Walk Sudan

$10,184,799.20

63,271,794

Getting Books to (Walk) Sudan

Posted by Yanna on 12.11.2008 at 12:45 pm

[To see previous efforts with Walk Sudan and getting books to Africa, you can look here, here and here and if you feel like reading a newspaper version, look here].

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, an alumni Phi Theta Kappa member from 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 501(c)3 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, 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 WalkSUDAN was born.

WalkSUDAN is a project intended to raise awareness and funds to Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, africa, books for africa, endless eye, Illinois, pacodes, peoria, sudan, walk sudan

Walk Sudan Update

Posted by Yanna on 08.28.2008 at 12:17 pm

In the past few weeks there have been some new developments with the Walk Sudan initiative to send a sea container to Southern Sudan using the Better World Books Fund.
We had two major pickups in late July yielding over 15,000 books! Since that time and due to the positive media coverage Walk Sudan has been able to collect another 2000 books!

Pick up at Newberry Library, Chicago, with Better World Books and Endless Eye

In other news an official letter was sent out to Pacodes (Walk Sudan’s partner) with details of Better World Books participation in the project. The highlights include that Better World Books has committed to front the money for the shipment of all the books to Southern Sudan. This will allow us to begin coordinating the spring shipment with Books for Africa. We look forward to working with Walk Sudan, Endless Ey e and PACODES to fill the library in Panyijiar, Southern Sudan.

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, Impact, Impact, Our Partners, walk sudan

Better World Books and Peoria = Library in Sudan

Posted by admin on 07.29.2008 at 9:51 am

Taken from PJStar.com, apparently we’re doing something good again. You know that we’re really doing the right thing when the so-called evangelist can’t even keep up with all of them!

From PJStar.com -

Many college students have a hard time committing to weekend plans, let alone a pledge to rebuild a community in Sudan.

But recent Illinois Central College graduate Matt Hoffman vowed to make a difference – one book at a time – in the lives of the “Lost Boys.”

Over the past two decades, more than 27,000 boys have escaped villages in southern Sudan during a civil war that has claimed millions of lives. While their parents and sisters were being slaughtered, the young boys banded together for the 1,000-mile walk to refuge.

Though the violence mostly has subsided, the survivors have had little incentive to return to their war-torn villages. But Hoffman and other members of ICC’s honor society, Phi Theta Kappa, want to give the Lost Boys a reason to go home.

The fraternity recently partnered with Chicago media company Endless Eye Productions and national bookseller Better World Books to conceive a plan to build and stock a library in Sudan’s Punyijiar County. Over the past few months, the effort, called “Walk Sudan,” has collected more than 8,000 books, which volunteers loaded onto a truck Thursday to be shipped to Africa.

“We wanted to start with a library because education is a way to empower them,” said Hoffman, adding that most of the Lost Boys have seen no more than three books in their lives. “We want to give them something to come back to.”

Hoffman, who graduated from ICC in May, sat down with friend Sean Fahey from Endless Eye earlier this year to devise a plan about how to help Fahey’s friend, Justin Machien Luoi, a Lost Boy who was educated in the United States as a refugee.

After just an evening of brainstorming, the two set out to raise awareness and money to rebuild part of Luoi’s country. Nearly 50 members of Phi Theta Kappa began speaking at area schools and churches during the spring semester, asking for monetary donations as well as books. They also sponsored a 3-mile walk from Bradley University to the Peoria riverfront in May to raise awareness about their campaign and to simulate the trek the Lost Boys made to refuge.

While Hoffman has remained involved in the effort, his graduation from ICC and move to Loyola University in Chicago required him to pass on the reins to new Phi Theta Kappa president Thomas Aguilar, who is just as devoted to the cause.

Aguilar was covered in sweat Thursday, as he and other volunteers loaded the hundreds of boxes of books onto a truck. Better World Books also is donating texts and shipping the first batch to Sudan shortly, as construction of the library is scheduled to begin within the next few months. Endless Eye will follow along to capture the effort in a documentary called “A Library for Panyijiar.”

Walk Sudan has promised the library is just the beginning of the effort to rebuild the African community over the next 20 years. A school will follow, Aguilar said, then a water treatment plant. The project has no limit.

“This is our way of showing that Peoria can make a difference for people on the other side of the world,” he said.

2 Comments » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, africa, better world books, Illinois, Impact, Our Partners, peoria, pjstar, press, walk sudan

Posted by admin on 05.30.2008 at 9:45 am

Phi Theta Kappa Members Walk for Sudan

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