THE SOUTHERN SUDAN PROJECT
Charley Anderson travelled to Southern Sudan for the first time in October 1995 as sound engineer for a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary production sponsored by UNICEF about the United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan. At the time of the Sudan trip he was living and working in Mombassa, Kenya, a far cry from his years as founding member of The Selecter and member and manager of the Century Steel Band. Initially, Charley considered the offer to film in southern Sudan as an interesting experience and a chance to earn some extra cash. In fact, the people he met, the situations he encountered, and the chances he had to listen and observe while filming ended up changing his life.Before flying into Akot, Charley knew very little about the long standing war being waged on the southern (Christian and animist) people by the Government forces of the Arab north. In any event, it would have been impossible for him, as an outsider, to be mentally and emotionally prepared for what he was about to witness. As the camera rolled, Charley began recording first hand stories of a suffering people; massive destruction caused by widespread bombings; terror provoked by the constant raids; entire villages burning to the ground in the night amid the cries of the desperate inhabitants fleeing into the bush; the anguish of parents seeing their children kidnapped and sold into slavery or forcefully recruited as soldiers, never to be seen again.
Two weeks later, the crew packed up and returned to Kenya. This could have meant the end of the story for Charley but, in fact, it was only the beginning. Haunted by images of a ruthless war bent on exterminating an entire people, Charley went to work in the only way he knows how, through his music. Sleepless nights and endless days spent in his small recording studio at the Reef Hotel with a handful of Kenyan musician friends, Charley composed and recorded eleven songs whose lyrics serve as a living document of what is happening in southern Sudan to the Dinka, Nuba, Nuer, Murle peoples, as well as the members of some 50 other ethnic groups who have been living in the region for generations and whose very existence is today threatened because of a civil war that has been raging for over forty years.
The rest is up to anyone who would like to listen to these tracks and, we hope, if so inspired, to make a donation to Charley Anderson’s Southern Sudan Project. Since the recording and production costs have already been met, virtually all proceeds will go to aid the construction of a women and children’s clinic in southern Sudan, where infant mortality is one of the highest in the world, where one out of every ten babies die before they reach their first birthday, and where 50% of all women who die, die in childbirth. Any and all contributions are urgent and welcome, since Sudan, including vast areas in the southern lands, is currently caught in the grips of a deadly drought, which threatens to kill more than one million people. Your financial support and willingness to spread the word are appreciated in advance.