BBC News, Washington

The US Treasury said exports would be allowed of services related to web browsing, blogging, e-mail, instant messaging, chat, social networking and photo- and movie-sharing.

The move was intended to “ensure that individuals in these countries can exercise their universal right to free speech and information to the greatest extent possible”, it said.

“As recent events in Iran have shown, personal internet-based communications like e-mail, instant messaging and social networking are powerful tools,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said.

The department has allowed the export of services to all three countries, and the export of communications software only to Iran and Sudan, as the export of software to Cuba is governed by the commerce department.

Last year, software giant Microsoft barred users in five countries, including Iran, Cuba and Sudan, from using instant messaging services. People trying to use the service received an error message.

It is not clear whether the governments affected will be able impose their own restrictions on these services.

In Cuba, the numbers of internet users is still very low, so lifting sanctions may not have a major impact, observers say.

Earlier this year, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US would be supporting the development of new tools to enable citizens to circumvent politically-motivated censorship.

Any country which restricted free access to information risked “walling themselves off from the progress of the next century”, she added.

Toothpaste - 127 tubes
Toothbrushes - 216
Dental Floss - 47
Mouthwash - 8 bottles
Soap - 39 bars
Bandages - 39 rolls
Bandage Tape - 5 rolls
Gloves - 7 boxes
Q Tips - 2 boxes
Hand sanitizer - 12 bottles
Hydrogen Peroxide - 13 bottles
Vitimans - 7 bottles
Children’s Tylenol - 10 bottles
Infant Drops - 1 bottle
Asprin - 4 bottles
Tylenol - 2 bottles
Advil - 2 bottles
Antibacterial Wipes - 10 containers
Antibiotic Ointment - 22 tubes
Band Aids - 13 boxes
Betadine - 2 bottles
Clorox Wipes - 2 containers
Shampoo - 2 bottles
Antibacterial Soap - 2 bottles
Pens - 6 boxes
Caps - 9

Our friend Donnie Brake will travel to Boma, Sudan on Tuesday, March 9. We are trying to collect medical supplies to send with him. There is a great need for the following as the tiny medical clinic in the area was shut down last week. This is a list of the items needed.

- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Band Aids (all sizes)
- Neosporin/Antibiotic ointment
- Latex gloves
- Antibacterial wipes
- Pain killers (Tylenol/Advil)
- Children’s Tylenol/Motrin
- Children’s vitamins
- Soap (bars and liquid)
- Hand sanitizer

Please contact us at ryan@partnersonline.org if you would like to donate any of the items on the list and we will arrange a pick up. A flyer with the complete list is available at http://www.partnersonline.org/files/boma_supplies.pdf.

We made the decision to adopt in July 2004 on a boat in the waters around Cape Town, South Africa. Kayla and I had agreed that we would start a family after we visited my home nation together. It was one of those arrangements where men and women have completely different perspectives. My wife agreed to wait that long to have kids and I was proud of myself for buying that much time. As the time for our trip approached she reminded me of our deal. I had secretly hoped that she had forgotten. The prospect of being a parent terrified me. We were both open to adoption and had not tried to conceive. So she contacted several agencies and we took all of their materials with us. We would be together on three flights totaling 23 hours to get to my hometown. We spent some time reading and discussing the materials but I was still not sure what to do.

After a wonderful vacation it was finally time to come home. We had tried (unsuccessfully) each of the three days we were in Cape Town to take the boat out to Seal Island. Seal Island was featured on the Discovery Channel during Shark Week because of the jumping Great White sharks who feed on the seals. We were not aware of this phenomenon when we climbed on the boat that morning. We didn’t want to get wet we decided to sit on the sheltered deck where we were joined by 15 kids from a local orphanage. I have never been around happier children. They sang all the way out and all the way back. I was so moved. I felt like we had been given a sign. As we drove to the airport I said to my wife “I think we’re supposed to adopt”.

We went to an information meeting, picked an agency and became licensed foster parents soon afterwards. We became the proud and very nervous parents of a beautiful four pound, four month old baby girl in March 2005. After years of mediations, negotiations and other trials we were finally able to adopt Tori on April 30, 2008.

I just got back into Nairobi tonight (Wed). I feel tired and extremely DIRTY! The Sudan is like nothing I have ever experienced in Africa! Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw and experienced over the past 6 days. It is wild beyond anything I imagined. There is a vibrant community of NGOs and other aid workers (mostly American) operating from Nairobi, Loki, and into southern Sudan. I have met so many other Americans and some Europeans who are working here. The UN World Food Programme has a warehouse in lower Boma. We transported tons of US AID up the 3500 ft climb to our compound in upper Boma. I don’t know how we got that truck up that mountain, because it is dishonest to call that rocky trail a road. Owww! Right at the end of the muddy airstrip we saw the burned out remains of a UN plane that crashed a few weeks ago. That’s what you want to see when you are coming in to land! I spent 6 long days up on that mountain. What did we do? We had meetings (negotiations) with the area chiefs, we made bricks, helped with construction of the second set of classrooms, conducted a pastor training workshop, trekked to several villages with a 60-pound generator to show “The Jesus movie,” and maybe most important - we spent the afternoons sitting under the mango trees drinking tea. And then there’s the truck getting stuck in the mud halfway up the mountain. We had to go dig it out. But we won’t talk about that right now On Saturday the Murle tribe had a strange chest-thumping partnering dance - kind of like an ancient mating ritual. Seeking adventure, I joined in. When someone told me that I may have to take a Sudanese woman home, I ran back to the compound and hid away! We were in an area of the Sudan controlled by SPLA rebels. I managed to befriend their commander, “Chief Lino.” It would have been awesome to pop off a few rounds of his AK47. I asked, but he said no. He did offer, however, that any of his soldiers would come to my aid any time. Nice! On Sunday we went for a walk to check out the old airstrip on the far side of the plateau. A few hours later we ran into a de-mining team from the UN who informed us that we had been walking through an area with landmines!! That’s too much danger. Good thing we are off that mountain and back in the relative safety of Nairobi, Kenya.

Posted by Charles North

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has returned to Darfur, in another show of defiance to the international court seeking his arrest for alleged war crimes in the region.

The Sudanese president addressed thousands of supporters Wednesday in the southern Darfur town of Nyala.

Waving his cane at times, Mr. Bashir denounced Western countries for allegedly trying to divide Sudan, and vowed the International Criminal Court would never touch him.

He also called for Darfur rebels to lay down their arms, saying the government is working on a series of development projects in the region.

This is Mr. Bashir’s second visit to Darfur since the court issued a warrant for his arrest two weeks ago.

Prosecutors accuse him of masterminding a campaign of rape, murder and other crimes against civilians in Darfur, where his government has been fighting rebels since 2003.

Soon after the court’s action, Sudan said it would expel 13 foreign aid groups active in Darfur. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Mr. Bashir would be held responsible for every death caused by that decision.

Also Tuesday, the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur said unknown gunmen had killed a soldier near Nyala.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later said he deeply regrets the death and is concerned about security threats to the peacekeeping mission.

The attack near Nyala was the second time this month unknown gunmen have ambushed peacekeepers in Darfur.

The United Nations says the fighting and related violence in Darfur has killed more than 200,000 people, and displaced more than 2.5 million others. Sudan says the death toll is around 10,000.

Taken from Voice of America News - http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-18-voa19.cfm

It’s just past 9am on Thursday March 12. Yesterday’s travel wasn’t too rough, though transferring from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 at Heathrow was a sticky mess!! I have never seen so many people packed shoulder to shoulder in my life. I did run into the South African baseball team though. What are the odds? We arrived at Jomo Kinyata Airport in Nairobi at about 10pm last night. When you step off a plane in Africa there are very distinctive sounds and smells that are really familiar to me, and always bring back a flood of memories - both good and bad. Your senses are immediately assaulted with a feeling like “It’s still 1975 around here.” And then the slowness begins! NO ONE is in a hurry here - ever! But, TIA. (This is Africa) That’s part of the charm I suppose.

I have just enjoyed one of those leisurely African breakfasts at a missionary compound called “The Mayfield House.” African slowness means you get to sit around and drink lots of coffee and talk. I just met an American woman over breakfast who returned from the Sudan yesterday. Her MAF charter flight had to detour to pick up 5 people who had gunshot wounds from a raid on a tribal village close to where we are going. So, I am scared and excited - but mostly excited!

We’ll spend today in Nairobi, and then we leave at 6am on Friday morning for the Sudan. Please keep us in your prayers. The adventure begins

Posted by Charles North

I love Africa. In many ways Africa is still my home. I was born in Africa. I lived in South Africa for the first 20 years of my life. The sounds, the smells, and the tastes of Africa are real to me. The people are wonderful. They are full of joy. They are welcoming and hospitable. And yet most of Africa is a continent without much hope for its people. Extreme poverty is not a cause but a result of Africa’s problems. According to Genocide Watch, since 1960 about 9 million Africans had been killed through genocide, mass murder, and targeted starvation. The Sudan, in particular, is a nation in turmoil. Northern Sudan is Islamic, southern Sudan is Christian and Darfur in the west is an area of continual genocide.

A group of Sudanese church leaders met in 2004 to formulate a plan to begin the process of restoration in the lives of their people after more than two decades of devastating war. During this meeting, an organization was founded – The Sudan Evangelical Alliance (SEA). SEA exists to offer financial, educational, and spiritual support in order to bring new life and hope to the people of the southern Sudan.

When asked to prioritize the needs of their people, the local leaders of SEA said that giving their children a better life through education was at the top of their list. After some investigation, the SEA identified an isolated and impoverished tribal community in southeastern Sudan called Boma. A majority of the people in Boma are presently trapped with little hope for a better future. There has never been a functioning school or church in Boma. After meeting with the tribal chiefs and sharing with them the desire to help build a school, their response was to give 52 acres of land for this project. With two classrooms completed, “Faith Learning Center” opened for kindergarten and first grade in January of 2008. Work has begun on the next phase of additional classrooms which will house a secondary school. The school building project also serves as a workshop for training local Sudanese men to gain skills in brick making and construction. After developing part of the land as a farm, each household in Boma was provided with seed to plant corn using farming techniques taught them to raise their own food. The first harvest in Boma took place in July of 2007 amid much rejoicing. The school itself will have a farm from which students will be fed and the surplus sold to help pay teacher’s salaries. Parents will work at the school and farm as payment for their children attending. The SEA hopes to be sending teams of medical personnel to begin training in community health issues and initiate the process of opening a clinic in Boma. While all of this is taking place, the teachers, staff, and volunteers will be sharing the gospel with the people not only in word, but also in loving actions.

Each aspect of the Boma project is designed to train the local people with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to independently operate the school and farm. When sufficient progress has been achieved in Boma and the school can stand on its own, its operation will be turned over to local leadership. (Please watch the video below)

So, how do I fit into all of this? One of the organizations supporting the SEA’s Boma project is Partners in Hope. Their goal is to raise funds to build an orphanage and boarding facility close to the school. As the school grows this will be a necessity. Since I have taken survey trips and medical missions to Africa as part of my work with the East-Reach mission in Zambia, I have been asked to take a trip to the southern Sudan in order to meet with local leaders, villagers, and children. My task will be to assess needs, get my “hands dirty” with construction and farming, and return to the U.S. with information to assist in raising the funds needed for constructing an orphanage. I will be departing on March 10th, and will return on March 24th. The total cost for this survey trip is $3000. This covers airfare to Nairobi Kenya, a charter flight to Boma, lodging, food, and travel visas.

If any of my friends and readers would like to help with this effort, I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for safety and success. If you are able to, I would especially appreciate your financial assistance. Any amount will help. If you are interested in being a part of my new and exciting opportunity to spread hope in a very dark part of Africa, please contact me soon. My email address is: charles@partnersonline.org. You can also contact Ryan at Partners in Hope. His email is: ryan@partnersonline.org.

God bless you, and Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika (God bless Africa).

- Charles North