Our Aid to South Sudan
Surf School Sri Lanka and Surf School Lanzarote have a long standing commitment to helping the country of South Sudan.
This commitment began with Surf School Lanzarote during the Darfur crisis before S Sudan was created and then the brave choice was made in 2005 to commit the sum of 6,000 € in aid to Sudan each year. We have not faltered although it’s been super tough at times and in 2011 we watched the birth of South Sudan and the stunning fact that at the birth of their nation they instantly became one of the poorest. Little has changed.
Since conflict broke out again in December 2013, 1.66 million people have fled their homes because of fighting.
Many set up camp under the U.N.’s protection, dependent on aid from relief agencies. Their lives and prospects are limited. Another 640,000 South Sudanese are refugees in neighbouring countries.
Thousands of farming families missed the planting season or lost their livestock and now have no crops or income to hold them over until the next harvest. Hunger, malnutrition, and disease threaten their children’s lives. Schools are occupied by armed forces and displaced families, not students.
Humanitarian agencies responding to the crisis say 6.4 million people need humanitarian assistance and 3.9 million are facing severe food shortages. At least 250,000 children are severely malnourished.
We know that we are so ridiculously lucky and blessed to have the lives we have, where the next trip abroad, the next wave, the next smile from our surfing buddy may be our most important concern.
What a harsh world of contrast however when we all know there is another reality, where basic survival is the main concern and this fact is faced daily and often hourly.
The projects are run by Christian Aid and the main focus at the moment is the desperate situation that has arisen since the renewal of civil war.
At the time of writing this 2017 we know that by Christmas we will have given 60,000 € to aid in South Sudan and yes its logical coming to our schools only strengthens our ability to help. But with the opening of Surf School Sri Lanka we may well find we are able to increase this level of aid. We really hope so.
