S.F. group helps South Sudan orphans - San Francisco Chronicle

When Seamus Canning, a San Francisco contractor, recounts his April trip to volunteer at an orphanage for rescued child soldiers in South Sudan, he pulls out a bound book of photographs he took with his iPhone.

As he flips through the pages, he recalls the names of almost every child pictured - those playing soccer with a ball he brought for them, those lying down for a midday nap, and those who were older and carrying guns to protect the orphanage from potential attacks.

"At first, it was real intense with all the conflict in the area," Canning said. "But once I was with the kids, all those concerns went away. I wanted to do whatever I could to help make their lives better."

Canning, 40, was so moved by his experience that he organized another trip to the orphanage. He left Friday with four friends from the Bay Area to help build a trade school for the more than 200 children living in the Children's Village in Nimule, near the border with Uganda.

The orphanage was built in 1998 by the nonprofit Angels of East Africa and its founder, Sam Childers, a one-time motorcycle gang member from Pennsylvania who had converted to Christianity six years earlier. The first children housed there were rescued from Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, a guerrilla group notorious for human rights abuses including its use of underage soldiers. The group is still fighting in South Sudan and neighboring countries in East Africa.

Canning was spurred to action after seeing a film based on Childers' story, "Machine Gun Preacher." Within three weeks, he was en route to South Sudan.

"We come from a culture where kids have everything," Canning said. "When you go there, it puts you back in reality. This exists in the 21st century, where some people have absolutely zero, nothing."

Recruiting friends

When he returned to San Francisco, Canning started lobbying acquaintances to help. One was Oakland resident Joan O'Neill, Canning's bookkeeper and friend of 15 years.

"I've been fed up traveling and nothing being accomplished by it," O'Neill said. "So when Seamus said he was going to go again, I told him he had to take me."

Joining them on this trip are San Francisco residents and contractors Liam Fleming, James Marron and Mike McKay. O'Neill's brother, Sean, is traveling from Ireland to meet the group.

The Angels of East Africa organizes six or so mission trips to South Sudan a year for groups of about 20 people at a time, said the group's office manager, Justin Wirick. The total cost to volunteers is $4,200.

In addition to paying for the trip, the San Francisco group raised $14,000 for the Angels of East Africa through donations and a fundraiser at which Childers spoke. Canning and Co. are also bringing clothes and letters to the children at the orphanage from students from St. Cecilia's School in San Francisco.

Praying for group

Maureen Cassidy, a third-grade teacher at St. Cecilia's, became involved after O'Neill's niece asked if the class could pray for the group. The students gathered more than 20 bags of clothing and shoes, she said.

"At our school, the goal is to be active Christians and help others," Cassidy said. "It's been a really nice experience for them and for me, as a teacher, to see what one idea can make happen."

Each member of the San Francisco group brought at least five bags filled with donated goods, tools and personal items for children who have next to nothing.

On his last trip, Canning said, he took three boys to a market and told them to buy whatever they wanted. They picked out two dictionaries each, one English and one Arabic.

"I said, 'Go get yourselves chocolate and toys,' and they said, 'No, we need these things more. We want to better ourselves,' " he said. "That's something, isn't it?"