Sarah Warnez gave us a presentation on Jan. 13th about South Sudanese Leadership and Community Development (SSLCD) and her involvement.
Ms. Warnez is a 2011 graduate of GP North and is a Nurse Practitioner in Ann Arbor. As part of her graduate work, she performed a study on men’s health in a Uganda refugee camp. While there, she met the President of the SSLCD, which was formed in Grand Rapids in 2004.
Its mission is to promote the health and well-being of South Sudanese villagers through grass roots leadership development and community building in the Mungula and Olua refugee camps in Northern Uganda. Over 60% of the over 2 million refugees are from South Sudan.
The SSLCD provides a stipend to three team members who live in the refugee camps with a mission to improve the lives of the refugees. Through the team leaders, the non-profit has provided supplies for agricultural and livestock cooperatives, supplies and education for emergency birth preparedness, has encouraged trauma healing meetings, and provided solar power to charge phones and tablets for learning. They also have formed men’s action groups to keep the men active as a way to keep them from drinking.
Their 3 pillars for 2021 include Women’s Empowerment, Peace Building, and Agriculture Development. The women, who do most of the manual labor, are being provided with leadership training. For agricultural development, the hope is to provide a grain mill so the refugees can grind their own grain and possibly earn money doing it for others.
To learn more, please visit www.hopeforsudan.com