(Previously published at http://pacodes.blogspot.com/)
Laura Ingalls, Staff Writer
He
was one of the many thousands of Lost Boys forced to trek on foot
across his homeland of Sudan through Ethiopia amidst Sudan’s civil war, a
civil war that lasted 21 brutal years. He was brought to the United
States by Lutheran World Relief, then to Fargo, N.D. where he attended
Fargo South High School and eventually came to Concordia College. While
at Concordia, he came up with an idea.
Panyijiar Community
Development Services, referred to more commonly as PACODES, was borne
out of his idea. His name is Machien “Justin” Luoi, now a graduate from
Concordia. He, along with help from a few faculty members, created an
organization designated to build a library in Panyijiar, Sudan. Luoi
enlisted the help of professors Roy Hammerling, Mike Bath, Ron Twedt,
and Joan Kopperud, with each member serving a specific function, from
financial adviser to head of the book drives.
PACODES is a
non-profit organization that aims to bring education to Panyijiar
through the establishment of a library, set to begin building
construction in November. Panyijiar, located in Southern Sudan, has a
population of 120,000, with only one percent literate. Ninety-five
percent of the county is underdeveloped and only two percent of the
water is clean. There are no paved roadways leading to Panyijiar, and
during the rainy season, the dirt roads that do lead to Panyijiar are
flooded, replacing the roads with tiny rivers. The library, set to be
built on land donated by Panyijiar community leaders, is seen as a
solution to these problems.
But PACODES wants to do more with this library. For them, this is a long-term project.
“We
want to help the community in other ways,” Hammerling said. “We’ll buy
two brick-making machines to leave behind when we’re done.”
In
Panyijiar, the traditional huts are built typically out of dry mud, and
with the yearly rainfall averaging about 40 inches in the rainy season,
mud houses aren’t able to withstand the weather. By leaving behind the
brick-making machines used to build the library, members of the
Panyijiar community will be able to have lasting homes. A well will be
added to the courtyard of the library to provide the community access to
clean water, too.
In addition, the library PACODES has proposed
is self-sustaining, meaning that the library will have a corrugated
steel roof, it won’t need to be painted, and it is being built in such a
way that the trade winds will keep it cool despite the hot, humid
Sudanese weather. The library also has windows on the south side, which
will allow natural light into the building. Eventually, electric lights
will be installed to allow school to be held later into the evening.
According to Kopperud, this is going to be more than just a library.
“We are changing the lives of families and children in Panyijiar,” Kopperud said.
PACODES
has hopes for this library. These hopes, to become a school, as well as
a community center for the citizens of Panyijiar, are realized through
the organization’s mission, “planting the seeds of change.” PACODES’
goals are to improve the education, healthcare, parenting, clean water,
and agriculture of Panyijiar, which is how many of the town’s people
survive.
Along with the fundamental parts of a library, a kitchen
will be added to help the process of turning the library into a
community center and school. The kitchen will allow Panyijiar residents
to cook at school, instead of traveling home during the day to do so.
And the kitchen will be separated from the library to prevent the
library from catching fire in the event the kitchen’s wood-burning
stoves do.
PACODES also hopes to bring jobs to the members of
Panyijiar. The organization plans to hire people to care for the library
and to run the shop within the library. This shop will sell standard
stationary items such as pencils, pens, notebooks and erasers, with all
the funds generated going back into sustaining the library, which
PACODES estimates to cost $35,000 a year to preserve.
While it
seems that PACODES has everything in order, the organization had many
hurdles in the beginning. First, they needed to be recognized as a 501©3
organization, or a non-profit. Second, they needed to find an architect
to build a green, self-sustaining library.
“There were many miracles and hurdles,” Kopperud said. “One door opened after another.”
Once
these first two hurdles were overcome, the organization was able to
start raising money through a variety of ways. Luoi, along with the help
of many other Lost Boys, were able to raise the initial $9,000 out of
their pockets. WalkSUDAN, a walk used to raise money for the library,
raised $5,000 over four walks, with one in Moorhead, Minn., as well as
another in Peoria, Ill.. And with the help of the documentary-film
company Endless Eye Productions, another $35,000 was raised, with $5,000
coming explicitly from small donations.
Sean Fahey and Jeremiah
Hammerling of Endless Eye Productions became involved with PACODES
shortly after it was created. Hammerling attended high school with Luoi,
learning his life story and becoming close friends with him.
Once
Hammerling shared Luoi’s story with Fahey, he was interested in
connecting with the organization. Together, Fahey and Hammerling came up
with an idea and created a money bomb on Dec. 14, 2008, on the Web site
libraryproject.org to encourage people to donate. A money bomb is, in
this case, an online fundraiser aimed at motivating visitors to
contribute their money to a cause. Their goal was to raise the $100,000
PACODES needs to build the library, but this one-day money bomb has
turned into an on-going project.
Endless Eye is also filming a documentary on Luoi and the efforts of PACODES.
Fahey
and Hammerling have been documenting Luoi’s journey with PACODES and
are invested in helping raise funds for the library in Panyijiar.
Currently, Endless Eye Productions is filming messages from PACODES
members to bring to Panyijiar people and are in preparation to fly to
Sudan later this month to continue filming. Fahey and Hammerling believe
very strongly in the purpose of PACODES and what this library could do
for Panyijiar.
“It all starts with this library,” Fahey said.
Hammerling agreed, adding that this is a long-term goal.
“We’re trying to rebuild a country,” Hammerling said.
Cobbers
for PACODES, an on-campus student organization started this year by
juniors Kaia Sievert, Hope Gust, and Jacquelin Wieland, held a change
drive earlier this semester, which garnered $472.89. Along with that,
Concordia’s Communion attendees donated $79.76 in offerings for PACODES.
Cobbers for PACODES has other plans in the works, such as sponsoring an
athletic fundraiser and a barbecue at the end of the year to continue
to raise awareness and money for PACODES.
“We don’t want to be a band-aid for the problem,” Gust said.
PACODES
is also in charge of book drives throughout Concordia’s campus. At the
end of each semester, Bath, who heads the book drives, along with
sophomore Jessica Markusen and junior Britta Peterson, place boxes in
each dormitory and in some academic buildings for students to donate
their used textbooks instead of selling them back to the bookstore or
online. In collaboration with PACODES, Better World Books, a for-profit
bookseller, is helping PACODES transport books to the library in
Panyijiar.
“We can collect books and ship them to Better World
Books,” Bath said. “They provide us with shipping crates and boxes to
collect [them].”
The books collected by the various drives are
either set aside to be shipped to Panyijiar or are sold by Better World
Books to help defray the production costs. The first book in the library
is one made by a class at Concordia. Heidi Goldberg’s printmaking class
made a book for the Panyijiar community to be placed in the library.
This book is a collaborative piece made of hand printed originals, wood
cuts, letter presses and lithographs responding to the concept of
opposites. Each student chose a text, either one of their own or that of
another, to correspond to their pictures.
Goldberg’s class
project came about from the idea of a student, junior Danielle Gravon,
who overheard a conversation about PACODES while in the Concordia
Bookstore. Gravon brought this idea back to her classmates and persuaded
them to create this book to sell to raise money for the library, as
well as a book to donate.
The architect for the library has
overcome some hurdles as well. As a woman architect and a Muslim, Uzma
Mirza is attempting to bridge the Muslim-Christian gap that has resulted
in Sudan from the civil war. She has volunteered her time to design
this library for the community of Panyijiar. And Luoi hopes she will be
influential in affecting the patriarchal customs that are currently in
place in Sudan.
“Girls don’t attend school,” Luoi said. “This will be inspiring and change the way things are.”
Luoi
is surprised by the outcome his idea has produced. He never thought
that Cobbers for PACODES would exist, and refers to them as his “dream
team.” This idea has brought many people from different places across
the United States, from Nebraska to Florida to Kentucky, together for
one organization.
“It’s about coming together for a common
cause,” Luoi said. “It’s not going to benefit you. It’s not going to
benefit me or Roy or the board members.”
Luoi appreciates those
he has met throughout his trek in starting this library. He has goals
for the organization and hopes it continues to flourish in the same
manner it has thus far.
“I want this organization to continue,” Luoi said. “So we can inspire the [MSUM] Dragons and the [NDSU] Bisons, too.”
Source: Concordian
URL:
http://www.livewiredj.net/concordian/pacercms/article.php?id=754
