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I struggled with what to call this part of the site. friends and i tossed around ideas. engage? no, too star trek. act? like what?
get involved seemed to fit. it’s active. through one’s volition, she enters the fray.
every epoch of humankind is convinced that his or hers is the most important one. those who smugly note this when discussing our current time miss an important truth: ours IS the most important, even if for no other reason that we won’t be around for any others.
there does seem a ring of urgency to our headlines , however. even a superficial reading requires considerable resolve. a warming world, peak oil, food riots, water shortages, the decline of species, economic catastrophe, people suffering in sudan. the temptation is to put the paper down, before one becomes suffocated by the largeness of the tasks.
the thing is, the problems seem large because we see their breadth rather than the unit from which they are made: the individual. they happened one person at a time. the best part about this, of course, is recognizing a similar truth about large solutions. same unit.
that we can create our reality is a dizzying truth, as dizzying as the possibilities for working towards a better one.
the most important step, of the many along the way, is the first. start, and then all of a sudden you’re on the road, and you draw its map as you walk it.
i have listed some ways to deepen the understanding of Sudan’s story, and to involve yourself in it. it might be a beginning. feel free to list others below.
Are proceeds from the book being donated to a community-based foundation in East Africa?
I just finished reading “Six Months in Sudan’. I usually don’t leave comments and such but you seem accessible, like you might actually read them – that and I feel it is definitely worthwhile to take the time and thank you for writing about your mission in Sudan. I absolutely loved the book.
I am finishing up my prerequisites for the Nursing Program and want more than anything to work with MSF. Your book detailed what I want to do and be a part of. I am glad I found it when I did, the semester will be starting soon and motivation always seems to wane around that time. Not to sound cheesy, but it was inspirational. There were times while reading that I just took a step back and thought to myself what a good, noble and trustworthy doctor you were. I was more than impressed with your convictions, your honest struggle and how you dealt with it all.
Thank you again for helping people that aren’t able to help themselves at the moment. Thank you for caring, thank you for putting the word out there, thank you for trying to bring it closer to people. It is all too easy to forget about the needs of others while living day to day in your own world.
Thanks for everything.
I wish you the best of luck in your future travels.
I would also like to share my deepest thanks for the book, ‘Six Month in Sudan’. I realize that there is no possible way for me to fully fathom the experience…but I hope that someday I too will be able to make such a journey. Thank you for not writing as if it were about you, but writing it as if it were to transcend the limits between “us” and “them”. your book made me realize with modern society, there are so many ways to connect the world, and I also realized that there is no distinction between us and them…we are all human, and have a responsibility to the world and to each other. Thanks again!
So often we justify our decision to take the safer, easier path and to say stuff to ourselves and others like ‘what can one person do anyway?’ but you broke the barrier and did the stuff and saved lives and lifted spirits and strengthened the newer members of teams where you work. Thank you for the book. You remind me that my frustration when I am NOT taking the ‘hard road’ or helping others is real and that the cure is to get out there and do what needs doing for others when the opportunities present themselves. That is the best part of life, isn’t it? To be worthwhile?
MSF has a stand in local shops with attractive young chicks asking for money and I am now convinced that the cause is worth support. What a real and valuable insight into a part of the world – the one world – I haven’t been to. Thank you. You know that you and people like you who give their selves are heroes, don’t you? You do and you inspire those of us who are more likely to wimp out.
thanks for the use of the female pronoun in “she enters the fray.”
much appreciated.
Thank you for telling your story. For the inspiration and for the possibility of taking that first step and making a donation. I hope you know how much your willingness to share is and will continue to be appreciated.
Hello,
I recently just finished reading your book and I want to thank you for your insights and your experiences.
I too, have spent much time in East Africa and I remember how I felt when I first returned to Canada after a year of teaching in a small rural village in Kenya. The most difficult part of my journey was the return home.
I can appreciate what you must of gone through on your return journey. I hope that all is well with you now and I was wondering if you have done any follow up with some of the people that you met in Sudan?
I have been fortunate enough to return numerous times to my small village and I am forever grateful for these experiences and the relationships that I have kept for over 20 years. My Kenyan friends have taught me so much more then I could of ever taught them. This has been a gift.
Take care, marian
Hello Dr. James. I am a 17 senior from Great Falls, Montana. Since I was ten i wanted to volunteer in Afria. More specifically Uganda. I also want to be a nurse, hopefully a doctor eventually and have taken most courses headed in that direction. I am part of an organization call AIdspirit. It is centered out of Billings, Montana. On February 1st, i am going on a mission with 9 other people includind a hydrologist, nurse practioners and nurses. We will be there for 2 weeks, alot less than your 6 months but i wish i could go longer. Too bad i have school! But we are going to build a well, put on hygiene and medical clinics as well as enroll orphans (orphanage and school set up by this foundation). We also will be headed up to the LRA farms to teach practical agricultural methods to the people that live there. 2 Missions ago, an organization rescued a boy named Roger who contracted turburulosis of the spine and was left by his Aids stricken mother on the bottom of a fallen hut. He was deformed into a ball and we are working on raising money for his surgery. I am having a hard time getting my school and well, city, involved and really “caring” about this issue. I really would like your advice and of course this is a long shot, for you to speak at my school. I am inspired by your story and hope one day i can strive to be the person you are. I have also read A Memoir of a Boy Soldier which was life-altering as well. In addition, i am writing my senior research project and am having a hard time finding a controversial issue. I know there is corruption, aids, military abuse and poilitical fraud and extortion but i really want this project to awaken my community, or even montana. I care about these children and people i dont even know. I have a burning passion to help these people, and eventually help them medically, the most. After my trip i will compose a “documentry” and present it to my school. I just would really like your advice, tips and comments. Your book is the talk of my school and hopefully it alone can inspire other students, especially elementary, middle school and high school students like it has me. Words cannot express my gratitude to your work and thoughts.
Dr James-
Thank you for highlighting the positive and negative aspects of humanitarian work in a reader-friendly book. So many of us would like to stop what we are doing to volunteer for aid work, but don’t really know what we are getting ourselves into. Not everyday do you feel a sense of accomplishment and like you are on the path to reform. Sometimes it can be frustrating and scary before it is rewarding.
Your prose was inspirational, regardless of how harsh life in Abyei appeared. I hope that this book is a first go-to for people considering volunteering with MSF or other relief organizations.
Thank you.
Hi James
I must commend you on a fabulous book , it filled me with great appreciation for the simple things we have in our lives. Currently i am living in Luanda, Angola with family. Things here are not half has bad as in Sudan, but definitely different to South Africa where we are from. I think if one wants to see change happen, taking small steps is the way to go. Frustration, isolation and desperation are all part of that road in making it happen.
Well Done And Thanks Good luck with your Future Plans.
Hi James,
Loved your book and didn’t want it to end. More please!
Sonja