The Maine-African Partnership for Social Justice (MAPSJ)

Mission Statement

As a 501c3 family non-profit, we have two missions at MAPSJ.

  1. In Maine, MAPSJ  sponsors the Maine-African Partnership for Social Justice Scholarship. Each year since 2008, a first-generation African immigrant senior graduating from Portland High School has been awarded a two-year scholarship to attend Southern Maine Community College. The state of Maine has recently initiated a program to pay tuition for all Maine graduates to attend community college. We are pausing the scholarship in 2025 to assess other ways we can support our scholarship awardees.

  2. In Africa, MAPSJ develops partnerships with U.S. and African organizations to enhance the delivery of medical and educational services to under-served populations, particularly in the Kit River region of South Sudan and in the Kiryandongo UN Refugee settlement in northern Uganda where many of the Kit River region South Sudanese have fled.

The leadership of MAPSJ in South Sudan and Uganda From left to right: Margaret Atto, Benson Komakech, Jackline Lajara, and Director of MAPSJ operations, Robert Owot, with Dr. Chuck Radis

2025 The Return to South Sudan

Although many of our friends have returned to Nyolo, South Sudan where MAPSJ trained l6 traditional birth attendants in prevention and treatment of birth complications in 2012, tragedy struck the community once again in February 2025. Forty-one villagers were massacred in Nyolo by rival tribes. Despite this, the community continues to rebuild their school and local programs are providing relief. Through a one-time donation from a regular donor, MAPSJ was able to support the repair of more than a half-dozen wells in the area by local technicians trained several years ago with MAPSJ financial support.

2024 The Migration back to South Sudan

With improving conditions in South Sudan, some of the refugees from the UN Kiryandongo Settlement in Uganda have moved back to South Sudan, to the village of Nyolo, where MAPSJ previously supported infrastructure and public health programs. Returning villagers found that the roof of the primary school had been blown off from a severe storm. Despite this, the school has reopened. Five of the teachers salaries are supported through donations from MAPSJ. School fees, scholastic materials, and lunches are provided to 8 orphans.

Our Women’s Group, Kam Kwoki and Youth Group remain active with projects in the settlement and in Nyolo such as the buying and selling of produce, making liquid soap, and animal husbandry.

 

2023 A Year of Progress in the UN Kiryandongo Settlement

Despite the Covid epidemic, our sister non-profit in the UN settlement, the Partnership for Community Development, was able to continue critically needed programs. Immunization educational programs were carried out by our health educators and the Women’s Group, Kam Kwoki. Our Youth Group raised pigs for market and has gained experience in managing a small business. The computer center has taught teachers computer literacy and provided critically needed income for to refugees by charging phones, and providing copy services in the UN settlement.

2022 Covid in Africa: New Challenges in the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement

Despite the tragedy of Covid-19, your donations allowed us to continue critically needed programs. By working with our non-profit partner, the Partnership for Community Development (comprised of and founded by South Sudanese refugees within the Kiryandongo UN Refugee Settlement) we fully funded our programs. The computer center (powered by solar panels) is up and running. The pandemic has temporarily shut down the Bidong school but we are optimistic that it will re-open soon.

2020 A Glimpse of Hope in South Sudan

In February of 2020, only weeks before travel was restricted by the Covid virus pandemic, Dr. Chuck Radis, the medical director of the Maine-African Partnership for Social Justice, traveled to Uganda to help coordinate public health project with our South Sudanese sister organization, the Partnership for Community Development. Headed by Robert Owot, and with a capable leadership team, the two organizations continue their vital work in the Kiryandongo United Nations refugee settlement. The Bidong school was provided with 4 computers and school supplies to supplement the use of RACHEL, a remote teaching tool. The technology has been eagerly adopted by the teaching staff.

2018 South Sudanese refugees

In 2018, Dr. Chuck Radis and Charlie Roscoe visited the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement and met with leaders of the South Sudan community. School supplies donated by the Peaks Island grammar school were delivered to the Bidong school within the refugee settlement. Kam Kwoki, a local women’s club received a shipment of reusable menstrual pads sewn by the Maine Federation of Women’s Clubs, to distribute to girls in the settlement school. Charlie Roscoe and headmaster Joseph Okeny initiated the use of RACHEL, a remote access teaching tool for eight graders in the St. Bakhita School within the settlement. 

2017 Kiryandongo UN Refugee Settlement

In 2017, Dr. Chuck Radis visited the Kiryandongo United Nations Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda several times, where many of our friends from the Kit River region of South Sudan have fled. The 350 children from the Nyolo School in South Sudan are now attending the Bidong Primary School in the settlement. Robert Owot (our South Sudanese coordinator) has an excellent team with capable leaders in Public Health (Margaret Allo), vocational training (Jackline LaJara), and education and computer training (Benson Komakech). The Maine Chapter of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (MGFWC) provided critical assistance with school supplies to the Bidong school. A computer lab powered by solar panels is now up and running with the ongoing partnership of MAPSJ and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Maine

2016 Partnership with the Maine Chapter of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs

Although 2016 was marked by violence in South Sudan, the villages in the Kit River region continued to work in collaboration to maintain health and education services. The Maine Chapter of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs partnered with MASPSJ  to ensure that every student—both boys and girls—has the opportunity to learn. Their fundraising enabled many of the orphans in the region to attend school for the first time. With violence intensifying, at the end of 2016, many of our friends from the Kit River region fled south into Uganda to the Kiryandongo United Nations Refugee Settlement.

2015 Well Repair Project for the Kit River Region

In response to a cholera outbreak in the Kit River Region, MAPSJ partnered with USAID to repair local wells in the Kit River Region. The focus of the project was to train and equip local villagers so that well breakdowns can be repaired with local resources and trained technicians. The five-day training program for South Sudanese well technicians was a success. Five villagers graduated and repaired eleven wells. We are proud of the efforts which the Village Health Organization committed to this important public safety effort.

We have been informed that in 2015, not a single mother was lost in child-birth. We attribute this to the knowledge and talent of the traditional birth attendants who attended our 2012 and 2013 training programs.

2014 Support for the Nyolo Hope Primary School

MAPSJ was proud to be a financial contributor towards the opening of the Nyolo Hope Primary School. MAPSJ provided a lap-top computer for our South Sudanese coordinator, Robert Owot, and also helped purchase bicycles for our traditional birth attendants. Unfortunately, after only three years as an independent country, South Sudan is once again at war, this time between rival militia groups.

2013 South Sudan First Aid Training Program

Daniel Crothers and Charles Radis DO, returned to South Sudan to provide a 4 day First-Aid program for 50 villagers.  Medical students Will Douglas, Sean Lena, and Lindsay Katona from the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Dr. Kyle Ratner assisted in teaching the Solo Schools Wilderness Medicine course, and also evaluated basic First-Aid knowledge in our participants both before and after the training. The results of their research were published the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Many thanks to Frank Hubbell D.O., founder of SOLO Wilderness Medical School for offering the first-aid course free of charge to participants. Our traditional birth attendants from 2012 underwent a review course in prenatal care and the recognition and treatment of birth complications.

2012 South Sudan Medical Field Trip

In 2012, MAPSJ Medical Directors, Daniel Crothers and Dr. Charles Radis, traveled to the Kit River region of South Sudan to coordinate the training of l6 traditional birth attendants (TBA). The women received durable medical equipment and were trained in pre-natal care and recognition of birth complications in a program developed by the Massachusetts General Hospital. Many thanks to Thomas F. Burke, MD, head of the Division of Global Health and Human Rights at the Massachusetts General Hospital for his help in coordinating the program with MAPSJ.