At a January 22 fundraiser organized by Point Roberts health practitioner Annelle Norman,  volunteers make Valentine's Day cards that will be sold to raise money for freeing South Sudanese slaves. Photo by Meg Olson.



Local health care practitioner Annelle Norman is organizing a series of Valentine’s Day events as fundraisers to help free slaves in Northern Sudan.

At a kickoff event on Sunday, January 22, at Trinity Lutheran Church, more than a dozen people got together to make Valentine’s Day cards, which will be sold for $5 each to raise money for Christian Solidarity International (CSI).

Norman has been fundraising for CSI for nine years, after learning of the plight of southern Sudanese who were captured by militias during the country’s long civil war and sold into slavery to northern cattle farmers. “Even though there is a peace accord there has been no repatriation of these people,” she said.

CSI raises funds to buy cattle vaccines, which Norman said cost $50 a bottle. “They trade that bottle of vaccine for a human,” she said, and the freed slave is given basic supplies and returned to southern Sudan, where most are reunited with family.

A second Valentine’s Day card-making party is planned for Saturday, January 28, at Home of the Heart on the corner of Benson and Tyee Drive. “It’s a bit like a quilting bee,” she said. “We all get together and have fun making something that will truly make a huge difference.” Norman is also looking for anyone who might want to join the effort and host a card-making party.

The cards will be for sale at Brewsters Fine Foods, Home of the Heart, The Salon and the Point Roberts Library.

On February 9, Norman is presenting a wine and chocolate tasting at Brewsters, featuring a tasting flight for $14, with all proceeds going to benefit CSI’s slave repatriation efforts. “All of the costs are covered,” Norman said. “I am donating the wine and chocolate, Joan is donating the space, and the staff are donating their time.”

The event will also feature a silent auction and Valentines for sale.

For more information about events and how to participate, or to offer donations for the silent auction, contact Norman at 360/945-5070.

For more information on CSI’s efforts in Sudan go to the group's website.