Global
ANNA
Hope, Persistence & Inspiration
A
n odyssey of pain, struggle,
heartache and determination has
become one of hope and healing
for 15-year-old Anna, from Juba,
South Sudan.
Anna was 12 years old and alone in a shack of
a refugee camp in Juba when her life changed.
She was cooking food when she suffered an
epileptic seizure and fell face first into a blazing
fire that consumed the left side of her face,
eye, nose, ear and mouth leaving her terribly
deformed. She was taken to a hospital in Juba
where they did not have the know-how or
facilities to care for her burns.
Anna and Bill Cook
There she received ordinary dressing, and after a
long time the wounds closed, leaving disfiguring
permanent scars and constant pain. The upper
and lower eyelids were constricted, she could
not open or close her eye and part of her mouth
was permanently open with her teeth exposed.
She started covering her face to keep the flies
and dust away. She dropped out of school and
became a beggar. Anna’s parents were unable
to care for her due to the ongoing war in South
Sudan.
Six months after the fire, the nonprofit Confident
Children out of Conflict discovered Anna and
stepped in to help her. “There is a terrible
situation in Juba with on-going conflict and
no social services,” said Cathy Groenendijk,
Executive Director of Confident Children out of
Conflict. After initially accepting her as a patient,
a children’s hospital in the United States had to
subsequently deny care. Anna, who had become
hopeful, slipped back into depression, anger and
hopelessness and was reduced to a masked
beggar around the refugee camp.
Anna in the Juba camp
78 GBSAN.COM | FEBRUARY 2020
In February 2018, Bill Cook, founder of The
Bill Cook Foundation, and Groenendijk helped