By Aweye Teddy Onam
Charity Foundation for Africa Catholic Mission (USA) in collaboration with Fr. Dr. Lee Foundation in South Sudan have donated non-food items to over 100 lepers in Luri Rokwe Northern Bari, Juba.
The two foundations are dedicated to supporting people affected by Leprosy.
Speaking about Charity Foundation for Africa Catholic Mission, Andy Yi said they established the body back in 2008 when they invited Dr. John Lee to America to share the experience he had with the people of South Sudan.
Dr. Lee worked in Tonj County for ten years, treating the sick, teaching young kids, and supporting them morally. He later returned to Korea and died there in 2010.
“We established our foundation to support actually at first to support Father John Lee until he passed away but even though he passed away, we continued to support in Tonj and today we extended to Juba and Nimule which is Kerepi community.”
Mr. Andy Yi said his foundation is currently training over twenty-two medical students from Juba, Wau, and Bahr-el-ghazel.
He said thirteen students are in Juba University, six in Western Bahr-el-ghazel and three are in Upper Nile University.
“So now we have about 22, they are mostly fourth years, fifth years, some students are for an internship right now and then they’re trying to go to masters so until you become a doctor, we promised them to finish their masters.”
He said they want to support the leper people because life is very important and since many people don’t consider lepers, they will share everything they can so that the people with leprosy don’t lose their lives.
Meanwhile, Mary Jervase Yak, a member of parliament and the chairperson of the Father John Lee Foundation said the government and community of Korea established the foundation to keep the inspiration of Father John Lee.
“The idea is to keep his name alive for what he has done because of his selflessness and interest in helping vulnerable people,” she said.
“So, this is his legacy we are trying to keep up by supporting people who are suffering from this disease. And that’s why we are here in Bari Rokwe today to distribute some of the donations that have come from Korea,” Yak added.
The distribution of clothing and blankets is not the first, yak said this one is special as the president of the Father John Lee Foundation from America is the guest of honor.
“That’s why we had to do this before he leaves in two days so that he can see what the foundation is supporting and this is the reason this one had to be done today.”
Yak said there are issues that they would look into such as shelter for the lepers.
“These are some of the things we are going to discuss with the sponsor so that when he goes back, they will put it in the budget and send the money so that we can repair this structure.”
In 2012, Fr. Dr. John Lee foundation was launched in Korea and February 2022 it was registered in Juba.