Over the past two weeks, the Office of Spiritual Development at Belmont University has led a campus-wide focus on Africa by looking intently at the needs of Sudan. One initiative over the past two weeks has been a challenge for the Belmont community to drink only water and donating the money saved from not buying coffee, soft drinks and other beverages to well-drilling projects in Sudan led by Blood:Water Mission, an organization whose mission is to reduce the impact of the African HIV/AIDS pandemic and to promote clean blood and water in Africa by giving Africans the tools they need to improve health and sanitation in their communities.
To mark the end of this two-week program, a Thanksgiving Service for Sudan was held on Belmont’s campus today. Belmont students, faculty and staff were given the opportunity to give the money they saved over the past two weeks in an offering. Special guest speakers at the service included Amr Ali, a Sudanese student at Belmont; Jena Lee, the executive director of Blood:Water Mission; and William Mwizerwa, a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda who now works with Sudanese refugees in the United States. Belmont’s Chadasha Choir also performed.
