I received a question in my email last week asking if I could write a blog about the impacts that the Foundation is having in South Sudan. I am so happy you asked and I am glad to get the opportunity to write about the impacts that we are making together for thousands in South Sudan. Most of you probably already know the 4 areas of focus for 4 South Sudan - Clean Water, Education, Health Care, and Nutrition. For more information about these 4 target areas please visit my page about the Lopez Lomong Foundation. Instead in this blog I am going to talk about more personal experiences and the needs that we aim to address with the work of the Foundation.
My foundation is in collaboration with many partners including World Vision and Alarm. The main reason for this is that we want to ensure that the most money possible goes directly to the projects in South Sudan without duplicating infrastructure or wasting money on recruiting trusted workers. For example, World Vision has 800 staff in South Sudan and works on a daily basis in the country. They have crafted relationships with local contractors who do great work at a fair price. We link right in to that great infrastructural strength!
My foundation is in collaboration with many partners including World Vision and Alarm. The main reason for this is that we want to ensure that the most money possible goes directly to the projects in South Sudan without duplicating infrastructure or wasting money on recruiting trusted workers. For example, World Vision has 800 staff in South Sudan and works on a daily basis in the country. They have crafted relationships with local contractors who do great work at a fair price. We link right in to that great infrastructural strength!
| As many know, over this last year we have raised over $250,000 for water projects in South Sudan! That will touch thousands and thousands of lives by providing clean water through a variety of methods - pipeline systems, rock catchments, borehole wells, irrigation canals, and PUR packets in emergency situations. But this is not just about providing clean water! We are simultaneously educating about sanitation, hygiene, and practices to promote better health. Clean water cuts childhood mortality rate in half, allows children to attend school instead of walking miles to fetch water, allows women to care for their families, decreases disease, and allows the opportunity for thriving crop and agriculture. In a few words, we are empowering people to live healthier, longer lives. |  I walked for miles with this young girl to fetching water for the people in our village. |
My younger sister and I in Kimotong Village
Maternal Health and Empowering Women - Another key focus of mine is providing opportunity and empowerment to women so that they can change the community. Some who read my book, Running for my Life, know that I was devastated a few years ago to hear that my sister was raped while she was collecting firewood and as a result became pregnant. Since then she has had a beautiful baby girl. I have personally been supporting my sister and her daughter for the last few years so that she could receive proper prenatal care and then childhood healthcare. But I realize that I need to be able to provide this support to every mother and child in South Sudan. That is where the foundation comes in! The unfortunate events in my own family have made me determined that the foundation should focus a good part of its efforts on empowering women and providing maternal health care. There is a huge void in maternal health care in East Africa and as a result millions of women are suffering. At the same time, women are not given the same opportunity for education and skill development meaning that half of the population's talents are underutilized. Imagine if all of the sudden the workforce doubled! And not only that, but in many cases women add a creative, family-focused, and practical perspective to community and nation building. More than anything that is what South Sudan needs!
So to start achieving this goal we are building a church and community center in Kimotong, South Sudan that will have a vocational training center. I know that in addition to the primary school in Kimotong providing education for the youth, we need to engage and empower the adult women by teaching them skills and trades that will allow them to support their families and change their communities. We have taken time with the project to do grassroots study to understand what the community in Kimotong wants and how best to deliver these needs. The cost of this project will be somewhere between $250,000 and $350,000 largely dependent on the procurement of building materials and transportation. We are also very adamant that the community will provide a large number of workers in the building crew so that they take ownership of the project and also learn basic building and construction skills along the way. With the support of ALARM we are going to complete this project this year and are so excited to see the positive effects it will have on the Eastern Equatorial State of South Sudan.
So to start achieving this goal we are building a church and community center in Kimotong, South Sudan that will have a vocational training center. I know that in addition to the primary school in Kimotong providing education for the youth, we need to engage and empower the adult women by teaching them skills and trades that will allow them to support their families and change their communities. We have taken time with the project to do grassroots study to understand what the community in Kimotong wants and how best to deliver these needs. The cost of this project will be somewhere between $250,000 and $350,000 largely dependent on the procurement of building materials and transportation. We are also very adamant that the community will provide a large number of workers in the building crew so that they take ownership of the project and also learn basic building and construction skills along the way. With the support of ALARM we are going to complete this project this year and are so excited to see the positive effects it will have on the Eastern Equatorial State of South Sudan.
| To learn more about why I do this work and why it means so much to me, please read my book, Running for my Life. Also, please explore more about the Lopez Lomong Foundation and 4 South Sudan! | Running Tip #6: Nourish your body. Make sure you consume healthy foods within 30 minutes of completing your workout. This will dramatically improve your recovery and speed up development of lean muscle. |
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