Q: Why does Mercy Beyond Borders work only in Southern Sudan?

A: The Founder of MBB, Sister Marilyn Lacey, has worked with refugees since 1980. She has seen, in her words, “many miserable places, but none so devastated as Southern Sudan.” She started MBB in order to alleviate the suffering of displaced women and girls, focusing on Sudan because the need was greatest there: Sudan has ¼ of the world’s displaced people. Eventually MBB hopes to expand to other countries as well.

Q: Is it really possible to alleviate such extreme poverty?

A: Note that our mission is to alleviate it, not eradicate it. Yes, of course, concrete interventions can and do ease the suffering of Sudanese women and girls. When MBB provides education, health care, or micro-enterprise support, we are bringing hope as well as help. A Sudanese woman whose husband has been killed in the war, who has lost several children to preventable diseases, who must walk hours each day to fetch water—this is a woman who desires a better life for her surviving children and is greatly encouraged by the presence of MBB. Imagine the doors that open for such a family when a daughter receives scholarship funding!

Q: Isn’t the culture of Southern Sudan heavily patriarchal?

A: Absolutely. The deck is stacked against girls from the moment they are born. The culture considers them to be “lower than cattle,” useful only for doing housework and being given away in marriage for a dowry of cows. This will not change overnight—it may take many generations, but we have to begin. And the first step is the education of girls.

Q: We hear about political instability in Southern Sudan. What’s really going on?

A: The situation is too complex to describe in a paragraph, but in short, Sudan is really like 2 different countries. The North is Arabic, Muslim, nomadic, dry (much like Egypt); the South is Black African, Christian or indigenous religions, cattle-herding or subsistence farming, with abundant water and oil. Traditional skirmishes between North and South over water and slavery and land have in the past few decades escalated (due to the prevalence of advanced weapons and global warming and the huge profits gleaned from oil) into full-blown war. Due to the vastness and difficulty of the terrain, neither North and South could win the war on the ground, so they signed a Peace Agreement in 2005. The war did not really stop, it merely moved westward into Darfur.

Q: Will Sudan split into two separate countries?

A: We can answer that in 2011, after the referendum on independence. Most southerners say they want independence. Most observers doubt that the North will let the south secede (since the South has the water, arable land, and oil that the North needs). Many people believe that the North is already sowing instability by supplying arms and equipment to various tribes in the South, encouraging them to fight one another rather than unite against the North. During 2009, many more Sudanese were killed by fighting in the South than in Darfur.

Q: Does Mercy Beyond Borders use volunteers in Southern Sudan?

A: At this point we cannot guarantee a safe working environment, so we are not encouraging volunteers to work with us in Sudan. We hope that violence will subside and we can invite volunteers to assist us.

Q: What are the big challenges facing Mercy Beyond Borders in Sudan?

A: Everything is a challenge is Sudan! There is almost no infrastructure: no paved roads, no cell phone service, no banking system, no postal delivery, no electric grid… Those systems that do exist—army or police, for example—are plagued by bribery. Public institutions such as schools are rudimentary, often lacking buildings or trained teachers. If you want to buy fresh fruit or mail a letter, drive several hours to the border and do it in Kenya!

Q: What kinds of projects seem to be most successful in Southern Sudan?

A: Mercy Beyond Borders is still a young organization, so it is a bit early to judge what works best on the ground in Sudan. At this point we believe that the education of girls will be the single most effective intervention that MBB can provide. To that end we are funding girls’ schools and girls’ scholarships. At the same time, we are funding women’s micro-enterprise (not easy where there are no banks!) and health promotion projects, in response to requests from the displaced women themselves.

Q: What does it cost to educate a girl in Sudan?

A: $100 will keep a girl in elementary school for a year. $400 pays for a year of high school. Very few girls make it past 12th grade, but for those capable of going on to college for nursing or teacher training, MBB will provide annual scholarships of $1,000 - $2,000, depending on the school and its location.

Q: Sister Marilyn, what are your dreams for Mercy Beyond Borders?

A: My dream is to make it possible for displaced women and girls in Southern Sudan to dream their own dreams and develop their talents and build better lives for their own children. I believe that Mercy Beyond Borders can play an important role in opening up such a future for them. MBB will soon be the premier provider of scholarships for girls throughout all of Southern Sudan. MBB will provide hope to displaced women by improving their basic healthcare and funding their micro-enterprise efforts.

Q: How will Mercy Beyond Borders achieve this?

A: MBB cannot do anything alone. We rely on the generosity of many wonderful people throughout the U.S.—individuals just like yourself.

• If you can give $50 per year, you’ve provided a goat to improve a family’s nutrition.
• If you can give $100 per year, you are totally changing the life of a young girl by gifting her with an education (delaying early marriage, too!).
• If you can give $250 per year, you are helping a displaced woman immensely by funding her small business.
• If you can give $1,000 per year, you are a champion preparing the first generation of women teachers and nurses for Sudan.

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