A helpful message

Fort Recovery native Scott Will has spent much of the last 10 years providing healthcare to struggling communities in northeast Africa.

Will recently returned from a stint in Uganda, providing medical treatment to refugees fleeing a bloody civil war in South Sudan. He shared stories about his experience Friday morning to students at Fort Recovery Elementary and Middle School.

Before the Sudanese civil war started in 2013, Will lived and worked in a small village in South Sudan. About a decade ago, he was on the front lines of an ebola outbreak that left hundreds dead, including a doctor Will worked with. But Will was forced out by fighting that erupted near his home.

“The last week that I was there (in South Sudan), there was major fighting all around my house. I was laying on the floor and there were bullets flying around my house,” Will said. “That’s the reality that many people in South Sudan face every single day.”

That village has since been destroyed in the fighting, and it’s too dangerous for Will to try to enter the country now.

So he has spent time working in Uganda to provide medical treatment to hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the violence.

Will said there are a series of refugees camps all along the border between Uganda and South Sudan. In December, the Ugandan government and international aid agencies set up an additional camp to handle the high volume of people streaming across the border. Within two weeks, the camp already was home to 50,000 new refugees.

In his remarks to the students, Will emphasized the importance of confronting their fears, being compassionate toward others and understanding that differences with other people and cultures are positive, not negative.

“I’ve learned far more from people that are different than me than people who are like me,” Will told students. “We have a lot to learn from other people … Just because someone is different doesn’t mean they’re bad.”

Will hopes to get back to Uganda as soon as possible to help with the crisis. Next week, he’s taking a disaster relief humanitarian training course, and he plans to work on short-term travel contracts in the United States until he gets a chance to return to Africa.

“Things are just so bad right now in South Sudan,” Will said. “Everyone is suffering so much.”

On Feb. 20, a famine was declared across portions of South Sudan. Will said he’s seen countless children suffering from extreme malnourishment.

“I have seen so many kids die in my life … from lack of food,” Will said. “For us in America, that’s something we cannot imagine. For a lot of people around the world, that’s their every day life.”

He said the refugees have told him stories of unspeakable rapes, murders and other atrocities.

“Everyone that we’re seeing is traumatized. Physically, mentally, emotionally. The suffering is just unfathomable,” Will said.

But despite the horrifying pain caused by the civil war and the emotional toll it has on anyone involved, Will is still committed to helping in any way he can.

“Most of my life, I’ve continued to ask myself … where can I be most helpful?” Will said. “I want to go places where I can be most helpful.”