By Todd Hardesty | Executive Director
It is not easy to watch. Five women in the village of Old Fangak, South Sudan sitting by the riverbank sifting the dirt in search of kernels of sorghum which have spilled from torn relief bags. This is not easy work, but they find it necessary. Their children are starving. They are starving.
Recent heavy rains in Uganda flooded the White Nile and its tributaries in the Sud. The high waters destroyed most of the stored food from earlier harvests. It has displaced more than a million people in South Sudan. Here in Old Fangak, 80% of the new arrivals are coming because they lost their homes and all their food. Even the large international agencies cannot come close to feeding everyone. The situation is dire and that is why the women will sit and sift the dirt for hours at a time to find anything edible they can.
There's another story happening simultaneously. Men and women farmers from the village of Dhoreak are carrying foot pumps and hoses to their village. The Alaska Sudan Medical Project purchased the supplies in Juba, the nation’s capital. They made a long journey down the Nile aboard a trader boat arriving at Old Fangak just in time.
We had recently identified 17 families in this remote village who wanted to learn to become farmers. They are wanting to fight famine with farming. Mery Chol Tut, Nyadak Kot Juich, Thomes Gatdor Khor, Jima Par Mayien and Both Tiret Khor are among those helping to carry the hoses and water pumps through the flooded areas to reach their new farm sites. With your help we had purchased seeds for these 17 families and distributed them in early January. Our agriculture coordinator. Tyak Wang, gave lessons on how to till the soil and plant the seeds and small tree seedlings we provided.
Today, even though many areas are flooded, these families have new crops of onions, carrots, watermelon, kale, eggplant and okra—with sprouts rising from the newly tilled soil. Until now these small gardens were watered by hand, one bucket at a time. The foot pumps will help them water more easily and become more productive. Despite the challenges facing this region, these families will be able to feed themselves and provide food for their neighbors. They are fighting famine.
It is the small successes we celebrate. Seeds were also distributed to farmers in Old Fangak as well as the village of Toch. In all more than 150 families received seeds and tools to help them feed themselves. More than 300 pounds of seeds along with dozens of hoes and watering cans. We could not do this work without support coming from you. We would like to do more but have run out of supplies for now. Given the conditions it is not surprising that every day someone comes and requests seeds and tools. They would like to join the others. We hope to be able to help sometime soon.
The Nuer people living in this region understand that not everything will be solved at once. They are patient and they are thankful. When we share our plans—our desire to provide them the tools, training and supplies needed to grow their own vegetables and fruits—they smile and say, "thank you." We are also thankful for the support coming from you. We could not do the good work without you. Together fighting famine with farming.
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By Todd Hardesty | Executive Director
By Todd Hardesty | Executive Director
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