The farming community of Hatton is reaching out to a warn-torn village in Sudan.
Residents of Hatton are raising money toward the purchase of a tractor and other tools to help the people of Morobo grow their own food and become more self-sufficient.
Susan Burns, mission director at Rising Sun Baptist Church in Hatton, is the coordinator for Project Sudan. The philanthropic effort is also taking contributions for an orphanage and school to help rebuild the village after 50 years of civil war.
“We believe we live in the best country, state and community in the world, and we would like to help another community get started toward the good life that we believe we have,” Burns said. “If we send a tractor, we can feed thousands of people for many, many years.”
Project Sudan falls under a larger project called Rock the Desert Orphanage, led by Vernon Burger of St. Louis, pastor of Stonegate Fellowship in Midland, Texas. In January, Burger opened a complex in Morobo with an orphanage, school and church.
About 100,000 people live in Morobo, including 30,000 of the estimated 500,000 orphans in southern Sudan, Burger said. Although the land is fertile, Morobo lacks modern equipment, Burger said, and the war has interrupted the transfer of farming knowledge from generation to generation.
The tractor, plow and other basic hand tools will cost $20,000. Burger has already received $10,000 from a donor in Midland, Texas, and Burns organized a 5-kilometer run and walk-a-thon on May 21 that raised $7,000, leaving Hatton $3,000 short of its goal.
Burger plans to burn off the area, clear the trees and break ground while teaching the orphans and nearby villagers how to farm. “Farming is going to be one of the biggest ways for them to be self-sustaining,” Burger said. “It’s going to provide food for the orphans, and the extra can be sold in the market and the proceeds can go back into the orphanage.”
Brian Evans, associate pastor of youth and education at Calvary Baptist Church, learned about the orphanage and decided to support the cause by running marathons.
“I don’t have the money to adopt any of these kids or go over there, but at least I can do something to make their lives better and let them know that people in America hear their cries and care about them,” Evans said.
Evans started with the Labor Day Heart of America Marathon in Columbia and raised $700. After qualifying for the Boston Marathon, he found enough sponsors to raise almost $3,000, mostly from Columbia residents.
Evans said he remembers seeing the orphans’ faces as he struggled to finish the 26.2-mile race and found inspiration.
“You get those pictures burned in your mind, and as you’re running and you get tired, you think, ‘My suffering is nothing compared to the suffering these orphans deal with on a daily basis,’” Evans said.
Burger plans to return to Sudan in early August to create six more complexes like Rock the Desert in surrounding villages.
Donations for Project Sudan will be collected until the end of June and can be directed to Susan Burns, 1948 Route DD, Auxvasse, MO 65231, or made through Brian Evans’ Web site at www.irunfororphans.com.