Saving lives in the Sudan

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) - No running water, a hole in the ground serving as a toilet  and scarce food are just a few of the things Lynn Denton faced when she spent three weeks in southern Sudan last November.

"It was very intense," explained Denton.  "I would say every day felt like a week long and three weeks felt like three months long."

Denton is a brand manager with Medair International , a Switzerland based non-governmental organization that provides relief and responds to natural disasters, conflicts that uproot communities, and crises such as drought or disease in impoverished countries.

She said she took the trip to observe company workers provide basic medical care to hundreds in need there.

Her work helped some fight an outbreak of kala azar, a tropical disease that has never been seen in the United States.

"One child, I saw Dr. Jill right there transfer blood from the mother and just put it right into the child to save his life right there because he was at a crisis point with the disease," Denton recalled.

Dr. Jill is an American doctor from Seattle who volunteers her time in Sudan eight months out of the year, Denton said.

Another baby was not as fortunate. Also in need of a blood transfusion, the child's mother did not make it in time and the child died right in front of Denton.

Denton said to treat the tropical disease, those infected need to get a daily shot for about a month. Word of this cure drew hundreds in need of medical help.

"Medair's doctor and Dr. Jill put headlamps on and were working, it didn't stop when the sun when down," Denton explained.

Conditions were so dire in Sudan, Denton doesn't believe Central Texans would believe it.

"Seeing hundreds of people lying on the ground because they walked with nothing and they might have a palette they're sleeping on under the tree," Denton added.

Denton is closely watching the outcome of a referendum that could result in southern Sudan becoming its own country.

She told KXAN many of the Sudanese she worked with were excited to vote.

Denton said if and when the referendum is final, it will take the international community to make sure the new country succeeds.

"They [Sudanese] don't want our money, they want our help and knowledge," Denton explained.

Denton will return to her home in Switzerland this week and would like to return to south Sudan to continue providing medical care to those in need in the near future.