Story

I set up this project to aid people in South Sudan who are being affected by the civil war. I lived in the small rural town of Yambio in 2011 and since then - and despite this war that started in 2013 - life has been relatively unaffected there. People have been going to work and school if they are lucky enough to have the opportunity to do either one. But since last Friday July 31st 2015, life has dramatically changed in Yambio. Rebel militia attacked the town and fighting ensued with the local young men. People ran for their lives out of town and into the surrounding bush which is densely forested. I have been able to contact one close friend, Lina Abangite, who returned with her 6 children to Yambio when things became quiet a week later, tired and very hungry. She returned to find her home ransacked, looted by thieves; nothing remained. Her salary has not been paid for months (Lina works with a support group for people living with HIV/AIDS) and there is no help coming from the government or anywhere else. Her neighbours are slowly returning home, fearing every step. Their only hope of safety is to cross into Uganda but the distance to the border is great and the route is fraught with danger. The small children may not survive the journey on foot. Once there, the life of a homeless refugee is less than appealing; she wrote to me: “Louisa, this war in South Sudan will never stop, what do I do people are dying every day and in every corner” This emotional plea of desperation convinced me that although the life of a foreigner, an outsider, away from family and the land of your birth, your parents and your heritage is harsh and cruel; to live in a place where there is peace with the knowledge that your children can and will breathe, must be the only choice in this most unjust of worlds for this beautiful young soul. What can I do for Lina and her children? What can I do for her neighbours? What about those around Lina who cannot travel? There are those even worse off, too sick to run. My 2 friends and I have decided to run the next Dublin half marathon (Sept 19th) and the Dublin marathon (Oct 26th) to raise money for the community of Yambio in South Sudan. Please please please help by donating anything at all, however small, to this life-saving cause. Every penny raised goes to: 1. Aiding the transfer of victims of the war in South Sudan to Uganda or neighbouring African country, if they so wish 2. Once safe, aiding their initial settling into their new home country for a period of 1 year 3. If they wish to stay in South Sudan, aiding them with initial costs of setting themselves up again in their home after damage from the war As I have ties with Yambio which is in the south western corner of South Sudan, we aim to start with this community. I have named the project in honour of my good friend Lina and my friends and I are distributing and collecting funds in person using donation cards filled in line by line. Thus the name was born: A Line for Lina We are on Twitter #alineforlina Email: alineforlina@gmail.com For lodgement into our bank account: Account number 10470517 - Ulster Bank Republic of Ireland Sort code 986215 Please donate anything you can, anything at all. Note: All donations and all transactions are recorded. Complete transparency is paramount to me - please email me at anytime to get a copy of our balance and action sheet which I update daily on Excel. THANK YOU SO MUCH TAMBUAHE (Thank you in Azande, the local language of the Azande tribe in Yambio) With huge gratitude, Louise Halpenny PS: This picture is of Lina and I in Yambio in 2011.