Eye Care

Our Khartoum office report two further eye care outreaches on 21 and 30 September in remote areas outside Khartoum and Omdurman. A total of 244 patients were seen of whom 152 received medicines, mainly eye drops, 43 were given eye glasses, 47 were sent for examinations to ensure that the correct lenses were prescribed and 30 operations were recommended, several of which have already been carried out. 

  

A 20 year old patient was operated on by Dr Nabila on 

the day of the outreach to remove a foreign body.

The need for this service is undiminished and we give our warmest thanks to Dr Nabila Radi and her assistants for carrying out the work in hot and difficult conditions.

A 52 year old patient who has suffered from Glaucoma
for a long time and will need to use eye drops
for the rest of his life.

We are planning an operations day in a clinic outside Khartoum but this has had to be postponed more than once because of the unavailability of the necessary facilities.  We hope to mount this outreach in the course of October.  

Dr Nabila operated on this patient on the 

day of the outreach. 

Meanwhile the funds generously donated by two European charities, Dark and Light and Light for the World, are almost exhausted.  We are urgently seeking funds to enable us to continue this vital work.  Can you help us?

Please learn more about making a donation to TfS from our donation page

Fulla Falls Basic School Update

Lillian and I visited Fulla Falls we were shocked to learn that the school premises which had been used by the school since its foundation in 1999 had been bulldozed.  The school is now operating under straw shelters, which are so close together that one class hears everything said in the class next door. The teachers deserve great credit for carrying on in these very difficult circumstances.  The pre-school has its own small compound a short distance away and is better off, though as the photos show conditions are still basic.

Children of Fulla Falls School Grade 2

It seems that the government want to expropriate and develop the land at Soba Aradi, which is relatively close to Khartoum and to the new US Embassy at Soba. The people do not know what will become of them but expect to be relocated either to a distant area south of Khartoum or an even more remote area called Al Fateh 2 north-west of Omdurman. Both lack even basic facilities.

Children of the Fulla Falls Pre- School

The school expects to move with the majority of the people to whichever of these sites is chosen. They do not know whether the government will make land available there for the school, nor whether they will receive any compensation.

The education of girls is vitally important

At present our support is much appreciated to help the school survive. We shall need to consider what more might be done in due course to enable the school to continue in its new location. But they need to discover first where they will go and to plan the move.

Jebel Aulia

Izdihar reports from Khartoum on the latest eye care outreach at Jebel Aulia on 5th July.  Dr Nabila who regularly works with us examined 93 patients, prescribed medicine for 63, and recommended 9 for operations which carried out in the following week.  10 patients in all received glasses.

The TfS Eye Care Project

Meet just three of the people that Together for Sudan saw in this eye care outreach.

Mudathir Sefdin, 12 years old, has a squint which needs surgery

Fatima Fadul, 2 year old, came from Kosti city south of Khartoum.  She had trauma in her right eye and needed a scan which costs 250 Sudanese pounds

Nafahat Awad Almahadi is 10 years old.  It is difficult for her to see during the day.  She has been referred to Macca hospital for specialist treatment

Please help us to continue to help people such as these by making a donation to Together for Sudan, even a little can make a big difference. Please click here to learn more about making a donation.

TfS Graduate Attends the St Gallans Symposium

Nagla at the entrance to the symposium

One of the Nuba graduates from TFS’ scholarship programme generously funded by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Nagla Abbo, recently attended the 42nd symposium at St Gallen, Switzerland  for young leaders of tomorrow.  She is only the second Sudanese to have been honored by such an invitation. The topic of the discussion was Managing Risk.  Nagla says that risks should be seen as positive uncertainties and not as unavoidable evils.  She believes that the days spent in St Gallen with 200 other young people from all over the world , as well as many of today’s leaders, surely challenged her way of looking at her own society, culture and life, and will broaden her perspectives.  Overall she found the symposium “an awesome experience”.

This is but one example of how the scholarship programme can open doors for young Sudanese women.  TFS is very grateful to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for having sponsored not only Nagla’s studies but also her nomination to the symposium.  And we thank the St Gallen organizers for accepting Nagla and for all their hospitality to her and the other participants.

Nagla is one of 244 graduates from the scholarship programme so far.  TFS is sponsoring a further 122 scholars, with generous support from the Gordon Memorial College Trust Fund and Humanity United as well as the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.  Sadly we do not have funds at present for new awards, though the demand is high and we are receiving a steady flow of enquiries from Sudanese students keen to further their education at the university level in Sudan and South Sudan.  Can you help us meet this demand?

Learn about donating to Together for Sudan

Learn more about our University Scholarship Project

Eye Care in Soba Aradi

In two eye care outreaches in the suburbs of Omdurman and Khartoum at the end of April 2012 patients were seen of whom 140 were prescribed medicines, 50 received glasses, and 55 were recommended for operations, most of which have since been performed.  Many thanks to Dr Nabila and her colleagues for their work for the displaced needing eye care in the Khartoum area.

Women from Soba Aradi wait after eye surgery

One of these women was operated on for Glaucoma
and the other had a foreign body removed. 

This foreign body was removed from a patients eye

Our funding for eye care outreaches is running out so to keep this vital work going we need donations. Please donate to TfS, there is a button to donate on line through the blog but you can find out more from the donations page on our website. Please click here for the link. http://www.togetherforsudan.org/donate.aspx

Eye Care Outreach in Um Ruwaba

The crowd masses before the eye care outreach starts

Our Khartoum office report the conclusion of a very successful week-long eye care outreach at Um Ruwaba in North Kordofan state, near the border with the Nuba Mountains.  Sadly continued fighting made it impossible to conduct the outreach in Talodi, in the Nuba Mountains, as we had planned.  We chose Um Ruwaba instead because it has a large population of people displaced by the fighting in South Kordofan.  The outreach was conducted by a medical team from Khartoum assisted by staff from Um Ruwaba and a team of volunteers from the Sudanese Red Crescent.  Our project coordinator, Saudi Abdul Rahman, had his hands full to ensure that everything worked smoothly!

The Optician was checking people sight so as to distribute reading glasses

The doctor carefully performs a sight saving operation

During the week 1692 patients (well above the targeted 1000) were examined and 160 operations performed, including 142 cataract surgeries.  A further 55 operations were recommended and will be carried out during a follow up visit at the end of May.  It is worth noting that this was the first occasion on which our new operating microscope was used and that it worked very well.  This microscope replaced that stolen from our Kadugli office by looters last June and was part-funded by a grant from the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum.  The outreach itself was supported by a grant from two European charities, Dark and Light, and Light for the World.  Many thanks to all our donors.

An old woman waiting to see a doctor fell a sleep due to fatigue.

A Special Opportunity

The forthcoming retirement of Together for Sudan's founding Director offers an opportunity for a qualified volunteer to take over the lead in our work to help Sudanese women and children.

Candidates should be flexible , patient, and courageous as well as able to engage sensitively with people in Sudan and South Sudan. They may be male or female and should have some experience of fund-raising, advocacy and liaison with donors.

They must be willing to visit Sudan and South Sudan at least twice a year (expenses will be paid). Working closely with TFS Trustees the new Director will promote, develop and administer a growing charity dedicated to the education and medical needs of marginalized women and children, which is supported by Friends Together for Sudan, a US charity.

The Director will be expected to work from his/her home or office for a minimum of 16 hours a week, reporting to TFS Trustees and keeping in close contact by email with TFS colleagues in Khartoum and Juba, managing as well as monitoring their work.

The Director will have considerable autonomy. (S)he should therefore have a good track record as a self-starter and preferably with some knowledge of Sudan and South Sudan. Willingness to adopt and take forward the ethos of the charity's founders will be key.

A more detailed description of the position can be downloaded here.

Interviews are expected to be held in central London during July 2012.


Applicants should send their details by June 20th to:

Malcolm Grundy (TfS Trustee),
4 Portal Road, 
York YO26 6BQ.   


 +44(0)1904787387        malcolm@togetherforsudan.org