Alliance for Lost Boys of Sudan

The Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan in north Florida (Jacksonville) is a well-established support group for Sudanese refugees. They have put together an SSS campaign: Stand Up, Speak Out, Stop the Genocide; be sure to watch their video! They seem to be one of the most active Sudanese aid groups working in the US right now.

Where are the cows?

Great story from 2003 about Lost Boys of Sudan wondering "There is so much milk: where are the cows in America?" Dinka culture is a cow culture, so a handful of Lost Boys who were settled in Boston ended up attending the University of New Hampshire to study the dairy industry.

Valentino Achak Deng photo updates

Valentino Deng updated the slide show on his website. He did a great job of documenting some of the steps he has been taking to build schools and community centers in Marial Bai. His foundation bought a larger transport truck, a Toyota pickup, materials in Kampala, and he is buying his bricks in southern Sudan. ASAH will be able to learn a lot from his great work!

Lost Boy to speak at the Vietnam Memorial

NPR ran a story this morning about a Lost Boy of Sudan, now Captain in the US Army, speaking at the Vietnam Memorial for Memorial Day. David first came to Sioux Falls and now lives in Utah; the Desert News also covered this story.

Three Cups of Tea / Central Asia Institute

I'm reading Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea, about his incredible work to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His efforts lead to the founding of the Central Asia Institute, which he continues to run from Bozeman Montana. Inspirational story and model for African Soul, American Heart; inspirational story for every one!

Revisiting One Laptop Program

I hadn't visited the One Laptop Per Child program in a while, but the fact that the program adopted Windows as the operating system came up at the Computers and Writing conference I am attending. I thought I should see what else is going on a OLPC.

My visit was fruitful. I just found out that donors can now designate where they would like the laptops to go--no initially part of the program. 100 laptops at $299 would probably be sufficient to outfit the orphan center and school Joseph wants to build. A $299 donation would be a very concrete, tangible donation, although it might be something that we want to emphasize after we get basic needs solidified.

$4.8 Billion in Aid Pledged!

Great news for southern Sudan; $4.8 billion dollars in aid have been pledged to help with recovery projects for the next 3 years. As the article says, southern Sudan is at a tipping point, and it is important that the global community help Sudan now!

ASAH on Facebook

Melissa Vosen, a graduate student in English at NDSU, has joined the ASAH team for the summer. She has already produced a flyer we will be using to try and promote speaking engagements for Joseph, and she started a Facebook Group for anyone who would like to keep track of the project through FB.

In case you are wondering why Melissa didn't use the "Causes" application in Facebook, the reasons are:
1. "Causes" is a 3rd party application and she read some negative reviews.
2. The application designers are raking in a hefty 4.75% of all donations.

If you want to donate to our cause, or any cause, send a check--online payment services always take a little bite out of the donation.

Hoops for Hope

My son brought home his weekly reader magazine and showed me a story about a 13 year old boy who started the organization, Hoops of Hope, to raise money for orphans in Zambia. I can't imagine a much better event for North Dakota school kids to undertake some cold day this coming winter, but I also think that a project like this should be kid driven, kid organized. I'll see if I can gently nudge my son in that direction.

I saw on the website that Ellendale North Dakota ran this fundraiser yesterday (May 17th, 2008).

I also watched the YouTube video used to promote the cause during this year's March Madness.

Sudanese refugee video

I dug a little deeper into the UNHCR website, and their Nine Million campaign (nine million children world wide living in refugee camps), and discovered a video profile of a young Sudanese boy living in refugee camp.

Graduation photo

A close-up of Joseph in his robes, then
Joseph with his sister Amer (far right), his sister Akon, Joseph's brother Emmanuel, Joseph's nieces and nephews.

Links, Links, Links

I embedded the ASAH Concept video on the The Hub. The Hub is website with hundreds of human rights and advocacy videos--worth a visit!

I discovered that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has a YouTube channel and a Flickr Stream. The UNHCR runs the Kakuma refugee camp where Joseph spent about 10 years of his life; these images and videos provide incredible glimpses into the lives of refugees.

I also discovered that teh UNHCR is sponsoring a World Refugee Day, June 20th. We will have to look into doing an event for that day.

Joseph has graduated!

Deb Dawson, ASAH Producer, sent out this message on Friday:

Dear Friends of African Soul, American Heart,

Please join me in congratulating Joseph Akol Makeer on his graduation today from North Dakota State University where he earned a degree in Criminal Justice. You will probably agree that this is an extraordinary accomplishment for a 31-year-old man who spent his childhood trying to survive by escaping his war-torn country of South Sudan, who learned to read as a teen in a refugee camp, and who came to Fargo, North Dakota in September of 2003. In only 4 1/2 years since that day, he has earned a college degree, written a book, and inspired a group of talented people to help him tell the story of those who continue to suffer in his country and his desire to help the orphans there.

I am proud to announce African Soul, American Heart is now incorporated and our non-profit status is pending approval. Our board of directors is actively putting together information about costs for building materials, supplies, labor, and staffing so that we might build an orphan center in Duk Payuel, South Sudan, the village Joseph left as a ten-year-old.

Our film director and editor will be working hard over the summer to edit our documentary. We hope to have a rough cut by the end of August and a finished product by November. African Soul, American Heart (the movie) will be available then for showings and to submit to film festivals around the country to help us generate interest and funds to support these children who have no one to care for them.

For more information about our project and to VIEW A 3 MINUTE EXCERPT of our documentary, check our website.

______

To add a personal note, yesterday, as I was driving my Sudanese friend Joseph home from graduation, we heard this NPR story about Lost Boy Emmanuel Jal, now a successful musician. As Jal was describing walking to Ethiopia, then back to Sudan, and living through those incredibly difficult years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I turned to Joseph and said, "can you believe that you were there, too, and now you are here, in Fargo ND, a graduate of NDSU?" He said he couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it.