Universal Unity in South Sudan!

I haven't blogged for awhile, but I'm on a trip to South Sudan right now so it's a good time to resume. I just finished my second year of med school, survived the boards (I think) and have two weeks before third year starts (the advent of a professional life...sort of). Since I'll be journalling our trip periodically, and we won't have much internet access for the greater part of the trip, I'm going to lump everything together :).

This year's Universal Unity trip to East Africa is very different from previous ones. Last year, we went to Kenya and interviewed Southern Sudanese (SS) refugees living in and around Kakuma camp. It was a very good project for an NGO in its incipient stages--it allowed us to come for brief periods, to manage the program remotely when we were not in country, and to feel satisfied that we were making a difference.

This year, the NGO's leader (and my mom) had the vision of taking UU's involvement with the SS cause a step or two or a million further: she wants to build a clinic in the village of Malek, where many of our SS refugee contacts are from. Enlivened by the Lost Boys' passion for helping their people, she wanted to bring quality health care to people who have no idea what that phrase even means. Naturally, since we've never even been to Sudan, we had to travel their first to do an assessment. That is what our two-week trip now is about.

Because of our desire to do a thorough assessment before investing in what's sure to be a large-scale project, we are partnering with business students who recently graduated from Wharton. Orin, Sushant, John and Grace are a vibrant, intelligent, seasoned bunch who are well-versed in international development, logistics and strategy...all of which we at UU are lacking. It's been great so far, and we are learning a lot from each other.