We are failing to maintain our mandate

Today is a brilliant day, because we have finally reopened the street children centre in Port Sudan city. And that feels quite good. The first day and only 3 street children found out about it, but word will spread like fire in dry gras. 

Picture: One of these boys is now unconscious at the hospital, the man with the hose is Mahmoud the volunteer coordinator. This picture was taken 5 hours ago in the street children centre. I looked the boy in the eyes and shook his hand. He seemed ok taking the conditions into account. Strange how we are able to stand up only in spite sometimes.

While we where cleaning and fixing the centre the three boys discovered us and started working harder than any other to get the centre back in shape. We were staff, volunteers, street children and youth delegates together. Ten people all in all. The centre quickly sprung back to life in a very basic look.

We have dicided to reopen the centre and provide the minimum support (fresh water, toilet, refuge, breakfast and simple free hospital treatment of the sick) even though we do not have secure funds yet. Application proposals are in the hands of two major organisations and we may send one more in addition. So right now we are waiting and utilizing funds from our own youth delegate budget and a generous donation from my colleagues local red cross branch in Norway: Ullensaker Red Cross. Because of these resources we managed to do the following only the first day:

The three boys who came to day, were in a bad shape. We did some further check ups on them and boy nr1 had a four month old open wound infection hidden under his pants in the left ancle. It may have reached his bone and that is really serious. He is now admitted to the hospital and have lost consiousness because of high fever. He collapsed as soon as there was breakfast in his stomach and he was somewhat safe in the local public hospital. Anine, my youth delegate colleague, was the one who took him there with some volunteers. And she reports it was very difficult to get him looked after properly. Some Red Crescent volunteers had to step in to watch over him. Let us hope he recovers.

Boy nr2 had dysentery and syphilis. The doctors told us that if his syphilis had come to far there was nothing or very limited things to do about it. The dysentery made the boy naturally extremely hungry and he was the most pushy when it came to get breakfast on the table. Can you imagine having dysentery (it gives the worse diarrhea), not be able to treat it and not have food to eat? These poor kids.

The third boy had resently been run over by a car. But survived and the wounds was healed so not really recently, but the scars was really fresh and huge across his body. Anine was told he was an orphan with a twin in the capital city (I asked why the twins where not together, but we do not know) and he fled from Kordofan (Central Sudan) in the 90`s. He was in his teens now, so imagine his age then.

These two last kids was not admitted to the hospital, but where given treatment and medications. They are also going to have more tests and follow up. Medications for one of the boys alone cost 53 Sudanese pounds. We have a total to run on approx 3500 Sudanese pounds, so we are in desperate need to get more help for these children (1$=2.4Sudanese pounds (SDG)).

There is no one to care for these children. Our core mandate in the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement is to heal the wounded and treat the sick. We are failing at this basic human need in Sudan. Let alone feed these starving children. The other external national societies must come stronger together for Sudan and help Sudanese Red Crescent reach more people. The Republic of Sudan has asked the Sudanese Red Crescent to increase their activities in Sudan. They are currently and always on full capacity, with the largest humanitarian force in Sudan. To gain more capacity we need more funding, technical and administrative help.

In the late day today 8 more children came and gave their names for tomorrow. By the end of the first week the local volunteers say they will be fifthy. The need is here and we are here. If you feel you can help in any way, please drop me a comment and let us discuss what can be done. I would like to see ideas on: I know someone somewhere, we are available, we are RC/RC volunteers, I give my support and my voice, I work for the movement, I might have good ideas and advice on running a centre like this, I am inspired but do not know what to do...and every other form of support we can imagine. From this we can establish more communication and that always leads to rare opportunities. So at the very least drop a phrase like this: "I am Thomas and I am a carpenter. I support what you are doing" i.e.

All the best

Thomas 

Norwegian updated news on Sudan:

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Mission easter holiday impossible

Today is the day I should have set foot in Beirut, Lebanon for my 8 day easter holiday. However faith or Sudan ment otherwise.

Two months ago me, my girlfriend and my lebanese sister Marya decided to spend a holiday together in Beirut. I booked my flight tickets, my girlfriend the hotelroom and flight. Marya the vacation plans in general. I asked my boss here at the Sudanese Red Crescent if it was possible to renew my residence visa and get exit/entry visa within the next 6 weeks. Yes was the answer.

And to everyones surprise, Anine my colleague, gets seriously ill with dysenteri and has to be flown to Khartoum for better treatment with me as support with her. She came around and is well now. While we where there I checked on the status of the visas I needed. "hmm, how far have we come with the visas?" I thought. When I asked the right people, they had not heard of it at all. We had now three weeks left to departure. I was speechless and worried.

After alot of talking and documents exchange the prosess of getting the visas was finally started. All they needed now to reach the deadline was the cash transfered from our branch to the headquarters in order for them to pay the fees. "Good", I thought, "we are finally moving ahead and there is hope to get in time still". I went satisfied back to Port Sudan city with a healthy Anine after almost two weeks in Khartoum.

Two weeks went by and I was reassured over phone that prosedures where going as they should and the money was transfered without any problems. But closer to the last week before departure my contact person in headquarters had to much to do and assigned me to another person. I called this person and was told no money was transfered to them and because of this nothing which needed payment had been done so far. Now there was 4 days left to departure and hope deminished before my eyes. "What!? How is that &%¤# possible?", I thought.

It shows, after connections has been used to get information,  that the finance department had attained the money for accountacy security reasons. In effect stopping the whole prosess and nobody thought of telling me about the issue. My boss here in the branch where, by coinsidence, in Khartoum these days because he had been in Geneva. He discovered the issue, asked for transfer documentation and had the money released...on late thursday. In sudan there is holiday friday and saturday. My departure was on tuesday morning 6am. 

It WAS tuesday morning 6am. So the date was lost, no doubt about it. All I had to do was to rebook my flights to leave two or three days later...

So I called my airliner: Egypt Air. It was now monday morning. No answer. "Have I pressed the wrong number from the internet?" I thought, "I will try to call all possible ways and numbers".

Two hours later, after calling between two numbers I was absolutely sure (The numbers where busy sometimes, but still would not answer when I called right after they hung up) the numbers where right. I also called their main base in Egypt frequently between the constant recalling to Khartoum office. No answer. A local sudanese friend of mine tipped me of a skilled travel agent here in Port Sudan city. I went to him and he told me Egypt Air never answers their phone. "What kind of buisness is this?" I thought.

I decided I was not going to lose my ticket without a fight, so I called without break for the next hours between two numbers to the egypt office. At 2 pm they started answering their phones right away. So now that I had reached them I was safe that my ticket was not lost.

Almost. You see, they needed everything on mail. Approval of fees as well as the changes to the ticket had to be sent by mail. "No problem" I thought. So I sent it all. I called them back 15min later, but they had recieved nothing. So I sent it again, after checking thoroughly the mail both on phone and contact details on egypt air webpage. I called back an half hour later, still nothing. We did it a third time and then the operator started accusing me of having something wrong with my mail or computer. Emphazing strongly this was MY fault. I argued that no matter where the fault was we should rebook by phone, since the mailsystem is not working whereever. The operator kindly declined and said he had to have it writting in a mail that I approve the fees for rebooking. I pleaded an oral agreement as strong as a written one. As well as pointing out that every other airliner in the world was able to make changes to a ticket wihtout a mail over phone. The operator now goes from kindly declining to bluntly refusing. "You better hope there is no rule I can fry you on this one, good bye!" was my kind last word to the operator and my face was purple at this point. I would most likely be in jail, for ripping a susrtain someones head off, if the operator was there in front of me at that time. I had then spent 6-7 hours with the good service at Egypt Air. Stay away from these guys!

So now I am here still in Port Sudan enjoying the sunset, not allowed to leave the country by state and airliner. So this was out of the country vacation plans. Do you wanna come visit us into the country? 

Happy easter everybody.

All the best Thomas