Posted by Aaron King, Director and Yanna Ogilvie, Senior Regional Director
Phi Theta Kappa Members Walk for Sudan
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We all know that Phi Theta Kappa members
are great, and we count on them to run some of our best Book Drives. We
were recently touched by a story of a group that is not only running a Better World
Books book drive, but also reaching out to try to help coordinate something
amazing.
Many of us have heard the plight of the 27,000 “lost
boys” of Sudan, their perilous 1,000 mile walk left more than half
dead, and the rest came home to a country devastated by war, bare of essentials
like clean water and schools. Matt Hoffman, a Phi Theta Kappa
member at Illinois Central College, was touched
by these horrific stories and moved to immediate action. Matt reflects,
“A good friend of mine, Sean Fahey from Endless Eye
informed me that his 501C3 had committed to raising funds to shoot a
documentary film to raise awareness about the situation in Southern Sudan.”
Sean’s organization has been
working with Justin Machien Luoi (www.pacodes.org),
a Lost Boy, to build a library, a school, and provide clean water for Panyijiar County,
Southern Sudan. Matt wanted to know how
Upsilon Mu, Illinois
Central College's
Phi Theta Kappa chapter, could get involved. They talked for a
few hours that night and decided to design a "walk event"
in Peoria, Illinois. That is how Walk Sudan was born.
Walk Sudan
is a project intended to raise awareness and funds to build a library in Panyijiar County,
Southern Sudan, a region that has been
devastated by 20 years of civil war and ethnic conflict.
Matt is reaching out to Phi Theta Kappa members to help with
this great cause, “I’ve been fortunate to witness the generosity,
passion, and perseverance exhibited by Phi Theta Kappans and I know that, with
a little effort, we can help rebuild Southern Sudan
and become part of something bigger than ourselves!”
In addition to helping coordinate the walk, Matt and his
chapter are going to run their campus Better World Books
book drive as usual; only this time, they are going to take the funding they
earn from this book drive and graciously give it to the Sudan Project!
Better World Books and Books for
Africa have begun working on a
partnership with Walk Sudan
to help pay for the shipping of books to Sudan. Pat Plonski, Director Books
for Africa, comments "The need for
books in Sudan
is enormous because of the difficulty involved in shipping to that
country. The roads are very bad, and going to Southern Sudan represents a
shipment almost to the very heart of Africa,
which greatly increases the costs and logistical hurdles involved. For these
reasons, we really appreciate the opportunity to work with partners like these
who are willing to go the extra mile and get these books where they are so
desperately needed."
Better World Books will be using
money from the newly created BWB
fund in addition to money generated by Walk Sudan to help cover the cost of shipping. If you are
interested in helping Walk Sudan
reach their goal of building and stocking a library in Southern
Sudan please contact Matt
Hoffman (mhoffman23@mchsi.com).
Links to more information:
http://revver.com/video/698354/walk-sudan/ - our
video (produced by Endless Eye)
http://pacodes.org/
www.endlesseye.org
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1177134747 - our
Facebook
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/12/10/news/state/144197.txt - some
press re: Justin's efforts