Saving the Lives of Orphans

Donors Provide New Life for Children at St. Bakhita Orphanage

The story of Sister Bianca Bii and St. Bakhita Orphanage is one of courage, commitment, and unselfish love. But most of all, it is an incredible success story. And it’s because of you, our donors, that it can be told today.

Through thick and thin, violence and peace, sufficiency and famine, Sudan Relief Fund’s faithful partners like you have stood with this orphanage, the place 250 children call home. The place that’s been Sister Bianca’s life calling. We’re pleased to share with you how far this project has come, from its humble beginnings to where they are today, thanks to your support.

The face of courage and love. Sister Bianca Bii has spent her life giving orphaned children a new future.

Early Beginnings

Like many amazing stories, it began with next to nothing. Just a woman with a heart for children in need, and her strong will to help them.

When the smoke cleared after South Sudan’s war for independence, the devastation and toll it took on children slowly became apparent. Across a war-torn countryside marred with burnt villages and pillaged huts, Sister Bianca knew there would be children who were survivors out there. Children who lost parents. Children who could be sick or injured. If nothing else, children who were alone and terrified. They wouldn’t survive on their own.

Sister Bianca took it upon herself to find them. She began going hut to hut, village to village, seeking out children who had no one. She found plenty of them. Traumatized, hungry, sick. She made rounds daily and weekly to check on them. She brought food, first aid, and the comforting message that someone cared.

Eventually Sister Bianca began caring for so many that she asked her local bishop for permission to take care of all the children in one place. By now it was clear no one else would be coming back for them.

And so Sister Bianca’s calling of caring for orphans began what would be a lifelong labor of love lasting well into her eighties.

In 2015, Sudan Relief Fund learned about Sister Bianca and her growing contingent of orphans. Their numbers increased as parents died by violence, sickness, or in childbirth. Some children were abandoned. Sister Bianca never turned anyone away, not even children with special needs that no one else would take. Despite their growing numbers, she continually trusted in God to provide for them.

“When you did it for the least of these, you did it for me”

Some children, like young Moses, arrived after being separated from parents in the chaos of fleeing violence. Most never found their parents again. One baby boy was brought to St. Bakhita by his desperate father. He had been separated from his wife as war erupted between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Years later he came back for his son, Obbo, who was now twelve. He found his son still safe and well in Sister Bianca’s care. Now reunited, Obbo left with his father to go meet the family members he’d never known.

Early beginnings. Thanks to our donors, construction on a larger, safer home for the children is nearly complete.

In Good Hands

With the faithful partnership of our donors, Sudan Relief Fund was able to sponsor the orphanage Sister Bianca had named after the nation’s patron saint. With regular financial assistance from sponsors, the children could count on a steady supply of food, clean water, shelter, clothing, medicine, health care, and the chance to attend school.

In some cases, Sister Bianca was the only parent the children ever remembered, raising them for their entire childhoods. Some of her children would go on to higher education. One girl named Grace remembers Sister Bianca protecting them from rebel soldiers who stormed through their area without warning. Sister Bianca hid all the children in the thick brush of the jungle. Grace could hear the footsteps of militia as they passed near the children’s hiding place. But the soldiers moved on, and all the children were safe.

Facing New Threats

For years Saint Bakhita Orphanage operated peaceably in Tombura. Support from our donors took care of them, and Sister Bianca even had a few adult helpers. But violence threatened again when a rival militia faction suddenly swept in, occupying the area. 

The children were at risk each time they stepped outside the walls surrounding the orphanage to walk to school. At one point, fighting came so close they could hear gunfire and shouting. Sister Bianca never wavered in her faith. She said, “I put up a cross and no militia ever came through our gate.”

All of her staff fled. The now elderly Sister was the sole adult left with 70 children in her care. Despite the nearby fighting and threat to her safety, she steadfastly stood by them. She reached out to Sudan Relief Fund for help. An evacuation was swiftly arranged with our partners on the ground. Sister Bianca and every child were safely relocated to another part of the country.

David Dettoni and Fred Otieno of SRF deliver supplies you funded to sustain the children during a severe food shortage.

Your Helping Hand in Time of Famine

While they were staying in temporary dwellings, a severe food shortage struck the nation. During that time, our generous donors came through with extra food shipments, and our partners on the ground delivered the supplies to Sister Bianca and the children. Your help sustained them throughout the hunger crisis. “Without it,” Sister Bianca says, “we would not have survived.”

A Place to Call Home

Without complaining, Sister Bianca and the children got by living in tents while they waited for a new home. Once again, our donor sponsors stepped in to provide their needs.  With your support, a beautiful new home has been built to house the group that’s now grown to 250 children.

Their new home has a separate boys’ dormitory and girls’ dormitory. There are bunk beds and mattresses for each child, and new bathrooms. The orphanage has a kitchen attached to a spacious gathering area that can be used for worship services, social activities, and maybe in the future, an onsite school for the children.

There are rooms for staff, as Sister Bianca now has help from the Blue Sisters. These nuns assist with the consuming work of caring for 250 children, from infants to teenagers. Sister Bianca even has a room of her own, something she hasn’t had since that choice she made decades ago to take in orphans of war.

The new St. Bakhita Orphanage is located in the town of Nzara. It is strategically situated near a school and St. Theresa Hospital, a Sudan Relief Fund sponsored medical facility. This gives the orphans access to both education and excellent health care. A blessing was pronounced over the grounds and buildings, in a special ceremony to celebrate their new home and thank God for all that had been provided.

The St. Bakhita family has grown to 250 children. No child in need is ever turned away.

Heroes and Legacy

Recently we requested prayers for Sister Bianca when she was transported to Nairobi for some specialized medical treatment. We’re pleased to share she is now improved and back to work at St. Bakhita Orphanage where she loves to be the most – the place that is her legacy and life’s work. But it is also the legacy of every sponsor and supporter of this children’s home.

Sister Bianca is a hero to many children and to those who’ve worked with her. Even in her advanced years, she risked her life in a daring rescue to save a kidnapped boy. Entering enemy territory, she bravely disguised him through checkpoints and brought him many miles back to safety. 

It wasn’t the first time she saved the boy’s life. Sister Bianca rescued him as a toddler when he was so sick the doctors said he wouldn’t live. She took him in and nursed him back to wellness.

Her legacy can also be seen in success stories like the little girl named Grace mentioned earlier. Grace is now a young adult, who attended college in New York with plans to return to South Sudan. Grace intends to dedicate her skills to helping other orphans, to inspire them by example that they can have a successful future. She is able to do this because of the life she was given at St. Bakhita Orphanage.

There are other heroes in these children’s lives besides the intrepid Sister Bianca – you. Each one of St. Bakhita’s sponsors, whose support takes care of the orphans. You whose commitment carried Sister Bianca through every shipment of food and medicine. And you whose partnership is now manifested in a beautiful new home for 250 children who wouldn’t have one without you.

These stories of lives saved are possible because of people like you, our donors, who support orphans in children’s homes across South Sudan. Thank you for giving orphaned children an entire new chance for life.

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A Mother’s Last Hope

Little Boy Finds Lifesaving Help at Mother of Mercy

How far will a mother go to find help for her child?

When Salah’s mother noticed her three year-old boy was losing weight, she felt a wave of dread rising up from the pit of her stomach.

In the Nuba Mountains these days famine is everywhere. She knew it was only a matter of time until it would hit their family. But infants and small children don’t have the strength and endurance in famine that an adult has. Children are far more vulnerable to the debilitating effects of malnutrition, and their decline happens faster.

What’s more, babies and toddlers stricken with malnourishment can suffer lasting effects, including stunted growth and mental development that remains with them throughout their life. The lack of nourishment weakens their immune system and makes them more vulnerable to sickness and disease.

Salah’s mother doubled down on her efforts to find food. But you can’t find what isn’t there. All over Nuba children can be seen with telltale protruding stomachs – a dangerous sign of malnourishment often caused by severe protein deficiency and edema. Parents have been scrambling to find leaves, bugs, or any potential source they can feed their children to fight the gnawing famine that blankets the region.

Salah’s mother took him to the local clinic, but she found no help there. Feeling helpless, she wondered what she could do beyond watching her tiny toddler grow weaker by the day. There was one place of hope she knew of. But it was far away. How would she get Salah there? Could he survive if she didn’t go?

Mother of Mercy Hospital is the only referral hospital open in the Nuba Mountains known as Gidel. With the ongoing war roaring across Sudan, most hospitals have closed, most commerce has stopped. But Mother of Mercy’s doors remain open, offering hope to people who come for miles and days to reach this place. Word has spread of Dr. Tom Catena, whose name is legendary in the region for the tireless medical help he and his team provide. For many, it is their last hope.

For three days, Salah’s mother traveled with him in the back of a tuk tuk – similar to a motorized rickshaw cart – across nearly impassable “roads”  to reach this outpost of hope. She wondered if she would find help here for her toddler son like so many had spoken of. She had nowhere left to go, and time was running out.

When Salah arrived, he was immediately taken for treatment. Tests discovered that not only was the little boy severely malnourished, his body was also suffering from a bombardment of ailments that included anemia, malaria, and tuberculosis. The fact that he was still alive was his first miracle. He still needed another to survive.

Salah began receiving malaria treatment immediately. He also started a protocol to treat the tuberculosis. To strengthen his weak little body, Salah was given therapeutic milk for acute malnutrition. His mother was grateful beyond words to find treatment for Salah. Now all she could do was wait.

The three-year-old boy was a fighter. With the strength he received from nourishment, antimalarials, and tuberculosis medicine, Salah slowly began to stabilize. Soon he was transferred from therapeutic milk to Plumpy’Nut – a ready-to-eat food paste specially designed to treat recovering malnourished children. It was a big step. Now he was well enough to eat.

Today Salah is gaining strength and improving steadily. His prognosis is for full recovery. Hope did not disappoint for Salah’s mother. This was indeed a place of help and healing. Because of a dedicated doctor and his team. And because of donors and partners whose support keeps the only hospital for hundreds of miles stocked with the medicine it needs to save lives. 

These stories of lives saved are made possible because of generous donors who partner with us to support Mother of Mercy Hospital, where in 2024 more than 300,000 people received treatment across the Nuba Mountains. Thank you for helping to save lives like young Salah’s and so many others.

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Children Saved

Lives Saved: When Childs’ Play Turns Deadly

Children love to play outside using their imaginations. But when your yard is littered with leftover artillery, innocent playtime can suddenly become deadly.

Many parts of Sudan’s Nuba Mountains are riddled with old military ordnance leftover from previous wars and conflicts. Unexploded ordnance – known as UXO – can detonate years or even decades later, becoming more unstable as the years go by. These dangers can be presented by artillery shells, mortars, grenades, and a variety of similar devices.

Heavy rains like those that occur during the annual rainy season may expose buried objects, increasing their risk of detonation.

UXO still poses a grave threat to civilians and children here. In the month of February alone, 21 children were killed in the South Kordofan state of Sudan following inadvertent encounters with abandoned artillery. 

Khalid came close to being one of those tragic statistics.

It was a sunny morning when Khalid woke up that day, and like many twelve year-olds, he had chores to do. Today it was his responsibility to look after the cows. He was a good son who typically did what he was told. But also like many young boys, he became distracted along the route to the cow shed.

On the ground something sparkled, and his eyes focused on a shiny object that he thought was a large bullet. He pulled it out from the dirt and freed it from the straw-like grasses that entangled it. Khalid turned the object in his hand as the sun shone on its metallic exterior. He was pleased with his newfound discovery.

Khalid tossed the object around in the air as he approached the cow shed. Then he decided to bounce it off a large rock. That’s when the unexpected happened. The object exploded, causing a blast that pierced the tranquility of the morning, as pieces of metal burst through the air and scattered on the ground.

The commotion brought Khalid’s family running from the house. Still in surprise, he looked down to see that shards from the explosion had sliced the fingers on his right hand. He knew it was bad. For a moment he didn’t feel the pain, but fear gripped him immediately.

Wasting no time, his mother wrapped the hand and rushed him to the nearest health clinic at Reka. But Khalid’s injuries were too extensive to be treated there. The clinicians told him to get to Mother of Mercy Hospital as fast as he could. Time was not on his side. Khalid’s injuries were life threatening.

Mother of Mercy is the only referral hospital for hundreds of miles in each direction in the rural Nuba Mountains. Founded and directed by missionary doctor Tom Catena, who came from New York over 16 years ago, the facility treats more than 150,000 patients every year and serves a population of nearly a million people in the vast surrounding area.

Dr. Tom is renowned as a local hero for his medical care and dedication to helping the people of Nuba. Sudan Relief Fund’s community of generous donors provide the medicine used by Mother of Mercy Hospital – the same which today would help to save a twelve year-old boy.

It was a lengthy operation, but successful. Even though Khalid still had treatment and recovery ahead of him, Khalid’s mother rejoiced that her son was going to survive. Khalid was happy he would be able to use his hand. 

After continuing treatment at the hospital for four weeks, Khalid is healing well and almost ready to go home. He realizes how fortunate he was to be near lifesaving medical treatment at Mother of Mercy Hospital. 

Khalid didn’t become another tragic statistic. Because help was here when he needed it most.

These stories of lives saved are possible because of our generous community of donors who support Mother of Mercy Hospital and other initiatives for people with no access to health care. Thank you for saving lives like young Khalid’s and many others who are well today because of your support.

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A Drink of Life

Saving Communities by Building Clean Water Wells

Clean water changes everything.

More than half the population of South Sudan has no clean water available to them. The water they drink, wash in, and cook with is often filthy. It may be contaminated with bacteria, animal feces, or parasites that lead to deadly diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, guinea worm, and even polio.

Waterborne disease is so prevalent in South Sudan that it’s a leading killer of children under the age of 15.

Women and girls are victimized in further ways by a lack of available water. Often tasked with trekking for miles in search of water for their households, girls are vulnerable to assault on these lengthy journeys alone.

Dehydration is especially devastating to younger children. Desperate parents give their little ones dirty water if it’s the only choice between drinking that or nothing, which invariably leads to illness or worse.

With the support of our donors and partners, Sudan Relief Fund has been fighting to bring clean water to communities suffering without it. In 2024, we were able to drill more than 24 water wells across South Sudan. The impact one well makes in a community is far greater than most can imagine. Consider some of these incredible benefits: 

• stops the spread of deadly waterborne disease
  
• spares women and girls from dangerous journeys to fetch water alone
  
• helps mothers experience healthier pregnancies, give birth to healthier babies, and reduce infant mortality
  
• allows girls time to attend school
  
• enhances sanitation for bathing, washing clothes and dishes
  
• empowers healthy adults to grow crops, raise livestock, and work to support their families.

These are just some of the ways a community is transformed by the presence of clean water, a resource much of the developed world takes for granted. And the benefits one well provides last for decades, extending to subsequent generations.

Recently our supporters helped us successfully install a much needed well for a community in Ave Maria parish, where more than 600 internally displaced people took refuge after being forced to flee their homes due to violent warfare and conflict.

For too long these displaced families were forced to rely on murky, unsafe water for drinking and cooking. Now, thanks to your support, they finally have clean water.

It was a joyful moment for the whole community when the well was completed. A ceremony was held to celebrate the occasion, and a special blessing was given over the new well. The scene was beautiful, and joy filled the air as over 600 people danced, sang, prayed, and gave thanks for the clean water they now had.

That’s the difference clean water makes. It saves lives and transforms entire communities. Water unites all of humanity in our dependence on it. Thank you for helping us bring this vital resource to people in need, like these families in Ave Maria parish and many others.

These stories of lives saved are possible thanks to our generous donors who support efforts like these to build water wells and bring clean water to people without it. Thank you for partnering with us to transform lives and make healthier futures possible.

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