wfn.org | ADRA'S South Sudan Programs Receive Praise

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

April 3, 1999
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

ADRA'S South Sudan Programs Receive Praise

Nairobi, Kenya - When two freelance German 
journalists were recently sponsored by another 
non-governmental organisation (NGO) to investigate 
humanitarian activities in South Sudan, they 
discovered that their own government was involved 
in sponsoring a successful food  project in Bahr 
El Ghazal in association with the Adventist 
Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).

"ADRA is very well organised and doing a fantastic 
job. We have never seen such compassion and 
professionalism from an NGO, especially under such 
difficult circumstances," said photojournalist 
Ursula Meissner following her frontline 
inspection. Meissner was formerly employed by 
German TV station ZDF. "We have appreciated ADRA's 
help very much," added journalist Carola 
Reissland.

"This was the journalists' first time visiting an 
ADRA project, although they had visited refugee 
camps from Rwanda to Thailand," says James 
Astleford, ADRA South Sudan director. "They took a 
lot of photos and were both very enthusiastic 
about our work." Astleford and his team members 
were instrumental in obtaining the necessary visas 
for the journalists' entry into a war zone, and in 
arranging for them to fly from Nairobi into South 
Sudan on a United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan 
(UN/OLS) plane.

"In this part of Africa, ADRA has surmounted a 
multitude of obstacles," reports Astleford. 
Project manager, Robin Willison, is still working 
with the United Nations regarding security for the 
agency's personnel following the recent attack on 
its compound in Chukudum by warring factions.

"We very much appreciate these positive and well-
earned comments about efforts being made by our 
staff in one of the most difficult regions where 
ADRA is working," said John Arthur, the 
organisation's regional director for Europe and 
the Middle East.

Most recently, ADRA has been operating a US$3 
million United States Agency for International 
Development (USAID)-funded child survival and 
veterinary health care project. A further 
US$238,000 provided by the Dutch government is 
enabling ADRA's team to renovate 38 water pumps, 
which have fallen into a state of disrepair. In 
Western Equatoria, large grants from Denmark and 
Sweden are enhancing educational opportunities for 
these desperately poor people.

In partnership with other NGOs along with United 
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World 
Food Programme (WFP), ADRA distributed 98 tons of 
food biscuits and 20.58 tons of the milk powder to 
an estimated population of 143,000 moderately and 
severely malnourished people in the Bahr el Ghazal 
and eastern Equatorial regions of south Sudan 
since early July 1998.  [99/09/06]