Emmanuel Jal Breaks 661-Day Fast

Oct. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- After fulfilling his commitment to successfully raise $220,000 for improving and extending primary school facilities in southern Sudan, Emmanuel Jal’s “Lose To Win” 661-day fast is complete. The Global Fund for Children is thrilled to have contributed the final $4,000 needed to meet the fundraising goal, and celebrates alongside Jal in breaking his fast. For nearly two years, the former child soldier and now world-famous musician has consumed no more than one simple meal a day, fasting in solidarity with the children in Sudan’s refugee camps until the total amount was raised.
 
In 2008, The Global Fund for Children provided Jal with $5,000 to help establish his charity, Gua Africa. The organization’s primary goal is providing education to former child soldiers and others in dire need of support in Sudan and Kenya. The funds raised by Jal’s Lose To Win campaign will go toward expanding and improving the two primary schools in Leer, Sudan. Jal will next move to the second phase of his fundraising plan, with a goal of building the first ever secondary school in Leer, which will be named after Emma McCune, who smuggled Jal and over 150 other child soldiers safely out of this war-ravaged region into Kenya.
 
In 2008, The Global Fund for Children helped fund an award-winning documentary film titled War Child, which tells Jal’s inspiring story. He was recruited and forced to fight in Sudan’s civil war, which spanned more than two decades. After years of violence and unspeakable hardships, he ran away from the rebel army and was eventually brought into Kenya, where he received an education and began to reshape his life. Jal turned to creating music and was met by unprecedented success in Africa and attention from around the world.

“Faith is what gives me hope to want to see tomorrow, but my music has become the pain killer for today, because it doesn’t mean the pain is not there,” said Jal at a gathering at The Global Fund for Children earlier this week. “So when I put myself in the music, that’s where I get to see heaven. That’s where I get to . . . to see the beauty of the world.”
 
Humanitarian work remains at the forefront of Jal’s life. His foundation, Gua Africa, works in Kenya and Sudan to assist individuals, families, and communities in overcoming the effects of war and poverty. With a special focus on education for children and young adults, Gua Africa builds schools and sponsors education for children from Nairobi’s slums and for war survivors in refugee camps in Sudan.

About The Global Fund for Children
The Global Fund for Children’s mission is to advance the dignity of children and youth around the world. GFC pursues its mission by making small grants to innovative community-based organizations working with some of the world’s most vulnerable children and youth. To date, GFC has awarded more than 2,900 grants valued at over $17.5 million. These grants have supported and strengthened more than 400 community-based organizations in 75 countries. More than 1 million children have benefited from the work of The Global Fund for Children.

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