Let South Sudanese Voices be Heard

You can be part of really changing history in Africa--and saving the most persecuted people in the world.

The people of South Sudan and the marginalized people of Sudan (Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains, Abyei and Darfur) are being persecuted 1) for their faith, 2) in an effort to erase their history and 3)  in order to keep the current regime in power.   

Millions are on the edge of starvation--food is used as a weapon. If they support the corrupt regime in South Sudan or denounce their faith they are allowed to eat and go to school. If not, they can be killed, sold into slavery--the women and girls used as sexual slaves.


    Nuba Mountains native Nazar Suliman at White House protest over genocide in Darfur 2011

They are pleading with the world to listen--and join their effort to let  their voices be heard from the misery that is South Sudan and the East African refugee camps.  Help them make a noise loud enough so that the UN and the US will demand that free, fair elections be held as promised in this year 2018.  

             Headlines on South Sudan crisis 2015-2017

South Sudan's regime is using chaos and terror to stay in office. It is allowing in terror groups like al-shabab and Al Qaida. China and Russia are both on the ground wooing her leaders with promises of cheap money and erasing millions in previous debts. It is doing business with the Islamic government of Sudan in hopes of getting support--and Sudan's President al Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity!

The young of South Sudan are pleading for a chance to change their future from hopelessness to self-determination which can happen with elections--the only legitimate way to get rid of the corruption. 

They are taking their cue from America....many don't have electricity in their homes, but they do have cell phones.  They walk miles just to charge their phones so they can  pass along to their  people in America  what is going on back home. 

  Let their voices be heard:  Bol Gai Deng of Southern Sudan Project, keynote speaker at Nuba Mountains genocide protest at United Nations, 2012

Southern Sudan Project and and its coalition have been protesting and testifying at Congressional hearings for many years about the attacks on the South Sudanese and marginalized people of Sudan.   It is time for the world to hear more than words...to see up close the thousands of suffering people in East Africa.   

Suffering that is man-made.   Suffering caused by a corrupt regime who is trying to stay in power and from the country to the North who would once again like to get its hands on South Sudan's resources and impose Sharia law on the largely Christian country.

Young South Sudanese don't want military dictators who know only war.   They don't want to live under Sharia law.
    The excitment and hope on young Sudanese faces     during  Southern Sudan  Project's 2008 trip to Sudan.

They want to be encouraged by a new vision they have created together with a younger generation of leaders who have lived under democracy and free enterprise; who bear witness that oil can be drilled without pollution, good roads can be built, schools opened; and their farmers, free from violence, can plant their rich lands to fulfill their potential to become the breadbasket of the entire region.  

                           South Sudan refugee camp
                            (courtesy theadvocate.org)

Won't you please give them hope?  Help them raise their voices? Help them generate enough noise from  rallies in the camps and in South Sudan  to make the world aware of the people's plight:  murder and gang rapes allowed by corrupt leaders, the constant threat of Islamic domination, and of having to choose between eating or worshipping their God.

Desperation reigns in South Sudan--a far cry from the euphoria of 2011 when it was birthed as a free country made up of a largely Christian people, proud of a history they can trace back to 3000 BC. The Kingdom of Cush, mentioned numerous times in the Bible, had a reputation for peace and a rich, vibrant trading culture where women played key roles in governing of the Kingdom, almost unique in the ancient world.

The faith of the South Sudanese and marginalized people of Sudan is being sorely tried.   Their pastors are isolated, their flocks are starving and being lured from their faith by offers of  food, treats, and schooling.
Southern Sudan Project's founder Bol Gai Deng with Pastors Tawor and Kua recently  freed from Sudanese prison.   Dec 2017
            
They are putting their hope for their future in making the world listen to them and to a new generation of leaders  who have been groomed to lead.  People like Bol Gai Deng.  He  was sold into slavery at age 7, escaped from his owner three years later and made his way to refugee camps, and was finally allowed to come to America.

A young Bol Gai Deng (l) with friends at refugee camp after his escape from Arab slaveowner.

Bol worked, learned English and earned degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University--all the while founding organizations, including Southern Sudan Project to help other refugees, especially women, learn to read, write and speak English so they could get better jobs.

    Bol Gai Deng, co-founder of Aweil Youth Assn/USA 

Bol and other Lost Boys in America organized the 45,000 Sudanese across the United States, and thousands of others  in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the East African refugee camps. 

They have set up a communications network  via social media to encourage their people. They are in constant touch and together are forging a vision for South Sudan--built on their Cush heritage of freedom, peace and commerce.   

Now the people in Africa want those who have enjoyed the  benefits of democracy to come  home and face to face, together LET THE WORLD HEAR THEIR CRY FOR FREEDOM. 

Southern Sudan Project has planned a series of rallies this month at several East African refugee camps.  Thousands are joining together at each camp to show that the South Sudanese people want to choose their own leaders through free, fair elections in 2018 as promised in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. 

The Southern Sudan Project is also sending a delegation to IGAD's (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) Peace Revitalization talks re-convening May 15th in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  They will push for fair elections to be scheduled in South Sudan this year.  Legitimate elections will force an end to the current corrupt regime and give the country a chance at peace.
This effort costs money for plane tickets and to provide security in this very dangerous part of the world.  That is why we need your help to help make this happen.

Freedom and peace will allow humanitarian groups to come in and feed the people.  They will allow farmers to plant their crops for long-term food security.  They will allow medical clinics and schools to re-open.  They will allow the nightmare to end and life to become normal and safe again.

There are high hopes riding on this effort--forcing President Kiir to submit to free, fair elections as he pledged in the 2015 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The United Nations and US diplomats need to hear the people's voices so they will push for elections in 2018. It means providing security for candidates, voters going to the polls and secure absentee ballots for those in the camps and overseas.  

The funding is small when one considers the billions that America and other countries have poured into Africa.  However, it is the only solution that would create permanent, positive change.

    Rabak,  Sudan oil spill, courtesy United Nations EP

South Sudan is a man-made disaster and it will take people who care to help end it.  Won't you help to lighten the load? To show the refugees and people of South Sudan that we, the most free country in the world care about them?  It needn't devastate your wallet: maybe consider forgoing that special cup of coffee one morning and pledge your savings to Save the People of South Sudan?