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JumpStart Sudan
worked with Robert Aura Otengo, the architect who designed
the clinic. Robert oversaw the construction of the
primary health care unit which the leaders of Akon decided
to name after Senator Samuel Brownback, a friend of the southern
Sudanese.
Of utilizing local labor in Akon for the clinic construction,
Robert writes: "The young people are in the bottom of my
heart. These are the people who have had no opportunity to go
to school due to the war. I will be very much privileged to
impart skills on the young people."
The people of Akon made many bricks for the clinic and some helped
with the construction of the building under the supervision of
Otengo and the contractor.
The new primary health care unit will include the proper
facilities for storage of medicines and basic lab equipment so
the doctor(s) can make diagnoses on more than just symptoms--the
method which has been relied on for years. Other health
professionals have indicated they will return to Akon when there
is a place to work. The clinic will also provide a base for
other relief agencies providing immunizations, etc. The
open-air
education space will be available for a variety of types of
education, teacher and health care worker training, general
health and hygiene training, Bible training, adult literacy,
etc. depending on what programs the community leaders deem most
valuable to Akon at the time.
JumpStart
Sudan
plans to maintain a small desk in the PHCU with Internet
capability so that a JSS representative there in Akon and the
JSS Board in the U.S. will be able to communicate with each
other in a direct and timely fashion regarding the community's
needs. |
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