Indiana University Athletics
Sudfeld Gains Perspective in Africa
7/27/2015 3:28:00 PM | Football
By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- In Bloomington, Nate Sudfeld is the quarterback. He's a rising senior. A leader. A player who's focused on leading Indiana football back to a bowl game for the first time since 2007.
But on a service trip to Africa, Sudfeld was "Okello," meaning "follower of twins." Other times, he was "Mzungu," which he was told simply means "big white man."
"We were playing soccer, and right away they kept yelling, 'Mzungu! Mzungu,'" Sudfeld said. "I looked around like, 'Is that me?' They told me what it meant and I was like 'Alright. I like it.'"
Sudfeld quickly became adjusted to responding to a variety of names while on his week-long trip to northern Uganda last spring. He traveled there with his family to visit construction on an orphanage representing Assist International, the humanitarian group that his grandparents founded in 1990.
Since being founded 25 years ago, Assist International has completed more than 500 projects in 63 countries all helping to address the needs of what the company describes as "the world's most vulnerable people."
The organization has continued to grow over the last quarter century and now includes many members of the Sudfeld family.
Nine members of the Sudfeld family went on the most recent trip to Uganda to visit the orphan house Assist International is funding for Sister Rosemary, a Catholic nun whose humanitarian work has recently helped name her one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2014.
Nate was joined by twin brothers Matt and Zach, his younger sisters Juliana and Sarah, father Ralph and mother Michelle and his grandparents Bob and Charlene Pagett.
Each Sudfeld grandchild's 13th birthday marks the opportunity to travel with grandparents on a service trip. The journeys have become a sort of family rite of passage, Sudfeld said. When he turned 13, his trip was to Africa, the very same land he returned to in the spring.
"Since going on that first trip, I knew I wanted to go back whenever I could," Sudfeld said. "I'd been kind of annoying everyone and pestering everyone to get another trip in motion and my brother, Zach, ultimately made it happen because he decided he wanted to build an orphan house in Atiak, near Gulu."
The house Sudfeld travelled to work on is being funded by Assist International and is modeled after the many orphan homes and orphan villages they have built. The house is now in the closing stages of its development and is expected to be just one of multiple homes they hope to build.
Each of the homes will house eight children, most of whom are orphans. Sudfeld said many of the women and girls Assist International helped had been recovering from being abducted as part of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the terrorist group led by Joseph Kony.
"These women and kids really needed a place to go," Sudfeld said. "What's really cool about these orphanages is it's like putting these kids into a family. They'll raise the orphan kids, but they'll also normally have a few biological as well. They sort of grow and become a family together."
After Sudfeld and his family spent a few days playing with local children and checking in on the progress of the build, they headed off to Jinja, Uganda, a town Assist International began working in several years ago. They have built nearly 20 homes for AOET, the Aids Orphans Education Trust in Jinja.
Assist International's project in Jinja started out similarly to the newest project in Atiak. Sudfeld said it has since grown from starting as an orphanage and school with about 200 children to helping more than 3,000 children to this date.
Sudfeld's older brother Zach, who plays tight end for the New York Jets, went to Jinja last year and helped start sports programs by building courts and fields for basketball, soccer and volleyball teams.
Just one year removed from building the facilities, the Sudfeld family was pleasantly surprised when they saw how well the teams were doing.
"We went back a year later and saw they had a bunch of trophies," Sudfeld said. "Their team was up playing on a national level. That was really cool to see and rewarding for us to see that they were making good use of the fields and courts."
Sudfeld said the most rewarding part of the journey was the time spent with the children.
He was able to dance and play games with the children. Sudfeld even tried to teach them how to throw a football with a tight spiral, but he joked that they'd make better long snappers because they tended to want to throw with two hands.
Despite traveling to Africa to help the children, Sudfeld said it was the children who ended up helping him.
"It's hard to articulate just what it's like," Sudfeld said. "In one aspect, you think you're going for them, which you are, but they were helping me and giving me perspective. There's a certain joy about them and a happiness that they have figured out that I don't know if people in the U.S. really do as much."
He said it was the children's hearts that impressed him the most. Despite living in poverty, the children were sharing.
"The kids, they were selfless," Sudfeld said. "I'd give them a football and they'd start sharing it with one another and trying to teach each other how to throw after I taught one kid. It was incredible just how caring they were. It was really special."
Since returning to Bloomington to prep for his senior season on the football field, Sudfeld has been receiving updates on the builds from Sister Rosemary.
He recently saw pictures of the orphanage in Atiak and said it's starting to look nearly complete. The plan is for a family to move in within the next few months and to eventually start building another.
Sudfeld admitted even he has a hard time putting in perspective just how the trip to Africa changes his outlook. He said before going as a child, he was stuck in his "California bubble," but that bubble has since been burst.
Not even two months after the trip ended, Sudfeld said he already wants to return to Uganda. He's eager to fly back and spend time with the children and plan more projects with his family as soon as he can.
"The journey was just incredible," Sudfeld said. "I'll be back soon."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- In Bloomington, Nate Sudfeld is the quarterback. He's a rising senior. A leader. A player who's focused on leading Indiana football back to a bowl game for the first time since 2007.
But on a service trip to Africa, Sudfeld was "Okello," meaning "follower of twins." Other times, he was "Mzungu," which he was told simply means "big white man."
"We were playing soccer, and right away they kept yelling, 'Mzungu! Mzungu,'" Sudfeld said. "I looked around like, 'Is that me?' They told me what it meant and I was like 'Alright. I like it.'"
Sudfeld quickly became adjusted to responding to a variety of names while on his week-long trip to northern Uganda last spring. He traveled there with his family to visit construction on an orphanage representing Assist International, the humanitarian group that his grandparents founded in 1990.
Since being founded 25 years ago, Assist International has completed more than 500 projects in 63 countries all helping to address the needs of what the company describes as "the world's most vulnerable people."
The organization has continued to grow over the last quarter century and now includes many members of the Sudfeld family.
Nine members of the Sudfeld family went on the most recent trip to Uganda to visit the orphan house Assist International is funding for Sister Rosemary, a Catholic nun whose humanitarian work has recently helped name her one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2014.
Nate was joined by twin brothers Matt and Zach, his younger sisters Juliana and Sarah, father Ralph and mother Michelle and his grandparents Bob and Charlene Pagett.
Each Sudfeld grandchild's 13th birthday marks the opportunity to travel with grandparents on a service trip. The journeys have become a sort of family rite of passage, Sudfeld said. When he turned 13, his trip was to Africa, the very same land he returned to in the spring.
"Since going on that first trip, I knew I wanted to go back whenever I could," Sudfeld said. "I'd been kind of annoying everyone and pestering everyone to get another trip in motion and my brother, Zach, ultimately made it happen because he decided he wanted to build an orphan house in Atiak, near Gulu."
The house Sudfeld travelled to work on is being funded by Assist International and is modeled after the many orphan homes and orphan villages they have built. The house is now in the closing stages of its development and is expected to be just one of multiple homes they hope to build.
Each of the homes will house eight children, most of whom are orphans. Sudfeld said many of the women and girls Assist International helped had been recovering from being abducted as part of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the terrorist group led by Joseph Kony.
"These women and kids really needed a place to go," Sudfeld said. "What's really cool about these orphanages is it's like putting these kids into a family. They'll raise the orphan kids, but they'll also normally have a few biological as well. They sort of grow and become a family together."
After Sudfeld and his family spent a few days playing with local children and checking in on the progress of the build, they headed off to Jinja, Uganda, a town Assist International began working in several years ago. They have built nearly 20 homes for AOET, the Aids Orphans Education Trust in Jinja.
Assist International's project in Jinja started out similarly to the newest project in Atiak. Sudfeld said it has since grown from starting as an orphanage and school with about 200 children to helping more than 3,000 children to this date.
Sudfeld's older brother Zach, who plays tight end for the New York Jets, went to Jinja last year and helped start sports programs by building courts and fields for basketball, soccer and volleyball teams.
Just one year removed from building the facilities, the Sudfeld family was pleasantly surprised when they saw how well the teams were doing.
"We went back a year later and saw they had a bunch of trophies," Sudfeld said. "Their team was up playing on a national level. That was really cool to see and rewarding for us to see that they were making good use of the fields and courts."
Sudfeld said the most rewarding part of the journey was the time spent with the children.
He was able to dance and play games with the children. Sudfeld even tried to teach them how to throw a football with a tight spiral, but he joked that they'd make better long snappers because they tended to want to throw with two hands.
Despite traveling to Africa to help the children, Sudfeld said it was the children who ended up helping him.
"It's hard to articulate just what it's like," Sudfeld said. "In one aspect, you think you're going for them, which you are, but they were helping me and giving me perspective. There's a certain joy about them and a happiness that they have figured out that I don't know if people in the U.S. really do as much."
He said it was the children's hearts that impressed him the most. Despite living in poverty, the children were sharing.
"The kids, they were selfless," Sudfeld said. "I'd give them a football and they'd start sharing it with one another and trying to teach each other how to throw after I taught one kid. It was incredible just how caring they were. It was really special."
Since returning to Bloomington to prep for his senior season on the football field, Sudfeld has been receiving updates on the builds from Sister Rosemary.
He recently saw pictures of the orphanage in Atiak and said it's starting to look nearly complete. The plan is for a family to move in within the next few months and to eventually start building another.
Sudfeld admitted even he has a hard time putting in perspective just how the trip to Africa changes his outlook. He said before going as a child, he was stuck in his "California bubble," but that bubble has since been burst.
Not even two months after the trip ended, Sudfeld said he already wants to return to Uganda. He's eager to fly back and spend time with the children and plan more projects with his family as soon as he can.
"The journey was just incredible," Sudfeld said. "I'll be back soon."
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