Draft:Marial Lou

Marial Lou, established in 1994, presently remains one of the key and important towns in Warrap state, providing excellent health, educational, market of cows, and livestock services. Lou Paher are the people who inhabit it. It is bordered to the east by Romic, Kacuat in the south, Rualbet in the west and Akop in the northwest and River Nile in the north.

When the war broke out again in the Sudan between North and South in 1983, the territory of Lou Paher was under the rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) which were favored by the local people as they were considered fighting for a just cause-freedom for the African people of the South.

In 1994, SPLA ordered the civilians to cut down trees and opened it, declaring it safe for humanitarian flights landing and air dropping. There were many other Marials such as Marial Baai, where humanitarian centers were opened and to differentiate it, Lou, the name of the people of the area was added to be called as Marial Lou meaning, the land of the Lou people.

On September 15th 1994, Apostolic administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek, Ceasar Mazzolari who had sent Fr. Benjamin Madol Akot to assess the area to see its suitability to open a mission there, declared and opened it a mission-named Daniel Comboni. There was to be a primary school named Comboni primary school and dispensary for minor treatment to pupils and leprosy. Fr. Benjamin Madol Akot, now known as the founder of the mission remains a very popular figure within the local population praised for opening eyes of their children to see education (Gray et al. 2001).

In 1998, one of the severest famines stroke the SPLA liberated areas as a result of the long drought and conflict the year before (1997). Kerbino Kuanyin Bol, one of the SPLA founding members, who had signed an agreement with Khartoum government defected back to the rebels carrying out a failed capture of Wau town-the only lifeline for Bhar El Ghazal region. As a resulted 69,830 people died(Deng,1999).

A year later (1996) Veterinary sans frontiers (VSF Belgium) established a livestock training center, now known as Marial Lou Livestock Training center (MLLTC). The following year (1997), Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) came and opened rural hospital, now Marial Lou Hospital. However, the hospital wards were in a grass thatched roofs but were giving excellent emergency lifesaving treatment except what needed complicated surgery was it referred to Lokichogio, at the border with Kenya.