Educating Girl Groups in South Sudan

Nyiel graduated from high school this year. She scored 10^th in the nation of South Sudan among all girls taking the national exams required of 12^th graders to graduate. How great is that!

Unfortunately, most girls in South Sudan do not progress nearly as far educationally as Nyiel has. Here are a few facts about education in this, the world’s newest country:

South Sudan has one of lowest female literacy rates in the world – 29%.

• More than half of the school age population is out of school. The number is greater for girls than boys.
• More than half of girls are married before age 18, the age when most youth are graduating.
• Less than 5% of girls graduate from high school.

As you can see Nyiel is exceptional, but our goal is to change the picture for girls’ education in South Sudan. To this end, Project Education South Sudan (PESS) has supported Nyiel’s tuition through primary school as well as high school. Nyiel credits her principal, Mayol Panchal, for much of her success. Panchal was also Nyiel’s teacher as a primary student back in her village school (Ayak Anguei Primary School – built by PESS 10 years ago). Nyiel describes her teacher turned principal as a “very encourageous” teacher. She says that Panchal challenged her that if she studied hard, she could have a chance to apply to any university around the world. It is obvious that Nyiel took her teacher up on that challenge.

Nyiel meets with other students monthly in a Girl Group. The students share a meal and stories. They discuss current affairs and topics important to teen girls. Recently, while sharing their personal goals with each other Nyiel told her Girl Group that, “My dream job is to become a governor of Jonglei State [where she lives] because I like to lead people and solve community’s issues.” Obviously Nyiel is not intending to settle for a mediocre life. Your regular support helps us to encourage and boost the prospects for Nyiel and other students she studies with. Thank you for caring, sharing your resources, and for staying involved.

IMPORTANT NEWS!

We have some important news for all of you, our supporters. On October 1st, two months ago, PESS merged with another small nonprofit (Empowerment Through Education) that also supports girls’ education in South Sudan, and together we have a new name – Girls With Books! Our work will now include supporting girls, not only in Bor, but also in the capital city of Juba and in the South Sudanese refugee camps across the border in Northern Uganda.

The Executive Director of Girls With Books! is Micklina Kenyi, herself a success story of growing up in South Sudan, and now leading this important effort to empower South Sudanese girls – to be all they can be. Micklina came to the US in 2003 as a refugee, to escape civil war in South Sudan, and is now a US citizen, with an education from the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Micklina regularly visits the schools where we support students in South Sudan and Northern Uganda and is determined to give young girls some of the educational opportunity that she benefited from. In coming months, we will share more about this exciting new development, but please check out our new website (still under construction) at www.girlswithbooks.org.

Arms of Caring

Long arms of caring reach around the world.

In 2001 a group of young Sudanese refugees came to Denver Colorado from Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya, a neighboring country that welcomed Sudanese who fled their home country years earlier to escape civil war.

Many new friends in Denver surrounded the lost boys and lost girls of Sudan with attention, helping them settle into their new home. The USA offered numerous opportunities for education and personal growth, but most importantly, it provided safety from fighting and hunger. Out of this new community grew an organization, Project Education Sudan (the word South was later added - PESS), to help these young refugees reconnect with their families in Sudan, and then help to rebuild their homeland, building school buildings, drilling freshwater wells and providing grinding mills so girls could go to school rather than stay home, occupied by family chores.

When South Sudan obtained its independence in 2011, Daniel Gai, one of these lost boys, returned to his homeland, now a college graduate and an American citizen. Daniel is now surrounded by his reconnected family in Bor, South Sudan and is raising his own family as well as a number of war-orphaned relatives. Over the past five years, Daniel has guided PESS efforts to assist 140 girls to graduate from high school. Another 80 girls are now enrolled, dreaming of graduating and contributing to the future of their community and their country. They are undeterred by the seemingly intractable problems of the world’s youngest nation.

This year a group of high school students in Adelaide, Australia contacted us in Denver to ask if they could contribute to the girls' education in South Sudan. The students raised enough money to cover tuition costs for two girls for a full year.

The girls who benefited from this international gesture of goodwill and support from students in Australia wrote letters of thanks. In one of these letters, Anyier wrote “I am really excited for the nice and amazing hard work…to support me in my education.” Anyier then added, “My plan on what to do to give back to the world is to… help other needy people in my community, country, and the entire world as I am being helped.”

Long arms of caring have reached from Sudan to Kenya to Denver and back to South Sudan, then from Australia to Denver to South Sudan, then to the entire world. All of you in the GlobalGiving family who help support the girls in South Sudan are a part of this global reach of support. I know that Anyier’s words of thanks reach back to you. THANK YOU from Anyier.