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2- The Oakville Beaver, Friday February 8, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Local church brings medical relief to South Sudan By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF No running water, no electricity, no operating room, bats in the rafters. Not an ideal situation for a hospital, but then ideal situations are a bit of a rarity in South Sudan. Klaas Brobbel, of Oakville's Clearview Christian Reformed Church (CRC), found this out first hand during a December mission he undertook to deliver medical supplies to a Sudanese hospital where a congregation member is the only doctor. The origins of this mission stretch back to 2001 when Dr. Michael Tut Pur began attending the Clearview CRC. The congregation would learn that Tut Pur, a Sudanese-Canadian, who had fled Sudan in 1985 to escape the civil war, was trained as a doctor by the Cuban government as part of a program intended to rebuild South Sudan when the war ended. Unfortunately for Tut Pur this war did not end until 2005, by which time he had established a life in Canada. Even so, he and 14 other medically trained SudaneseCanadians agreed to help. As Tut Pur and the other SudaneseCanadians had not been able to practice medicine since arriving in Canada, they needed refresher courses, which were supplied by the relief organization Samaritan's Purse. The refresher courses were intense, but then so is the place these SudaneseCanadians are going to. HEALTHY DONATION: Klaas Brobbel, of Oakville's Clearview Christian Reformed Church, presents with some much needed medical supplies for his hospital in South Sudan. While South Sudan is well away from the genocide taking place in Sudan's western region of Darfur, Tut Pur still faces grave challenges. The civil war between Sudan's Muslim north and its Animist and Christian south left nearly two million people dead and completely destroyed the region's infrastructure. When the dust settled only a few poorly equipped hospitals remained standing with even fewer doctors to man them. Samaritan's Purse has actually come to the conclusion that in all of South Sudan there are only between 15-20 practicing physicians to service a population of 15 million. Despite these odds, Tut Pur completed his training and went to Akobo Hospital in South Sudan with his friends at Clearview CRC doing what they could to help. "We were able to raise $16,940 in US funds," said Brobbel. Raising money alone, however, was not all Clearview did. With a list of medical supplies needed by Tut Pur, Brobbel used his extensive Air Miles to fly to Nairobi, Kenya where he purchased medical and lab supplies. "In order to be able to run any clinic at all, you have to be able to do tests, so included in this was a microscope," said Brobbel. "It's solar powered because they have no hydro there. There are generators, but fuel is extremely expensive so they're rarely used." Other supplies included simple things like screwdrivers, chairs and a desk for Tut Pur to work on. With all these items purchased Brobbel boarded a second plane destined for Akobo. "It was about 40 degrees," said Brobbel of the climate when he stepped out of the plane and onto the grass landing strip at his destination. "It was a dry heat so you do sweat a lot and you have to drink a lot." As the civil war only ended in 2005 the devastation caused by years of constant aerial bombing is still obvious. Even at the hospital thousands of bullet holes in the walls serve as grim reminders of the country's past. The hospital itself can only offer so much care to its patients, for while the hospital consists of nine buildings, two have no roofs and two others are completely condemned. 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