Lainya county health department in Central Equatoria state and African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) have kicked off a ten-day free operation for people who suffer from hernia and appendicitis.

Dr Garang Deng said they operated on 22 people on Monday, with ongoing consultations with 120 others, adding that the number of people keeps increasing. He attributed the cause of hernia cases to hard work.

“The number of people is increasing and until now we are seeing a number of them coming. Most people are farmers here, this hernia cases are caused because most people are farmers, they are working hard,” Dr Garang told TCT by phone on Tuesday.

Mechanical causes of hiatus hernia include improper lifting of heavy weights, hardcoughingbouts, sharp blows to the abdomen, and incorrect posture.

Taban Jackson, one of the patients who was operated on, expressed joy after a successful appendix operation, a condition which he said had been keeping him from movement and work.

“It was so painful to me, but I finally accepted to come to bear the two days of pain compared to the long period of time I was enduring,” said Jackson, who came from Kenyi payam.

He called on the people of South Sudan having such cases to go for operation immediately to avoid further health complications.

County clinical officer Scopas Guya Wayiwayi hailed AMREF for coming to the rescue of South Sudanese people, including the poor, with free and accessible health services.

“This operation is free of charge to save our vulnerable communities who have no money,” he said.

According to Scopas, many people from other counties like Morobo, Yei and Juba city are turning up in huge numbers for the free and mobile service.

He lamented that the health centre is having inadequate equipments, drugs and accommodation for the workers to enable them offer improved services to the citizens.

Most of the cases been operated are hernia, said Philip Chandiga, the coordinator for AMREF health surgical outlet.

“I realized since last year when we started coming here, ninety percent of the cases that have been operated were hernia cases,” Mr Chandiga told TCT on telephone.

He estimated that they will operate more than one hundred patients within the ten day period. He added that this was the third time they were offering free medical services to the people of Lainya.

AMREF is currently supporting about six state hospitals - Lainya, Kajokeji, Juba teaching hospital in Central Equatoria state, and Bor, Wau and Kwajok state hospitals.

He said AMREF aims at extending health services to poor people.

“This is a free surgical part that is organized for the rural poor who cannot afford to go to the town. There is no limit, whether you are in Lainya, Morobo, Kajokeji, Juba, you are welcome,” he added.

The Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan’s diocese of Wau has developed a course titled “Reconcile: Moving Forward in Peace”, inviting people to be peace-builders this Lenten season.

This initiative from the church comes amidst the conflict in South Sudan which has gravely affected all communities since the country’s independence from Sudan in 2011.

Written by the staff of the Wau diocese of the Episcopal Church of the South Sudan and Sudan, a member church of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the course engages the community in discussion and prayer.

The content gives an African outlook on Christianity and focuses on issues relating to peace. The course tries to stimulate participation, discovery and tackles faith-related issues. Themes include tribalism, causes of friction, domestic violence and the understanding of peace. The course can be obtained for free at the Wau diocese website and is scheduled over six sessions.

“Terrible things have happened in South Sudan, things that must end for us to know peace. But peace will not come without reconciliation,” said Bishop Moses Deng-Bol of Wau Diocese. “This course aims to show reconciliation in the Bible as it teaches,” he added.

“We hope that there will be a joyful and peaceful Easter celebration this year. This is a special time for us. Please remember us and all the challenges facing South Sudan in your prayers, especially the peace mobilizers who are working so hard to bring reconciliation to every part of South Sudan,” said Deng-Bol.

“The WCC has received with appreciation the news about the course on reconciliation developed by the dioceses of Wau. It is a welcome contribution to the implementation of the invitation from the WCC 10th Assembly inviting all churches to join the pilgrimage of justice and peace,” said Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, the WCC associate general secretary for Public Witness and Diakonia.

“This is a clear example of the ministry of the church in the context of suffering. We become the channel of healing from Jesus Christ to suffering communities.”

“May God bless and expand such healing ministries to all the communities where the people of God are suffering as a result of internal and external conflicts,” added Phiri.

(WCC)

The US Agency for International Development (USAID), international media development organization Internews and Zain Telecommunications Company last week launched a partnership with a local media organisation to expand coverage of radio in South Sudan.

The partnership between Eye Media and the three partners will enable the installation of Repeater equipment for Eye Radio. This will see the reach of independent radio expand to rural communities of South Sudan. It will enable expansion of Eye Radio broadcasts from Juba to other parts of South Sudan, beginning with Torit, which will reach approximately 100,000 listeners in Eastern Equatoria State.

“Radio is the primary source of information for most people in South Sudan, yet access to radio is challenging in many areas, particularly rural communities. That has been exacerbated by the conflict that erupted in December 2013, displacing more than 2million people from their homes,” said the USAID istream

The partners announced that installation of Radio repeater equipment will soon take place in Wau, Rumbek, Kwajok, Aweil, Bor and Yambio, to reach as many as 750,000 listeners, in addition to Eye Radio’s existing audience in Central Equatoria State.

In the partnership, Internews will also distribute approximately 50,000 solar-powered, hand-crank radios to South Sudanese communities that lack access to radio, building on USAID’s legacy of helping South Sudan’s citizens gain access to information.

“With USAID’S support, Internews has helped to provide lifesaving and life-enhancing information to people displaced by conflict in Lakes State, the protection of civilian sites at United Nations compound in Juba and other areas,” said the US Charge d’Affairs ambassador Charles Twinning.

“Access to information is a necessary component of citizen’s participation in democracy. With the collaboration of partners such as Zain, USAID and Internews, we are working to help strengthen free and independent media in South Sudan to become self-sustaining,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of Eye Media Stephen Omiri said the partnership with Zain and USAID will boost the Eye Media coverage to the people of South Sudan. He said with the installation of the repeater equipment, the people of South Sudan will be able to receive Eye Radio signals across the country.

“Our role is to give a voice to the voiceless and Eye Radio has come a long way since 2003, then it was called Sudan Radio Service, which was covering the entire country until now,” said Omiri.

Robert West, the Chief Commercial Officer of Zain Telecommunication, who has been in South Sudan before independence till now, expressed his gratitude in watching the rapid development and changes that have emerged in the country.

“We know communication and information is power- either through receiving or sending information - it amounts to benefit people who cannot have access to such information, so we remain committed to partnerships with Eye Media,” he said.

The occasion was also graced by a representative from the ministry of Information, Justine Ayiir, and the Eastern Equatoria state minister for Information, Mark Akio. The event took place in the Eye Media compound.

A committee formed by the governor of Central Equatoria state Clement Wani Konga has assessed the state of development in Tore Payam of Yei River County in order to improve the quality of services rendered to citizens.

The state director general in the ministry of Physical Infrastructure John Bullen Lako said they assessed many sectors in the payam including education, health, water, roads and bridges.

He said the assessment seeks to enable the state government to plan for service delivery to the people of Tore. Mr. Bullen said the ministry will send surveyors and engineers to the payam to implement the demarcation master plan.

He said that the delegation tried to collect information on as many problems as possible and to forward the report back to the governor. Many local residents decried the poor state of educational facilities in the payam.

“For sure these problems can be addressed,” Bullen said. “The school environment in Tore is not good, no classes, no shelter and a lot of things.”

Tore payam, one of the five payams of Yei River County including the municipality, is located 48 miles North West of Yei town, bordering Western Equatoria state and Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the biggest payam in the county but due to its location, services hardly reach the citizens.

Azaria Khemis Noah, the payam director lamented that poor school structures compel pupils and students to attend classes for half a day during the rainy season.

“There is no shelter. When it comes to rainy season, they are unable to complete their lessons. And when it comes to the dry season it is open and the sun is very hot, so they are unable to go on,” he said during a meeting with the state delegation.

He said the school officials and pupils struggle to pass though there is a lack of materials and teachers. Local education officials said the payam has eleven primary schools and one secondary.

A resident Fr Lazarus Mondua told state delegates to report their assessment to the government so that the government can improve the quality of education in the payam.

“If someone comes to Tore and talks about education, it is really shameful. You will find many children are under trees. Which is a big problem,” he said.

Civil society and community based organizations earlier on reported that boreholes constructed by state funds were put in places with low populations, with others being unfunctional.

The residents complained that up to June, the roads would be blocked and farmers would have no way of transporting their produce to markets.

President Salva Kiir is scheduled to attend a three-day community-organised peace conference in Lakes state. The conference will be bring together youth, women, chiefs, religious leaders, law enforcement agents, politicians, civil society and non-governmental international organizations.

Lakes state has witnessed continuous hostilities and revenge killings among the communities residing in the state for the last two months. The conference is expected to discuss the causes of the killings and try to find a permanent solution to them.

A local non-governmental organization has applauded the move by the president to attend the peace conference in person as president of the country.

Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of CEPO says should listen to the views of the citizens of the state and take immediately the required action.

The loss of lives and properties among citizens of Lakes State is abnormal and that should not be allowed to continue. The most vulnerable groups who always pay the price of war are the youth, women and children, estimated at the rate of 2-5 persons per week, and 5-10 persons per month since the beginning of this year,” he said.

CEPO has alleged that some of the guns used to kill people are supplied by some leaders in the government. It adds that the same leaders are polarising neighbouring communities for their personal political gains.

CEPO strongly recommends that the best solutions for the violent conflict in Lakes state should be centered on making rule of law, justice and accountability to prevail and observation of human rights.

Further, it says that politicians should be restrained from politicizing the communities’ disagreements for their own gain.

Meanwhile, the organization has welcomed the decision by the Council of Ministers to postpone the elections that were scheduled to take place in June of this year.

The South Sudan Council of Ministers resolved at its regular meeting last week to postpone the General Elections till peace is achieved.

At the same time, the council of minister resolved to extend the lifespan of the elected positions and agreed for a constitutional amendment to legalise the decision. The council of ministers resolved that it will table the required constitutional amendments before the national parliament next week.

The decision comes after pressure from various players, who had asked the government to postpone the elections until peace prevails in the country. The pressure came from civil society, political parties and religious leaders, notably the Catholic Church which last week said the timing of the elections would not be right for the country.

Medical charity group Medicines San Frontieres (MSF) says the cost of importing vaccines into the country is too high, which is impacting on the provision of health services.

Speaking to the media, Erline Larsson, the MSF vaccination focal point in Juba, says they are working hard to treat and provide the necessary medicines to communities in need, but large amounts of money are being spent on bringing vaccines into the country.

“I think it is important to realize that vaccine here in South Sudan is imported by the UNICEF on behalf of the government. Of course vaccine prices have a lot, because the more we pay for vaccines the little less we will have for operational costs,” said Larsson.

Larsson said the country needs to strengthen the health systems and improve the transport capacity to reduce the cost of vaccines.

“…we need to strengthen the health systems, we need to improve the health facilities, we need to improve the transport capacity and if we don’t do that the cost of vaccines will be very high..,” said Larsson.  

South Sudan has a challenge in providing vaccination especially in areas of conflict where many children haven’t been vaccinated.

Meanwhile, a group of women have come together to provide assistance to people displaced by inter-communal clashes in Kworijik village in Northern Bari Payam, Central Equatoria state.

The women from St. Teresa Catholic Church in Kator and female staff of Kapuki Primary School in Juba handed over 50 bags of maize flour and 10 jerry-cans of cooking oil, equivalent to 8,000 pounds, to communities seeking safety at Juba One Primary School.

They also handed over 1,000 pounds cash for buying clean drinking water that is supplied by commercial tankers in the town.

Mirella Augustino Modi, who led the delegation, told TCT that they decided as women to help their sisters who are in need in the camp.

“We came to visit our sisters today so that we can comfort them and give them little assistance. I brought 50 bags of flour, 10 jerry cans of cooking oil, and five bags of beans and three cartoons of soap and one thousand pounds for water. I collected this money from my office. From my school known as Kapuki, I brought five thousand pounds to help the children here,” she said.  

More than four hundred people were displaced by inter-communal clashes in Kowrijik village three weeks ago, and remain camped at Juba One Primary School.