Health Center for Old Fangak - Update

It took our team of dedicated volunteers over a year of planning, fundraising, and loving attention to detail to complete the first phase of the Health Center Project. Building materials and tools arrived in the village by barge this April. It was a huge endeavor. No one in Old Fangak previously owned a hammer, let alone a saw or a drill. All supplies were purchased in Kenya and transported by truck to Sudan, then by barge to the village. Brett Burroughs spent several weeks purchasing equipment last fall. Justin Hickel and Patrick Schoenecker spent four months overseeing the loading and delivery of the barge, a miraculous feat in light of renewed conflict spreading in Southern Sudan.

No one in Old Fangak could recall a boat this big landing on their shore in living memory, not even the captain of the barge who has moved boats up that branch of the Nile for two decades. Justin and Patrick met the barge on the edge of the village, anticipating three long days of hard work unloading the supplies by hand in relentless one-hundred plus degree heat. No one could have guessed the miracle that happend next. Smiling men, women, and children formed a bucket brigade, alongside the ASMP volunteers and the barge was emptied in less than six hours. (See video) A large bull was sacrificed in honor of the event, and villagers invited the Alaskans to a rare celebratory feast.

Currently, all building materials are safely stored in connex buildings, half the foundation is complete, and half the double helical pilings have been manufactured onsite and drilled. Volunteers will begin returning to Old Fangak in October. Health Center construction should be complete by December. More sand and gravel are needed, as well as floor decking that must be purchased in Kenya, an additional $10,000 cost not previously accounted for.

The health center as pictured above will replace the building currently being used. Built by the British during colonial times, the current building used as a health center is falling apart and in 2010 will be re-claimed by the South Sudanese government. In addition to the new health center, the team will dig four new water wells. One well will be drilled for the clinic and three for the village. We will also help build a latrine system. Local residents will be taught how to use the drilling equipment so that they can continue to dig new water wells.

Old Fangak is not on the road system, so all construction supplies and equipment had to be trucked, flown and then barged to the village.