OCTOBER 2020 A MESSAGE FROM NEIL CORKERY RELIEF REVIEW PRESIDENT OF SUDAN RELIEF FUND Bringing the Gospel of Christ, and providing food, clean water, shelter and medical care, to the people of Dear Friend in Christ, Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala’s steadfastness amidst the most trying circumstances is a constant gift not only to his fl ock, but to all of us at Sudan Relief Fund. We congratulate His Excellency on his twelft h anniversary at the helm of the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio and ask that you join us in thanking God for Bishop’s Dr. Tom: Growing the Hospital, and Growing a Family faithful leadership and praying for his continued strength. Bishop’s bold example is being met by his fl ock and all who continue to strive despite impossible odds in South Sudan and the Nuba Mountains. Aft er long delays due to insecurity and other struggles in Tombura-Yambio, no fewer than fi ve school renovation and new construction projects are now underway, thanks to you and all of Sudan Relief Fund’s incredibly generous donors. Also underway is the construction of a dispensary and residential facility to complement the emergency room launched last year by the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle. And I am thrilled to report that Dr. Tom Catena and his beautiful wife Nasima have welcomed a son into their home! Adding to Dr. Tom’s excitement is the fact that work is about to begin on a long-overdue expansion of Mother of Mercy Hospital’s surgical facilities. I do not mean to give the impression that all is well in this war-torn and oft en forgotten corner of the world. On the contrary, the situation in South Sudan remains dire. Yet the astonishingly resilient people you’ve supported so generously are laying the foundation for a brighter future for their children even as more lives are being saved. I’m more grateful than I can say here for all you do to lift up our South Sudanese brothers and sisters in Christ. hen it began to look like they initial construction, draws patients not hospital’s beginning, and he can now Th ank you. Wwould not be able to conceive a only from throughout the expansive announce that he and the team are Yours in faith, child, Dr. Tom Catena and his wife, Nuba Mountain region, but from as ready to break ground on the expansion. Nasima, decided to adopt. Although far away as in the north Th e new building will house two new adoption is unheard of in Nuba, and the refugee camps in South Sudan. operating rooms and a recovery room, Nasima was open to the idea. Aft er In 2019, Dr. Tom Catena, the only and the existing space will then be Neil Corkery, President many months of extended visits with a surgeon in the Nuba mountains, with renovated and built to purpose. very special young boy at an orphanage the help of his colleagues performed Th e new facility has been in Juba, Nasima was able to make all 659 major and 1,224 minor surgeries— intentionally designed so that surgeries the necessary arrangements—and in everything from Cesarean sections and can continue in the existing structure PLANNED GIVING, LEGACY GIFTS, BEQUESTS, WILLS & ESTATE DONATIONS March, she brought Francis to his new gastrointestinal surgery to amputations until construction is complete. With home. and neurological procedures. the expanded surgical theater, Dr. Th ree of Nasima’s nieces are Th e surgical facilities, however, Tom and his team will be able to What will your legacy be? staying with the family to help, which are in desperate need of expansion focus more on patient care and less on Planned giving or legacy gifts are one of the most generous ways you can help the desperately poor Please consider remembering Sudan Relief Fund in your estate planning. has been a huge blessing, especially and improvement. Currently, patients fi ghting against the inadequacies of a people of South Sudan. At Sudan Relief Fund, we are blessed to have the most generous donors in For questions contact Brendan Gotta, Director of Stewardship, at 330.461.3356. given Dr. Tom’s rigorous schedule. By must be wheeled through four sets of facility that was not built to handle the the world. Please consult your investment advisor, accountant, or lawyer for details on remembering the time he would get home from his standard size doors, passing through growing volume of patients in need of Sudan Relief Fund in your estate plans. Please consider remembering Sudan Relief Fund in your rounds at the hospital, Francis would the break room and the sterilization emergency surgical care. It also means estate planning. For questions contact Brendan Gotta, Director of Stewardship, at 330.461.3356. oft en be asleep. But now that Francis room to reach the operating room. that visiting doctors will be able to visit is getting settled in his new home, the Sterilization is being carried out in what for a couple weeks at a time assist Dr. family usually has a few hours in the was intended to be a locker room and Tom with various surgical procedures. evening together. bathroom. Th e surgical team has done In short, the upgraded facilities mean Nasima and Dr. Tom ask for your an admirable job working in less than that more lives will be saved, and more prayers as, like all young families, they ideal conditions, but they have pushed families will be kept intact. joyfully seek balance between home the current facility to its limits. And Such an advanced facility was SUDAN RELIEF FUND life and work. Prayers are especially given the decrease in violence following practically inconceivable when Dr. P.O. Box 7084 • Merrifield, VA 22116 • 1-888-488-0348 needed as Dr. Tom’s already rigorous last year’s ouster of the dictator of Tom began his work at Mother of www.sdnrlf.com schedule is about to become even more Sudan, now is the time to upgrade the Mercy Hospital in the remote Nuban demanding. hospital’s surgical facilities. Mountains in 2008. But as he likes Mother of Mercy Hospital, which Dr. Tom expresses his thanks to say, especially in light of Francis’ Your fi nancial support helps us save lives and bring Christ’s love to the suff ering people of South Sudan Sudan Relief Fund donors like you to SRF donors for their faithful arrival, God will never be outdone in and the Nuba Mountains. Sudan Relief Review is published by Sudan Relief Fund (SRF), a 501(c)(3) have funded since its inception and generosity. nonprofi t organization. Contributions are tax deductible. ©2020 Sudan Relief Fund. All Rights Reserved. stewardship and generosity since the SUDAN RELIEF REVIEW | PAGE 4 SUDAN RELIEF REVIEW | PAGE 1 SRF’s Commitment to Education and The Next Generation Expanding the Health Center at Ave Maria

magine how different your life Kussala reports that, after years of (the rest was blown off by the wind). Iwould be without electricity, delays due to widespread violence and New sheeting and other materials running water, and a safe and secure financial problems, things are finally such as timber and bricks have been place to lay your head. For many beginning to come together for Sr. delivered to the site. orphans and school children in the Bianca and the children of St. Bakhita. At what will be a brand-new Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, such “Sr. Bianca is very happy that she campus for St. Genevieve Secondary has seen real change,” said Bishop school, the site for the project Breaking ground. Laying foundations for the new health clinic. deprivations are a fact of life. Thanks Kussala. “She sees in the donations has been acquired and cleared to you and other Sudan Relief Fund of Sudan Relief Fund supporters a for construction after resolving a s we reported last quarter, Father forest and South Sudanese outback to donors, however, huge progress is sign of God’s mercy, with which we potential conflict between local tribes. AAvelino Bassols and his fellow reach the shrine or visit the local nurse. being made in the living conditions collaborate in promoting the dignity In Source Yubu, near the border of priest of the Missionary Community The number of patients coming every and educational opportunities in this of these dear children.” Central African Republic, St. Thomas of St. Paul the Apostle have made day has grown to around 70, and with beleaguered region. Elsewhere in the diocese, Primary School is adding four truly incredible progress at Ave Maria only one room and one trained nurse Last year, Sudan Relief Fund and other necessary projects are finally classrooms to accommodate increased Parish in the last couple of years. the to serve them all, the need to expand is the Diocese set out on an ambitious underway after significant delays due enrollment. Crews have made great Missionary Community continues to imperative. plan to dramatically improve the to complications having to do with the progress in construction, which expand their outreach and are building “We have been shocked by the facilities at St. Josephine Bakhita coronavirus and associated lockdowns. thankfully was not hampered by the a new secondary school and have number of people coming to us since orphanage. And because you and Bishop Kussala reports that, after coronavirus shutdowns. launched the St. Joseph the Worker we opened. We are blessed with one other SRF supporters have come a competitive bidding process and And in Ngboko, construction Vocational Training Centre, where qualified nurse, but it is urgent that we through in a big way, we have some coordination with local authorities, of another brand-new campus, young people from the area can learn find a lasting solution for the growing good news to report in the completion contractors have been chosen and work Ave Maria Primary School, is a profession in carpentry, plumbing, or need,” Fr. Avelino said. Despite Covid, still ministering to the of the first stage of the orphanage is underway on each of the projects. underway. The site has been cleared engineering. Because of your support, and the pilgrims and holding mass outside upgrade project. The campuses include four primary and materials have been delivered in Continuing to carry out the donations of the entire Sudan Relief The successful installation of schools and one secondary school, anticipation of the construction work Missionary Community’s wholistic Fund community, the Community coronavirus, Fr. Avelino has also a complete solar power system, which together will welcome several beginning soon. approach to caring for the spiritual has been able to begin the process of been celebrating Mass and hearing upgraded lighting, and a powered hundred students in the coming year. On behalf of all the children and and physical well-being of the building the first proper health facility confessions outside, even as he and his water pump has lifted the spirits of At Regina Martyrum Primary families who will benefit from these community, they hired a nurse to help in the area. It will have a pharmacy and brothers arrange for the care of many Sr. Bianca, her staff, and the sixty school in Mupoi, construction dynamic projects, Bishop Kussala with the medical needs they saw in a laboratory that will aid in testing and sick people. And because there are no orphans they serve. The next phase materials have arrived, and work has expressed his heartfelt gratitude and the community. Now word is getting diagnosis, as well as some rooms for hospital beds, the ill and any family will include the construction of a begun on the new school building. appreciation to Sudan Relief Fund’s out. Ave Maria was already seeing patients. When the expanded facility who travel with them stay in the Ave dormitory and lavatory facilities that The renovation ofSt. Mary, Help supporters. increasing numbers of pilgrims visiting is open, the Community will not only Maria parish house, often for days at will significantly improve the living of Christians in Tombura has begun “Without your commitment to the shrine to worship. Now they are be able to hire additional nurses and a time. conditions of the orphans. with removal of the remainder of the my people, hundreds of children also seeing increasing numbers of support staff, they will be able to host “In a time when the entire world SRF partner Bishop Eduardo old and dilapidated iron sheet roofing would not have access to life- patients seeking care and healing. wellness programs and invite surgeons has been taken by surprise with the changing opportunities in a region This has inspired the idea of building when available to perform minor Covid-19 pandemic, the importance where illiteracy is the norm,” said a small health clinic to serve the local operations. But the pharmacy will be of having an adequate medical facility Bishop Kussala. “The spiritual and community. Thanks to our generous the biggest change, allowing trained becomes even more obvious,” said Fr. intellectual formation these children donors, SRF has sent the funds needed staff to dispense medicine, which is Avelino. “We are grateful to Sudan will receive in school is the beginning to start construction. Although most most desperately needed. Relief Fund for helping us bring of realizing their potential, which will parishioners and patients come from The new center and additional healing to even more of God’s children in turn bless entire communities and nearby villages, pilgrims and patients staff cannot arrive too soon. Due in need.” the nation.” often walk for days through the rain to shutdowns associated with the

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