Two years ago, two South Burlington residents set out to secure medical for a hospital in Akol Aguek's home town, Bor County, South Sudan. The Bor County Hospital serves roughly 200,000 people and has about 400 beds, but seriously lacks the most basic supplies.
Akol Aguek and Vikki Gauvin made a commitment to do something about that, but it wasn't easy. After numerous roadblocks, and following many leads, they connected with Elizabeth McLellan, Founder and President of Partners for World Health (PWH), a non-profit based in Portland, Maine that collects and recycles medical supplies that healthcare facilities in the U.S. are required to discard, then ships them to countries in need. Elizabeth was in Burlington last September filming a segment of CNN's Great Big Story featuring her organization and the UVM Medical Center. She also met with Akol and Vikki, and promised them a shipping container full of medical supplies—they would just need to raise the $30,000 to cover trucking, shipping, customs/tariffs, and the container, to ship them. The supplies, worth over $200,000, would contain hospital beds, wheelchairs, medical equipment, linens, staff uniforms, mobility units for individuals with Polio—and more. They knew making this happen would save lives and have an immense impact to this hospital in critical need. It wasn't a matter of if they could raise the funds, but when they could do it. Their next hurdle was to make it happen before the rainy season prevented road passage in South Sudan.
Aguek, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, worked in his volunteer role as President of the Bor County Development Association (BORCDA) to fundraise within the South Sudanese population across the country. Between those, and Vermont donors, a $5000 contribution from PWH, and BORCDA covering the difference, the funds were secured. BORCDA also coordinated efforts, obtained paperwork and much more to make it happen. On February 21, (almost two years after the initial effort started) ten South Sudanese individuals, including Thiei Machar of South Burlington, traveled to Portland to load the shipping container worth $261,000 to be shipped to South Sudan. This was featured on Maine Channel 13 news. The ship is expected to arrive in April.
BORCDA is now partnering with PWH on a medical mission to South Sudan in the coming year to provide education. Their next goal - obtain and purchase a secondary-market X-Ray machine for the Bor County Hospital. To learn more about this initiative and how you can get involved, please join Akol and Elizabeth McLellan at an informal fund-raising dinner on Monday, April 1 at 6:30 p.m. at 46 Scarff Avenue, Burlington. Contact Cindy Lee for more information.
Partners for World Health: https://www.partnersforworldhealth.org/
Great Big Story: https://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/using-left-over-medical-supplies-to-save-lives
Bor County Development Association: http://www.borcounty.org/#sthash.bvwrKIeY.dpbs
Maine Channel 13: https://wgme.com/news/local/portland-group-making-a-difference-for-sudanese-population
Oct 26, 2024, 5 to 7:30 PM
Capital City Concerts Bach Oct. 26-27Oct 27, 2024, 4 to 6 PM
Buddhist Class on Joy and ConfidenceOct 28, 2024, 6 to 8 PM