How we started
South Sudan got its independence from Sudan after 50 years of civil war, ending in 2005. Civil war meant there was hardly any infrastructure and functioning schools, so children had barely no access to education. Revd Joseph Ayok and Karin Loewenberg saw the need for education in Joseph’s home area of Aweil, Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal state, and from 2000 they provided schools literally under the trees. Thousands of children got some schooling, with teachers packing their resources into bags so that they could flee if the fighting got close.
With the peace agreement in 2005 Joseph determined to set up a permanent school in the area. He especially wanted girls to be able to learn, so it became an all girls school. From 2006 funds were raised from supporters in England and Switzerland, the school buildings were erected, and the school opened in 2009.
The School
Each year hundreds of girls register to attend school. Under the Headmaster Elias Bak and his teachers, both women and men, lessons are run each weekday morning, and the teaching ends at noon with a hot lunch for each girl – sometimes their only real meal of the day.
They are accommodated in well built classrooms, a kitchen and canteen, administrative rooms, and some living huts for teachers and visitors. There is solar power and a water borehole.
The school has an Anglican Christian ethos, though open to those of all faiths and none. In 2013 generous finance from our Swiss supporters provided the building of a school chapel, which is also used by the local community for worship and adult education.
The school has been providing vocational training for the girls in sewing, IT and agricultural techniques. As part of this work the school now has a herd of cattle (very important in the Dinka culture) that has grown over recent years from an initial 13 animals to over 35 today.
The girls can bring their little brothers and sisters to a nursery at the school, if that enables the girls themselves to be free to attend school.
Ups and Downs
The school has been facing continual battles to survive. Severe floods in 2019 wiped out crops being grown to help feed the school community. The Corona virus has led to the school being closed for a period in 2020, we have continued to pay the staff and maintain the buildings.
Equipment does not last forever in the climate of South Sudan, and we need to replace worn out resources to keep the school operating.
Can you offer a donation to help us keep the school working, for the good of the current and the next generation of South Sudanese girls?
See our newsletters for information about how the school and the charity are progressing.