A Warrior’s Song

Tuberculosis patients waiting for daily treatment. Photo by Todd Hardesty.

A Warrior’s Song

by Todd Hardesty

When we lift up an individual or a community, the entire world population is lifted. If we do this often enough, everyone benefits.

I

t’s mid-morning. It’s dry, dusty, hot and almost 100° F. I’m walking through the market in Old Fangak, South Sudan. This is the equivalent of your local shopping mall, yet it’s unlike anything you’d find in my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, or probably in your hometown either.

There are more than 100 small shops. Most are bamboo-walled with roofing made of tarps. Some are simply out in the open under the sun. “I love Africa,” Air-Jordan and Gucci logo shirts blow in the wind, along with pink bras, blue sneakers and long, multi-colored dresses similar to the Indian sari. You can also buy candy, bags of sorghum and barbecued goat.

The market is busy, noisy and vibrant. Nothing like what I experienced on my last visit seven years ago, when the market had just a couple dozen shops and almost no goods. The difference? Clean water, health care and war.

In 2013, civil war erupted in South Sudan. Like a wildfire in a wind storm, it spread quickly and destroyed villages in its path. In this part of South Sudan there was one safe haven, one village that war would not touch: Old Fangak, along the Zaref river. Old Fangak is in a remote, roadless area where the Alaska Sudan Medical Project has since built a medical clinic and drilled more than a dozen bore holes for clean water. Today, Old Fangak, a village of 5,000, is home to at least 50,000 refugees.

Old Fangak market. Photo by Todd Hardesty.

The Vision of Community

I’ve been part of the Alaska Sudan Medical Project (ASMP) since 2007. That year, Dr. Jack Hickel pledged to another Alaskan doctor, Jill Seaman of Bethel, that he would support her efforts in Old Fangak by building a medical clinic. The existing health crisis there was staggering, and a group of mostly Alaskans bonded in a common purpose to help this community in need. The building of the clinic led to clean water projects and agricultural training and development. As our efforts grew, we became part of the community. We are now known as the “Alaska Team.” Men and women who solve problems. People from afar who care.

As I’m walking today, a woman stops me. We face each other. She looks old, but I can’t guess her real age. Life is hard here, especially for women who do most of the household labor. As I wonder what she wants, she points to her feet, bare and tough as leather. The ground is hot, cracked and riddled with thorns. She needs sandals.

ASMP Executive Director Todd Hardesty with woman he met in the market. Photo courtesy of Todd Hardesty.

This will be easy. Laid out on tarps next to us are hundreds of pairs of sandals, most of them from China. One by one she tries them for size. I expect her to be quick, but instead she is picky. The Arab shopkeeper digs deeper into his inventory and eventually finds a pair that satisfies her. Now the payment.

I’m typically not one who likes to bargain. Perhaps it’s being a middle child, often the problem solver, quick to find compromise. But today I decide to be a tough negotiator. He wants $5. I offer $2. The sandals are already on her feet. Eventually we meet at $2.50. I go on my way and she does too.

A farmer in Old Fangak receiving seeds from the Alaska Sudan Medical Project. Photo by Todd Hardesty.

Purposeful Leadership

My purpose on this day wasn’t to buy sandals. I came to Old Fangak as the new ASMP Executive Director to renew a larger project. We had promised this community that we would build a clinic to treat tuberculosis and infectious diseases like HIV. Next to the market is the site the village has set aside for the clinic. After the war broke out, the transportation corridor closed and the project was put on hold. But now, the civil war is over. A peace accord was signed in September of 2018, and we are committed to getting the job done.

As I walk through the site, there are 30 or more men, women and children gathered for their daily tuberculosis treatment. This is a new health crisis. The influx of refugees has brought more tuberculosis and TB patients with HIV. Dr. Jill estimates she’ll treat 250 TB patients this year in Old Fangak. Like the woman who needed sandals for her feet, the sick need a place to receive proper treatment. And like the woman in the market, these tuberculosis patients cannot accomplish this without help.

It might not be as easy as bargaining for a pair of sandals. But I know that as part of the Alaska Team, together we’ll get it done. We understand the need. We know the end result we are seeking. Now it’s a matter of taking all we have learned in the last decade and putting it to work.

Hope Uplifts

It’s now the hottest time of day. There is a group of a couple dozen men sitting in the shade beneath the Neem trees. Their T-shirts indicate they are part of a leadership conference. One of them asks why I’ve come to the village. I explain that I’m part of the Alaska Team bringing clean water and, sometime soon, a new tuberculosis clinic. At that point an elder stands up and begins to sing. The other men follow in chorus. It’s in the Nuer language, so I ask a young man who is with me what the song is about.

Dr. Jill Seaman and Dr. Jack Hickel treating patients.

“It’s a song about a warrior,” he tells me, “who during a long-ago battle came and saved the village. They are singing about you.” Certainly not about me. But they were singing about all the people, most of whom they will never meet, who have risen to meet the challenges facing their village. As leaders, they understand the importance of being grateful. I believe they also understand that we are all one community. When we lift up an individual or a community, the entire world population is lifted. If we do this often enough, everyone benefits.

The Alaska Sudan Medical Project is really about hope. Hope and health for life in South Sudan, for life everywhere. On this day I saw this clearly in the face of a woman with a new pair of sandals. I heard it in the voices of men singing beneath the trees. I felt it in my heart. It’s been a good day.

Todd Hardesty is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and owner of Alaska Video Postcards, Inc., an Alaska-based film production company. He began his work with the Alaska Sudan Medical Project first as a volunteer, then as a board member. In 2018, Hardesty was named Executive Director of the Alaska Sudan Medical Project. His film about the Alaska Team in Old Fangak called “The Village” has been viewed on YouTube more than 1.6 million times.

www.alaskasudan.org

Todd Hardesty is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and owner of Alaska Video Postcards, Inc., an Alaska-based film production company. He began his work with the Alaska Sudan Medical Project first as a volunteer, then as a board member. In 2018, Hardesty was named Executive Director of the Alaska Sudan Medical Project. His film about the Alaska Team in Old Fangak called “The Village” has been viewed on YouTube more than 1.6 million times.

www.alaskasudan.org

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