Our History
In 2003, at the urging of a missionary, a group of concerned U.S. citizens raised funds and built a medical facility in the remote village of Akot, South Sudan. Though modest, no other facility of similar scope existed within a four-hour drive.
Thanks to the generosity of many donors, especially Guy and Betty Beatty, funds were raised to build a larger and better equipped facility.
Undeveloped land was set aside for the facility by Chief Dut of Akot. A team of architects from Charleston, South Carolina, led by Glenn Keyes, donated their time to design the buildings.
A modern brickmaking machine employing a relatively new technology was purchased. The machine manufactures bricks using soil from the site with a small amount of added cement. Under the direction of Daven Acker (U.S.) and Peter Njenga (Kenya), dozens of local laborers constructed the facility over an eleven-month period.
The facility, named the Akot Medical Mission, opened in 2006 with a celebration by local tribal and church leaders. The facility was initially led by Dr. Jeffery Deal, an American surgeon, supplemented by numerous American volunteers. The facility had an immediate impact, resulting in around 38,000 patient visits per year.
Following construction of the medical mission facility, the brickmaking machine was used to construct a non-denominational mixed Christian and community high school in nearby Atiaba, about four miles away. The nonprofit, Hope and Resurrection Secondary School
(https://www.hopeforhumanityinc.org), is a separately constituted organization. It works collaboratively with HHASS to serve the needs of the people of central Lakes State. Despite its desperately remote location, Hope and Resurrection enjoys a reputation as one of the finest secondary schools in South Sudan. Its scholars score among the top of graduates nationally in college placement examinations. Recent graduates include Dr. China Kuot, MD, the medical director of HHASS, and Awut Mayom Agok, the Minister of Education for Warrup State, South Sudan.
Despite the promising start, the medical facility was abandoned a few years later by the U.S. nonprofit organization to whom it was entrusted. In the following years of neglect, the facility fell into disrepair and disuse. Tens of thousands of preventable deaths occurred in the next seventeen years, mostly among children from malaria. Conditions have worsened recently, primarily from regional armed conflicts and pressures resulting from changing weather patterns. An influx of refugees into Akot has increased the need for medical services. A camp, consisting of make-shift tarps and other temporary materials, houses 800 refugees less than a mile from the medical facility.
