In 2011, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan after a 25 year civil war. Shortly after the celebration of liberation, the ruling political party divided and began infighting. By 2013, the political fighting devolved into street violence in the capital city and in many major cities across South Sudan and another civil war broke out leaving thousands fleeing for their lives. In 2017, government and world officials declared a famine throughout South Sudan as millions of people, mostly children, were starving to death.
By January 2018, 3.7 million people had fled their homes and country to escape the violence, economic woes, political conflict, drought and dire food shortages. An additional, 1.9 million people are internally displaced within South Sudan with no means of escape. Officially, the famine was declared over in February 2018; however, an estimated 7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, up over 40% by June 2018. Sixty percent of the South Sudanese refugees are children!
With the help of Mike Lynch, an Operation Compassion partner from Minnesota, 580,000 nutritional meals were procured for Operation Compassion. These meals are designed with all the necessary vitamins and minerals to reverse the pattern of starvation and sustain life.
On the back end of this gift, stands Troy Duggan and Operation Outreach, another partner of Operation Compassion. Troy and his wife, Dawn, have been delivering food to 45 states and 23 countries since 1995, having traveled to Africa more than 15 times in the past 19 years helping build hospitals, villages and supplying food and medical relief. Troy is shipping these meals to South Sudan where he is currently working to help these families and children that are starving.
The best part of this arrangement is the fact that Troy has a South Sudanese government inspector come to the warehouse in Ohio to inspect the food and seal the container. The container is not opened until it arrives at its destination in South Sudan. Troy has worked hard to overcome the major obstacles of international shipping: warring gangs, corruption at the border and governmental red tape. These meals will be protected and will arrive safely.
Operation Compassion is proud to call Mike and Troy partners and work together for the good of families and children that are caught in extreme poverty. You can join us in the war against hunger by becoming a financial partner with Operation Compassion.
Online Donations: www.operationcompassion.org; call donations to: 423.728.3932; or mail donations to: Operation Compassion, 114 Stuart Road, NE PMB 370, Cleveland, TN 37312.