On The Road

The work of MY SISTER’S KEEPER in Sudan is always an adventure. This has been one of our most adventurous and ambitious trips so far. We set a number of goals for this trip focused on education and peace advocacy. Our delegation includes Dr. Holly Carter and Dr. Marilyn Quarcoo, both educators and specialists in teacher training and Niama Green, a Kennedy school student fellow focusing on International and Global affairs. MY SISTER’S KEEPER has truly come a long way.

To make the best use of time and money, we decided to travel overland to our many appointments. (Better financed NGO’s usually travel by air.) The four hour trip from the tiny isolated village of Akon, where we visited Kunyuk Girls’ School ….to the more populated community of Wau, where we are putting together the SISTERHOOD FOR PEACE conference, is a perfect metaphor for the road to peace in this struggling country; difficult but navigable.

In the many times I have come to Sudan, I have never traveled such a great distance by car. Giant tractors plow and grade the dusty main highway that runs the length of this remote region promising easer connections ahead. But there is still a lot of work to be done. Much of the road is marred with ugly sinkholes and rocky ridges making the trip slow and arduous. Colorful people trek alongside the road, their heads balancing unimaginable cargo. With goats and cows following behind, they offer friendly waves and wonderful photo opportunities along the way.

Halfway into our trip, Niama got out of the car to take a picture at a roadside market . And in an instant, everything changed. A group of angry and armed young soldiers on motorcycles roared up out of nowhere. Holly, Marilynn, Niama and I sat holding our breathes in the cars as our drivers along with Sarah and Kaidi Rial, MSK’s program director and field coordinator, got out to talk. They are sisters and two of the most courageous women I know. More angry young men, on the back of a truck showed up, clearly looking for confrontation. I couldn’t understand what anybody was saying but the talk went from bad to worse. Before any of us inside the vehicles knew what was happening, our trip was halted and we were quickly escorted to a frightening local police establishment a few miles from where we had been pulled over. It was a heart stopping incident and frankly I am not quite sure what would have happened had it not been for the work of women.

One of the stops we were most excited about in the trip to Wau, was in Kuajok, where our dear friend Achol Cyier Rehan lives. Achol is the woman who inspired MY SISTER’S KEEPER when Gloria and I first traveled to Sudan in 2001. Achol was our first interpreter, a tall beautiful and shy Dinka woman who, blessed with an education, has a burning desire to help her people. In the 8 years since that first meeting, Achol has risen as a leader of the new Sudan. Right now, she is a special advisor to the Governor of Warrap state, and her voice is growing in power and influence not only here in the south but among all of those working for peace in this troubled country.

The young bulls who stopped us on the road were becoming even more agitated as they led us to see their superior in a crowded and dingy courtyard. I kept thinking “This is it. We are going to some unknown jail and nobody will know where to find us. How long would it be before the headlines read ‘American Humanitarian workers imprisoned in Sudan!” I did not know that our salvation had already begun. Just as we were brusquely commanded out of the cars, another SUV pulled quickly into the courtyard. It carried Achol called when the soldiers pulled us over., via cellphone by a fast-thinking Kaidi.

By the time Achol finished a quick conversation with the man in charge, he and she were laughing, the young soldiers were calmed down and our group was back on the road to Wau. (All politics are local!)

Achol, Kaidi and Sara are three of countless Sudanese women who are taking brave new roles in the work for peace here. They all exude a new kind of power and confidence. They each represent the best possible future for this country and the world. I am honored to know them.

Jeremiah 12:5 "If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, Then how can you compete with horses? ...

One of the most amazing things about the work of MY SISTER’S KEEPER in southern Sudan is the fact that the KUNYUK GIRL’S SCHOOL, THE WOMEN’S PEACE SCHOOL, and SISTERHOOD FOR PEACE, all ongoing and viable initiatives, were started by a small group of women with no money and little humanitarian experience, but with a great synergy for God and with a lot of help from the Boston community.

Originally there were six of us (Gloria, Ashley, Cynthia, Melinda, Pat, and I) who conceived an idea, created an NGO, made the visits, raised the funds, drew up the plans, hired the staff, oversaw the work and built a school on the other side of the world. That miracle planted the seeds for an adult literacy program and peace advocacy group, two initiatives that are growing by leaps and bounds. It was an auspicious beginning, but only the first step in the exciting journey of MY SISTER’S KEEPER’S as we take part in the process of peace and restoration in southern Sudan.

Traveling in southern Sudan this week, a group of us are officially onto the next steps. This delegation led by MSK program director Sarah Rial, includes global education and public policy specialists Dr. Holly Carter, Marilyn Quarcoo, and Niama Green. Our plan, which will include visits in Juba, Wau, Kuajok and Akon, is to encourage and help move forward MSK’s “on the ground” peace advocacy work and assess the progress and challenges of our education programs. Both are big jobs. In order to do them effectively and efficiently we need as much help as we can get. That’s why traveling with Holly, Niama and Marilynn is so important and that’s why we scheduled our very first meeting with Molly Williams Senior Program Director of World Vision Southern Sudan. World Vision is one of the largest Christian relief development and advocacy organizations in the world, serving the poor in 100 countries. Molly, , from the Boston area, joined us for cokes and conversations shortly after we checked in at Juba’s New York Hotel. We wanted to find out why WV is so respected and cherished in Southern Sudan.

I love talking with idealistic and spirited young people who have so much passion for this part of the world. Molly has been in Juba only four months but has done humanitarian work in other parts of Africa and has a real heart for the people.

What inspires me most about WV is its progressive mission. It is not focused on the evangelical missionary tradition that emphasizes proselytizing but instead works on a more progressive Christian missionary model of service. WV’s holistic approach of helping families and communities out of poverty includes programs in health and nutrition, water and sanitation, education and peace building. We are learning that this concept of community development is the only way to really support people in this part of the world. WV has worked in southern Sudan for more than two decades.

During our brief meeting on a relatively cool Sudan afternoon, Molly and WV’s Southern Sudan operations officer Arthur shared invaluable information about the importance of collaboration among the NGO’s working in this area. Southern Sudan is a huge region with critical needs. Its people live in remote villages scattered all over the place. There are hundreds of organizations working here, building schools, hospitals, developing clean water programs. Considering the regions harsh terrain, isolation and lack of infrastructure, I’m sure that many of these NGOs probably sought each other’s help out of necessity. The result has been a win-win for everybody involved.

We ended our meeting with Molly and Arthur with a promise to keep connected. They have graciously offered to advise and assist us in expanding our efforts in education and peace advocacy. We plan to take them up on their offer.

I often joke that MY SISTER’S KEEPER has succeeded on sheer will and masking tape. In truth, we have come this far by faith. We serve a God who cares and works unceasingly with us to build His kingdom. And now God is calling us to do even greater works. Peace in Sudan is possible and MY SISTER’S KEEPER has earned its place at the peace table. We bring energy, creativity and love to this effort. With the help of new friends, we are ready for the next steps in the journey. And what an amazing journey it is.

It was the most beautifully dug hole I have ever seen, a big circular border of bricks we created decorating the center of the courtyard and one of the final touches of the construction of the Kunyuk School for Girls in Akon Sudan. What made the sight as well as the experience so wonderful was the fact that we all helped create it, our group representing My Sister’s Keeper in Boston, some of the girls from the school and Akon’s community members. The collaborative effort was sweat equity at its best and symbolic of the globe spanning relationship that built this school.

Our landscaping project was led by Achol Cyier Rehan, who epitomizes our sisterhood with this community. Achol is the first friend we met in Akon. She led efforts to build the school here and she is helping to spread excitement in anticipation of the June 1 dedication festivities. That’s when the rest of our group will arrive including Gloria and Ray Hammond and Cynthia Bell from Boston, Country Rock Sensation Big Kenny Alphin and his "Love Everybody" entourage from Nashville and people from all over South Sudan will officially commemorate the fruits of a friendship that began some seven years ago when the members of My Sisters’ Keeper met with this community to support its efforts to educate its young girls. We had no idea then how hard the work would be and how much our friendship with this resilient community in one of the world’s most troubled countries would grow. Two decades of war in southern Sudan have halted the education of two generations and less than 1 percent of the women in this country have ever been educated. The people realize that education is power and freedom. We were inspired by their dreams and so we made a promise.

Promising to build a school and actually accomplishing it are two very different things. The journey to this week’s dedication has been a long one. There have been film debuts, speaking engagements, country concerts, bracelet and quilt sales. We have begged, borrowed and begged some more. Often we have moved way out of our comfort zones, appealing to wealthy and well known philanthropists to help us accomplish a huge undertaking on the other side of the world. Thank God that most people, at heart are caring and generous. Over the years we have raised more than 400 thousand dollars, obtaining obscure permits and bringing materials and construction workers into a harsh and remote area to build on dreams that seem nearly impossible.

We have been especially blessed with a phenomenal field coordinator who oversaw the work here on the ground. Kiadi Rial who lives in the town of Wau, not far from Akon, is the sister of our program director Sarah Rial. Kaidi has overseen every inch of the construction work and community outreach that went along with it and she has done a spectacular job. Despite natural and manmade challenges, the school was built within budget and on schedule. In a culture where women are systematically marginalized and abused, Kaidi Rial is a revolutionary.

Education will eventually bring these girls financial independence, the confidence to fight sexual violence and strengthen their communities. There are more immediate needs. Angelo, one of the teachers here says, " Right now Cholera is killing our people because many don’t know they should boil the water and avoid the rivers which are unclean and dangerous . If people are educated then they will know how to live healthier lives and protect their families and themselves. I want them to be educated so they can live."

Most excited about the upcoming dedication ceremonies are the Kunyuk School students themselves. Their favorite part so far, is a special plaque we had made for the event. It includes pictures of three students and will be hung on a wall in the Administrative offices of the school. The dedication ceremonies will also include tribal singing and dancing, country music provided by Big Kenny and speeches by Government of South Sudan officials and probably everybody else since these events tend to draw much enthusiasm from the community. Our hope is there will be more singing and less talking.

The all day celebration will be unique in many ways. It will connect people who but for the grace of God, might otherwise never have known each other existed. It will mark a big step in the liberation of generations of Sudanese women and ultimately the transformation of their communities. It will lift up the idea that nothing is impossible (with God).

We are expecting big things!!!!!

For Kaidi and Sarah Rial and Journey Productions Field Producer Yaimani Rivera, all part of the My Sisters’ Keepers Advance Team in Akon Sudan,

Peace…..Liz Walker

I am pretty sure that translucent powder is not mentioned in the Bible!


At first Sister Margaret appeared a bit shaken. The soft spoken nun from the Little Sisters of Assumption has confronted many difficult challenges in her work, but this was the first time she had ever faced a professional makeup artist. Even though the artist, Heidi Wells promised a light touch, for Sister Margaret, the idea of lipgloss and mascara was overwhelming! She acquiesced only after gentle persuasion.
While Sister Margaret might not be comfortable with makeup, she is an expert in the art of makeovers… by helping families create new lives that move them out of poverty. She is a co-founder of ONE FAMILY, one of the Bay state’s most effective organizations in tackling the complexities of family homelessness, the focus of a recent video created by my production company The Walker Group.
Photographer Bob Craigue and I spent a day learning the history of ONE FAMILY from Sister Margaret, and other co-founders Nancy Schwoyer, Melinda Marble and Dan Fireman whose family foundation has graciously underwritten the organization which supports the education of former homeless women.
In between the cameras, lights and microphones, we learned how committed the Fireman Family is to eradicating homelessness. It is a lofty goal, but doesn’t seem so impossible when you hear the stories of those whose lives have already been changed.
The scholars of ONE FAMILY come from all walks of life. They represent a myriad of races, cultures and experiences. They are bound together by their willingness to do the hard work that is involved in rebuilding their lives. Awilda Pimental is the single mother of a four year old boy who returned to school at UMASS Lowell after ten years struggling on her own. She has maintained a 4.0 average and has a promising future.



Jessica Marrocco has always dreamed of owning her own home. Thanks to the services, support and most importantly the college degree she received through the program, Jessica became ONE FAMILY’S first homeowner. Her teenage son Rosario now excels in school and sports in a community in which he feels very much at home.




Going back to school is not easy especially if you have children to feed and bills to pay. It takes courage and stamina, but women are succeeding every year because of the ONE FAMILY Program. They learn how to make good choices, manage their time and resources and they learn how to lead. For many of them, the scholars program offers the first opportunity at real success,…making up for a lot of lost dreams and lost time.



In the end Sister Margaret enjoyed Heidi’s fussing and brushing over her face and she looked beautiful. But then again, I’m pretty sure that was only about 10 percent Maybelline!!!!! You can find out more about the ONE FAMILY Scholars Program by logging onto www.onefamilyinc.org

Union Station is back to business.



It wasn't too long ago when the handsome young President and his stunning wife danced here, gliding across a makeshift stage, in a huge magical place that sparkled in white lights against blue curtains. Today, the cavernous room has morphed back into a train station, the loud music replaced by track announcements, the champagne replaced by Starbucks and I am on my way back home, tired but energized after witnessing the last leg of the extraordinary journey of this audacious young man with the funny name and the jumbled background who has made it from Kenya to Kansas to the White House.

What a weekend!

Everything is in motion! When our train slows down in Philadelphia, word spreads that we are right behind the President-elect’s whistle stop tour. The excitement is palpable as suddenly we find ourselves on track with history. By the time we pull into Baltimore’s Penn station, there, one track over, someone spots what we quickly dub the Obama Unlimited, a sleek Acela decorated in red white and blue bunting. The president- elect has gotten off to speak to supporters blocks away at a downtown rally but you wouldn’t know it by our reaction. We all burst into thunderous cheers and applause, snapping photos, calling friends and chanting “O-ba-ma!” We are eager to claim any inch of this man’s amazing journey.



By the time we arrive at Union Station, Washington DC is already one big festival of history and hope. Everybody has come here to celebrate. There are corporate parties and house parties. Carol Fulp, Vice President of Community Relations at Hancock Financial Services hosts an elegant reception at the historic Willard Hotel where Abraham Lincoln and his family stayed before his inauguration and Martin Luther King put the final touches on his “I have a dream” speech. The Reverends Ray Hammond and Gloria White-Hammond bring the invocation with a rock star flair. Boston's Richard Taylor, Dorothy Terrell and Al Brown, Claudette and Henry Crouse and Ron and Cheryl Homer are in the crowd. Late at night, there is a chili and champagne bash at the home of Hospitality icon, Bud Ward, the first African American senior vice president of Marriott Hotels. His son Chip Ward along with his wife Karen Holmes Ward welcome guests from all over the country including Boston's Duane and Debby Jackson, Carol Kelley and Atlanta's B Maynard Scarborough. Churches hold special Inaugural services. Spelman's Chaplain Lisa Rhodes and Morehouse's President Robert Franklin worship at Howard University's Cranston Hall where Reverend Jeremiah Wright encourages an overflow crowd to follow Barack in letting Jesus step into our stories. Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Beyonce and scores of other celebrities are sited among the crowds. The famous and the unknown brush shoulders in a city bursting at the seams, all thrilled to say “I was there” ! Next door to my hotel on New Hampshire Avenue, Delta Sigma Theta, one of the nation’s oldest black sororities, hosts an open house at its national headquarters, where hundreds of women, young and old patiently stand in line to celebrate their sisterhood and take pictures with a life-sized cardboard cutout of Barack. (I keep thinking “if only I brought my cardboard cutout I could make some money!!!!!)

The music is blaring on U Street where standing-room only crowds jam the night clubs and beautiful young couples line up out front of Ben’s Chili Bowl. This is the street where Duke Ellington grew up and Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway once performed. Drive-by entrepreneurs guard their opened car trunks displaying t-shirts, caps, posters, everything bearing the nation’s hottest selling brand name. “Obama -nation!” “Obama Mama!” “Obama the Bomba”! Before he is even sworn in, this daring Illinois politician single handedly generates a booming “street” economy!

There are a few cherished Obama sightings on Washington streets when, with sirens blaring, the stunning motorcade flies by, complete with hovering helicopters and motorcycles and big black suvs flanking a brand new armour plated stretch cadillac as the world’s most powerful man crisscrosses the district, dining with the elite, serving the poor and assuring all of us that he is indeed up to the task. And so are we.

While the scenes are amazing, it is the action of the weekend that is the heart of this new Obama “movement”. New acquaintances and conversations are as available as Obama buttons! While waiting for a train on the Dupont Circle Metro platform, I meet an 80 year old African American woman who, despite bad knees and heart, has taken a 14 hour bus ride into Washington from Nashville, Tennessee. “I’ve prayed for that boy and his family very morning from the moment I first saw him speak on TV. That’s been my job and I had to be here to see him take his new job.”

The weather this weekend is frigid. The nation’s capital is not used to this kind of artic chill; temperatures in the teens, winds whipping across the national mall. Yet, everywhere, the city is warm and flush with hospitality. This swearing in represents a turning point in history and millions from around the world have braved bad weather, circuitous routes, and uncertain times to be here for this spectacular kiaros moment.
Kairos is that point when God takes the lid off of possibilities and anything can happen!


There are free concerts, neighborhood parties and a day of service in which everyone is welcome to participate in anyway they choose. I join a group, led by Boston’s first lady Angela Menino, that helps serve food to more than 50 people at a soup kitchen in the Church of the Epiphany on G Street. For some, this is the first opportunity to spend Martin Luther King Day volunteering in a community. We work with a group from the energetic Youth Services Opportunities Project. All across DC, people are giving time and energy to all kinds of people and programs.



There are probably more volunteers than people being served! How many problems could we solve if there were this many people willing to give of themselves in this way everyday! Once again new connections are made and we all enthusiastically respond to the idea that “everybody can be great because everybody can serve.”



Tuesday morning brings bright sunshine and bone-chilling winds. Two million of us don long johns, ski masks and squeeze hand warmers as we make our way to the capital, each claiming a few inches of soil in the mile long space between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capital steps. Carol Fulp and I get to the Capital by 7:30 confident that we are early enough to find a good position in the coveted seated section closest to the swearing in ceremonies only to discover that thousands of others have been in line for the same section since 4:30 this morning. We run into Bennie Wiley and her beautiful daughter B.J. and the four of us chatter as the long line slowly snakes it way to the security checkpoint. It takes more than two hours to reach our seats. There are no complaints! 2 million people are standing behind us!
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Our view of the proceedings enhanced by one of scores of giant television monitors, we chant, cheer, and cry as the Swearing In Ceremony gets underway. The booming voice of an announcer explains each step and participant in the proceedings, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the joint chiefs of staff...” “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Congress of the United States...” As each group steps out into the West Front of the Capital, it becomes clearer to me just how momentous this transfer of power really is. Democracy, from this "upclose, in living color" perspective is breathtaking!



“Ladies and Gentlemen, the President-elect of the United States” As Barack Obama confidently makes his way into the magnificence of the scene. I am struck by his youth and vulnerability. Many of us have made him into Jesus, but he is only a man. What could be going through his mind as he takes in this sea of humanity stretching out in all directions before him? My tears flow. I am overcome by the sheer weight of the world on this young man’s shoulders.

“Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.”

In the days and weeks ahead, there will be much commentary and critique of Barack Obama’s inaugural address. His every word and movement will be analyzed and dissected, perhaps more than any other president in the history of this amazing country. He will make mistakes. There will be questionable decisions. And right or wrong, he will always be second-guessed. But on this day everything is perfect. The message is clear. Barack Obama is the message.



Before this day, I have never paid attention to a presidential swearing in. It never seemed to have anything to do with me. It was somebody else’s moment. It belonged to some other America. This morning I watch closely. I hungrily absorb the atmosphere and drink in its beauty. I am holding the bible for this bold young hero. I am delivering the oath (without mistake of course). I am a part of this. I helped make it possible.
This is Barack’s moment. It is America’s moment. It is mine.

Labels: Boston, hope, Kairos

Labels: Event