2000-2001: The Foundations of HAH-S
Having traveled to her home village in Southern Sudan twice between 2000 and 2001, Harriet Dumba saw first hand the devastation of years of war in her community. Limited infrastructure and basic educational and health care provisions, trauma and preventable disease were widespread in her region and particularly severe in the rural areas. She recognized a need for more outreach in health services, education and women’s empowerment for Sudanese communities and returned to Seattle determined to take a role in addressing the needs of her community. Working with her close friend, Agnes Oswaha, they called out to friends in Washington State to begin developing an organization that could do so.  Her second trip to Sudan in 2001 involved a trip back to Kajo Keji in the equatorial region of Southern Sudan where she spent time with the elders and with members of the community discussing the main challenges they faced and to lay the foundation for future work in the country.

2002 – 2003: Preliminary Work
In 2002 the organization was officially founded under the name “Hearts of Angels”. The name “Hearts of Angels” speaks strongly to the belief held by many in the South that those who have the heart and commitment to work for them are driven both by a spiritual calling, as well as by a drive for social justice. The organization began with Harriet and Rose Butterfly, a prominent member of the Blackfeet Tribe in Nespelem, Washington, conducting two HIV/AIDS education and prevention workshops in South Sudan in June 2003 following an invitation from Bishop Nathaniel Garang of Sudan Council of Churches. The first workshop was among primary teachers (male and females – 52 teachers’ total) from elementary school from all parts of Bor County who were teaching in over 15 primary schools. The second focused on adult women and involved 20 ladies from Bor County.

During this time, Harriet conducted additional outreach in Kajo Keji which involved meeting with prominent women leaders in the community to gauge interest in implementing the new organization’s work.  There was widespread support for HIV/AIDS workshops from different sectors of the community including: two dozen women who showed a desire to be trained as community health educators; community leaders and staff in the educational sector pledging universal support for HIV/AIDS education in primary and secondary schools, and half of the churches in the county also pledging interest and cooperation in developing and holding HIV/AIDS education workshops.

2003-2004: Work in Washington State
Although they were deeply motivated to work back in Sudan, Agnes and Harriet were also aware of the needs in the Southern Sudanese communities on their doorstep in Washington State.  Here, HIV/AIDS was a silent yet significant threat which was not only threatening communities back in Sudan but also in the US.  As such they began making plans to implement HIV/AIDS workshops in King County which included receiving training in becoming HIV/AIDS educators and gathering information on testing sites, clinics and services available to those living with HIV/AIDS.  During this time, they conducted one workshop with 7 young Sudanese women about teen pregnancy including birth control methods and STI prevention and transmission.  Participants were Sudanese youth (15-22yrs) in King County. In 2004, Hearts of Angels became incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit organization in the state of Washington.

2006-2007: Connecting work in Sudan and the US
In December 2006 – March 2007, Harriet returned to Kajo Keji with 9 month old daughter Monica-Kojo and joined this time by fellow Hearts of Angel board member Caroline Faria. During this time they collected data on knowledge of HIV/AIDS to better understand the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding the virus and the main modes of transmission. They chose to focus on the rural areas around the growing town of Wudu as they saw that many of those who were unwell would return home to the villages to be cared for by their families. The rural areas had also tended to be isolated and underdeveloped by the long periods of war and were in great need of basic health prevention and health care services. Participants in this research project included teachers and teachers-in-training from prominent training college (Liwolo Teachers Training College) in Kajo Keji county and two prominent primary schools (Bright Star Primary School Academy and Gore Primary School) to assess knowledge, attitudes and practice of students in HIV/AIDS. The goal of this work was to develop an understanding of the virus for the Ministry of Public Health, as well as local outreach clinics and members of the community, and to develop the most appropriate actions in South Sudan in addressing the disease.

At the end of 2007, the organization’s name was modified from “Hearts of Angels” to “Hearts of Angels for Health – Sudan Initiative” to better reflect the nature and scope of our work.  Outreach and networking activities have also begun in earnest with international humanitarian organizations and advocacy groups in the Sudanese community in Washington State.