When Food Disputes Turn Deadly

Mother Saved After Near Fatal Stabbing

As the entire region of Sudan continues to battle food insecurity, sacks of relief food containing critical staples like maize or sorghum become more valuable than money. Unfortunately, they also become a prime target for robbery.

A combination of effects from the Sudanese civil war, with consecutive years of severe weather, devastated the food supply in this heavily agrarian region.

Mariam is a mother of seven children. Worrying about having enough to feed her children during this time of scarcity weighs heavily on her mind and heart. But the day she was bringing a sack of vital grains home to her family, she felt relief at knowing there would be enough, at least for a while.

She was not aware that someone else had followed her with the intent to steal her rations – a ruthless individual willing to go to criminal lengths to take it from her.

Mariam gratefully placed the sack in her home, and was attending to her children when the assailant made his move. Before she even knew what was happening, Mariam felt a hot and searing pain from a knife wound in her back. She fell to the floor, involuntarily sinking into unconsciousness.

Her children rushed to surround her and began to scream and cry. Neighbors heard, and came to check on her. Fortunately, someone wrapped up Mariam, still unconscious, and took her immediately to the local clinic in Tujur to get help.

But the stab wound was severe, and upon assessing the condition Mariam was in, the clinic in Tujur felt they couldn’t give her the extensive treatment she needed. They advised she be taken to Mother of Mercy Hospital as quickly as she could get there.

Mother of Mercy is a Sudan Relief Fund supported hospital directed by missionary doctor Tom Catena, who helped found the facility and served as its only surgeon for more than a decade. The hospital serves a massive area, being the only one of its kind for hundreds of miles, and it offers treatment that can’t be found anywhere else in the Nuba Mountains.

When Dr. Tom saw Mariam arrive, he knew she needed immediate intervention to save her life. At this point, Mariam had regained consciousness and was vomiting up blood. In her dazed state of mind, she thought of her children and wondered if she would ever go home to see them again. She worried how they would be taken care of without her.

Mariam was immediately ushered to the operating room for emergency surgery. She was very fortunate no vital organ or spinal nerve had been hit by the weapon. And that she didn’t bleed to death or turn septic before she made it to Mother of Mercy Hospital. 

The surgical team gave Mariam heavy doses of medicine to stop infection and ease the pain, and she required many stitches. But this mother came through her operation successfully, and with the help of Dr. Tom and his dedicated staff, she would eventually be restored to full mobility. She would go home and be able to hold her children once again.

Mariam has now fully recovered and feels well. She has nothing but effusive thanks to those who helped her, from the neighbors who got her to the only place that could save her life, to Dr. Tom and his team at Mother of Mercy Hospital. She’s grateful to each of them for her being alive today, and her wish is that “God would bless them all and give them long lives.”

Mother of Mercy Hospital operates entirely on charitable donations to provide medical care in the Nuba Mountains. These stories of lives saved are possible because of compassionate donors who support the hospital’s lifesaving mission. Thank you for saving lives like Mariam’s and countless others. Because of you, the hospital treats over 75,000 patients and performs more than 2,000 surgeries every year.

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Nowhere Else to Turn

Orphanage Saves Twin Baby Boys

Sometimes numbers are too staggering to comprehend. The orphan crisis in Sudan and South Sudan is one of them.

In the nation of South Sudan alone, there are over two million displaced people. Each has a story. They came from families and villages and previous lives. Now they are without homes because of violence or disaster or tragedy.

It’s estimated that 60 percent of the displaced are children. Some of these are orphans or abandoned children. Many are separated from parents during times of chaos. Children without homes or families struggle against perilous odds to survive alone.

Without someone to take care of them, orphaned children face high risk of death by sickness or starvation. They’re in danger of human trafficking and conscription into rebel militias. Some are far too young to take care of themselves at all.

Poverty and lack of health care also contribute to the high number of orphans. As does one of the worst childbirth mortality rates in the world. South Sudan is one of the deadliest places to have a baby, with nearly 75 percent of women giving birth outside of a qualified medical facility.

Sudan Relief Fund has been fighting to turn those tragedies around, with prenatal programs, supervised maternity wards, and postnatal healthcare. We support schools that are training nurses and putting more qualified midwives into the field each year.

Twin brothers, James and John, nearly become two of those tragic statistics. It was a complicated labor for their young mother, delivering twin babies without any medical supervision. When she tragically died giving birth to her sons, there was no family to take care of her tiny infants.

These baby boys are alive today because someone brought them to Saint Bakhita Orphanage in Nzara. Without immediate care, little James and John would have died from starvation, dehydration, or exposure. Or even something worse, like suffocation in a trash bin or attacks from predators, which is a sad fate for some. 

For decades Saint Bakhita Orphanage has saved children with nowhere else to go. Sister Bianca Bii, founder and longtime matriarch, has raised hundreds of children through the years. Her dedication to children is legendary, and none have ever been turned away. 

Currently more than 250 orphaned children call Saint Bakhita their home. These children do not have to try desperately to survive on the streets. Thanks to partners and donor support, they have a new facility to live in, with boys’ and girls’ dorms, a kitchen and large gathering area for meals, restrooms, clean water sources, and housing for the staff necessary to look after so many young children. 

Orphans who make it to Saint Bakhita Orphanage are the lucky ones. They have access to health care at nearby St. Theresa Hospital, a Sudan Relief Fund sponsored facility. They have the coveted chance to go to school to gain skills for an independent and brighter future. Being at Saint Bakhita literally transforms their lives. Thank you for making this possible for tiny babies like James and John, and so many other children who now have a place to call home.

These stories of Lives Saved are made possible because of the compassion and support of generous donors. Thank you for saving lives like babies James and John, and countless others the home has helped through the years and continues to help today.

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. Find out more here.

Salfa Yousif

Boy Saved at Mother of Mercy from Gunshot Wound

Boys like fifteen-year-old Salfa are used to growing up with guns and rifles around the home. It’s common for families and civilians to keep them on hand for self-protection, living in an environment where violent conflict can erupt without warning, and in the absence of a government that provides security for its citizens.

Salfa worked for his uncle, helping to tend the cows around his village – an important job, since cattle are highly prized and valuable commodities here. Cows mean the absence of hunger. They are so essential that “cattle wars” – where renegades suddenly swoop in and raid another’s livestock – are a real and common threat. Cattle are sometimes used for currency and exchanged for brides as dowries in arranged marriages. 

This particular morning, one of the cows in the herd was ready to give birth. She had wandered off into the fields to find a place to deliver her calf. Salfa’s uncle went out in search of the cow, while Salfa entered the cowshed to take his shift covering the cattle.

It was January. Nights in the mountains of Sudan this time of year can drop into the 50 degrees Fahrenheit, or even the 40’s. It was still chilly this morning, and Salfa was feeling the cold. He wanted to warm himself by the fire his uncle had made.

He saw the cot covered in blankets where his uncle had been resting previously, and it looked inviting. Salfa decided to drag the cot and blankets nearer to the fire, to warm up for a few minutes before starting his chores.

He had no idea his uncle had been resting with a rifle beside him – a firearm that was left behind when he went to search for the cow. When Salfa reached for the blankets and the bed frame, he was shocked when gunfire suddenly rang out. It was a moment before he could process what had just happened.

The cocked rifle inadvertently went off beneath the blankets when Salfa reached for them. To Salfa’s horror, he saw the blood and felt the searing pain as he realized he’d been shot in the leg. Hearing the gunshot so close by, his family ran to the cowshed to see what had happened.

They rushed Salfa to the nearest clinic, where the staff administered basic first aid to control Salfa’s bleeding. Then he was sent to the closest hospital. Enduring the pain of transportation was excruciating.

At the hospital he received an IV with fluids and pain meds. But the hospital informed Salfa’s family it was not equipped to perform the operation on his leg. They urged him to go to Mother of Mercy Hospital, where they knew he would find the care he needed among Dr. Tom Catena and his personally trained team.

Dr. Tom serves as the hospital director at Mother of Mercy, the only referral hospital in the Nuba Mountains for hundreds of miles – a facility he helped found 17 years ago. For most of that time, Dr. Tom also worked as the only residing surgeon. In recent years, he’s been training young medical professionals and started a school onsite to train more doctors in an area that desperately needs them. He has also raised up satellite clinics across the region to bring basic medical care closer to people without.

When Salfa arrived at Mother of Mercy, he was immediately admitted to the emergency department. Salfa had suffered blood loss and felt weak from the pain and trauma. But his leg required immediate surgery and the bullet needed to be removed. If the wound had not been treated quickly, he risked losing his leg to permanent damage or, even worse, developing a life-threatening infection. He was ushered to the operating room.

Salfa’s surgery on his leg was successful. It took a full month of remaining at the hospital and learning to walk on his leg again for Salfa to reach a complete recovery. But now he can walk well on his own. He knows how lucky he was to receive the care he needed at Mother of Mercy Hospital to save his leg and his life.

Last year, Mother of Mercy Hospital performed over 2,600 surgeries for men, women, and children in need of critical care – treatment they wouldn’t have had without this remote mountain hospital standing as a last beacon of hope. Survivors like 15-year-old Salfa thank you for making that possible.

Mother of Mercy operates entirely on donations and support from compassionate partners. Thank you for saving lives like young Salfa’s, and many others whose lives depend on the care they receive at this hospital.

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.