More than £1000 donated by Sheffield citizens to Doctors Without Borders’ ongoing work in Sudan

Last year, according to an acclaimed report by Médecins Sans Frontières’s (Doctors Without Borders, MSF), Sudan was among the top ten under-reported humanitarian stories; there is ongoing violence, a state of chronic instability, and only last month MSF responded to a severe Cholera outbreak in the south of the country. Nevertheless, none of this made it to the media.

A peace agreement was signed in January 2005, bringing Africa's longest-running civil war officially to an end. However, the crisis continues. MSF has been working in Sudan since 1979, and is currently tackling diseases like Malaria and Tuberculosis as well as the widespread malnutrition. Currently they have about 350 international and more than 4,500 national staff in Sudan.

Students at Sheffield University have started a group to raise awareness of the vital work of MSF and raise money for the cause. In the end of February, Dr Beresford, who has worked with MSF, came to talk to more than a 100 students about her experiences with MSF in Sudan. This inspiring talk on challenges and rewards was the launch of the student group, but also the launch for their first campaign: to collect funds for MSF’s work in Sudan. This campaign ran over three events: the talk, a joint hip hop event with Oxfam and a street collection in Sheffield city centre.

Students at Sheffield raise money for MSF's ongoing work in Sudan

On March 18, members of the Sheffield MSF Society took to the streets of Sheffield (see attached picture; more available off our website), and the public kindly donated more than £640. This combined with proceeds from the hip hop event, and donations given at the speaker event, amounts to more than an amazing £1000.

However, Sheffield MSF Society was not the only student led MSF support group to raise funds for MSF in March -- KCL MSF Soc set a goal of £5000 (and has nearly reached it) as they held their KCL 10K Fun Run on March 5, and Cardiff MSF Soc held ‘Life Aid’, a successful charity rock concert, on March 17.

'Life Aid' courtesy of Cardiff's MSF Society

As mentioned, several MSF groups have sprouted up around the UK and started raising awareness and funds for MSF. Currently there are MSF societies at the following universities: Sheffield, Birmingham, Cardiff, King’s College London, Oxford, Southampton, and St. Andrews. The societies try to work together as much as possible, and have developed a joint forum (www.msf.union.shef.ac.uk/forum/) and gallery (www.msf.union.shef.ac.uk/gallery) to share their experiences and ideas.

The collected money can go a long way - for example £6 can cover 3 nourishing meals every day for a month to a child threatened by famine, and £9 can provide a month of clean water for 40 refugees.

The importance of the donations being private comes across obvious in the words of MSF logistics specialist Steve Hide:

"When someone points a gun at you and asks 'who sent you?' I can answer that it was people who care. This can mean the difference between life and death."

For any further contact or information on the work of MSF or the Sheffield MSF Society, please visit our website , or email us on sheffield.msf.soc@googlemail.com.