling the surplus locally. Through a scholarship provided by SSG, her son, the oldest child, is enrolled in school. He attends Masia Primary School in seventh grade. Education makes all the difference for children in South Sudan – the difference between a future with opportunity or one marked by the debilitating shackles of poverty.

Catherine even had the opportunity to bolster her own education. Through Star Support Group, she enrolled in an adult English class and graduated two years ago in November.  In the past three years alone, SSG has helped hundreds of families gain the skills and resources to provide basic needs for their households, saving untold lives of men, women, and children from a tragic outcome. This is possible because of your partnership to support SSG’s transformative work.

Their family story would have been drastically different without the critical assistance of Star Support Group in their time of crisis. Now the trajectory of five lives has been changed for the good. Catherine summed it up when she told us, “I am so grateful for the support from SSG. May God bless you all.”

These stories of Lives Saved are possible because of your support to Sudan Relief Fund and programs we partner with like Star Support Group. Thank you for helping to save families like Catherine’s and turn their lives around from despair to hope.

Would you like to pray for us? Sign up for our email prayer group to receive weekly emails sharing important needs to pray for. You’ll join a faith community around the globe praying to bring hope and help to suffering people in a forgotten part of the world. Click here to find out more.

Baby Mibi

May 20, 2024

Saving Children Like Baby Mibi at St. Theresa Hospital

One in every ten children in South Sudan will die before their fifth birthday. This tragedy is unacceptable in today’s world. And together we’re partnering to fight this daunting statistic.

St. Theresa Hospital in Nzara is one of the bastions of hope in the battle to upend these dire statistics. Every day this vital healthcare facility represents an outpost of help for some 300,000 people it serves across the southwestern region of South Sudan, as well as hopeful patients who travel across borders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic to find care they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Baby Mibi is one success story illustrating how St. Theresa is fighting child mortality one young life at a time.

Without critical medical intervention, Baby Mibi was on track to become another tragedy. He was his young mother’s firstborn child. But at 14 months old, he was only the size of an infant. “Failure to thrive” is how he was described. He had a history of cough, watery diarrhea, and overall body weakness. When he arrived, he was unable to even sit up.

Many people in rural parts of South Sudan have no means of transportation, one of the numerous hurdles to obtaining health care. Somehow Mibi’s mother was able to access a motorbike, and she brought her tiny toddler on motorbike from their home near the border of the Congo all the way to Nzara to get help. 

His outlook was disheartening. Besides being diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition, he was suffering from severe malaria – another major cause of death among infants and children in Africa. A staggering 900,000 children die from the mosquito-borne scourge every year across the continent. As a result, Baby Mibi’s heart and lungs were also in distress.

After three days of aggressive treatment, he was showing no improvement. But on day four, and after trying adjustments in his protocol to bring out all the stops to save him, Baby Mibi showed the first signs of encouragement. He started to turn around. Within days he evidenced significant improvement. By the time he was released to go home, his heart and lungs were clear and he was malaria free. He had also received vital nutrition through IV. 

His mother was astonished at this new little toddler who came out of St. Theresa Hospital so different from when he’d gone in – thanks to the excellent medical care found in an unexpected place. And thanks to people across the world who care about children like Baby Mibi.

Stories like this are possible because of the generosity and compassion of donors, like you, who support St. Theresa’s medical mission, bringing treatment to so many who wouldn’t have access to health care. Thank you for partnering with us to save lives and give children in South Sudan a more hopeful future.

Would you like to pray for us? Sign up for our email prayer group to receive weekly emails sharing important needs to pray for. You’ll join a faith community around the globe praying to bring hope and help to suffering people in a forgotten part of the world. Click here to find out more.