The
objective of Project Education Sudan (PES) is to build schools in the
war torn region of Southern Sudan. It is the aspiration of PES that
these schools will offer equal opportunity to girls and boys of all
tribes and backgrounds and that the process of building schools will
help bolster ties between the communities of Southern Sudan and the
donor communities in the United States. PES is very excited to have
identified its very first school, which is a secondary co-ed boarding
school in the region of Maar/Paliau of Southern Sudan! Our second school,
a primary all girls’ boarding school is being planned in Konbeek. It
was negotiated by Lost Boy Isaac Khor Bher, Vice President of PES, his
home village chiefs, elders, team members Carol & Rich Rinehart,
Martha Riley and other PES team members. Our third school site, Mach
Deng or Tong-Pagook is going to be negotiated and assessed in our return
trip in 2008.
Project Education Sudan took a team into Southern Sudan in January 2007.
We started the construction of the secondary boarding school in Maar,
drilled a borehole on the school site, delivered a grinding mill to
Paliau and Maar, and installed solar power in the Rev. Marc Nikkel Primary
School in Maar. The preexisting primary school will feed the students
into the secondary school to be funded by PES in 2007. Lual Awok, a
member of the “Lost Boy” community in Colorado, returned home to Maar,
Sudan and brought his newfound skills of installing solar power into
the Rev. Marc Nikkel School. David Ruskay, who owns Positive Energy
in Boulder, accompanied Lual in this endeavor that brought electricity
to the primary school site in Maar. David and Lual also assessed the
possibility of installing solar power in the future secondary school.
While he was in Sudan, Lual was also reunited with his mother, whom
he had not seen for more than 20 years!
Another
important goal of the December trip was to drill boreholes in Maar to
give the community safe drinking water. Jeff and Lauren Larsen have
partnered with PES on a fundraising plan and raised enough money to
be able to drill two boreholes on our trip. While in Sudan, Jeff assessed
and drilled another borehole at the all girls’ boarding school in Konbeek.
He also assessed for boreholes needed at future school sites. Panther
Abuk Kuol, Lost Boy from Denver, Colorado, assisted Jeff in coordinating
all drilling.
PES also assessed educational, teacher and curricular needs during the
trip, with the help of Martha Riley and Carol Rinehart. Martha is the
former district curriculum coordinator for Cherry Creek School District,
and currently teaches World Geography and AVID (Advancement Via Individual
Determination) at Eaglecrest High School. While on the trip, Martha
investigated the educational needs of the Sudanese and began planning
how PES can most effectively help in the areas of curriculum, instruction,
teacher training and teaching materials. We are presently working with
students and teachers in the Denver area fundraising and developing
teacher training methodologies to bring back with us in our 2008 trip.
PES
is proud to partner with Africa Today Associates from the University
of Denver and professors and students from the University of Colorado
Denver-Boulder who are interested in building health clinics in Southern
Sudan. Frederick Agyeman-Duah, Executive Director of Africa Today Associates
is a graduate student at the University of Denver in International Development.
In November, 2006, Frederick worked with students at the Rev. Marc Nikkel
Primary School on the importance and techniques of personal hygiene
to prevent sickness. Frederick assessed the area’s needs for a health
clinic that Africa Today Associates anticipates building in the near
future. Frederick will be working with both the villages of Maar and
Paliau with the elders, traditional medicine people, as well as the
students/ parents of both the Paliau and Marc Nikkel primary school.
The outcome of his assessment is a 50-paged medical report on the healthcare
conditions in the area. They plan to bring healthcare professionals,
graduate students and doctors early December, 2007, to Maar/Paliau to
begin Phase I of their project.
Richard Rinehart, Treasurer of Project Education Sudan, along with Ayul
Yiep Koch, Lost Boy, 3rd year accounting student at Daniels School of
Business, University of Denver, taught The Fundamentals of Accounting
to the Sudanese counterparts of PES who handle the resources of building
the schools within Sudan. PES uses a model of the UNICEF accounting
system and stresses the implementation of accountability at every step
in the process of building schools.
Another major objective of the January trip was to find and reunite
several “Lost Boys” from the Colorado community with their families
in Southern Sudan. Most of these “Found Men” have not seen their families
in almost two decades. The “Found Men” saw this opportunity of traveling
home as a way for them to give back to Sudan and to stay connected to
their culture. The reunification sites include Paliau, Maar, Baidit
and Konbeek. PES strongly sponsors these reunification efforts because
they help the “Lost Boys” and PES develop trusting relationships with
elders and community leaders. These relationships will be a launching
point for future school sites.
On top of donating time and resources to its future trips, PES plans
to finance several smaller projects. Girls in Southern Sudan have rarely
had the same opportunities to attend school, especially secondary school,
as their male counterparts do. One reason for this is because girls
are needed to grind grain in order that their families may eat, and
to do various chores for their mothers. PES has noticed this practice
and purchases grinding mills. The grinding mills will hopefully replace
the duties of young girls and will allow them the time to attend school.
Also, the availability of a grain grinder will give the mothers of the
village an economic opportunity that will benefit the entire village.
In
April 2006 Bol Deng, the founder of Jonglei Development Society and
partner of Project Education Sudan, alerted PES that there had been
a dangerous outbreak of cholera in the region of Paliau/Maar, where
the first school site is located. PES was deeply concerned about
the well being of the community in this region. Unfortunately,
it appeared that the UN and USAID were unable to coordinate an effort
quickly enough to assist the people who were affected by the outbreak
of cholera. We were able to send funds to combat the outbreak
immediately through a donation to Episcopal Relief and Development in
New Yorkk, and were able to help effectively control the threat of the
disease to our partner community. We were joined in our fundraising
efforts by a network of active donors who mobilized quickly to respond
with funds for this critical need.
Project Education Sudan is growing thanks to the dedication of an entirely
volunteer staff and a very generous donor community. We thank
you for supporting us and look forward to sharing together in the further
success of Project Education Sudan in our goal to build hope in Southern
Sudan.
The
objective of Project Education Sudan (PES) is to build schools in the
war torn region of Southern Sudan. It is the aspiration of PES that
these schools will offer equal opportunity to girls and boys of all
tribes and backgrounds and that the process of building schools will
help bolster ties between the communities of Southern Sudan and the
donor communities in the United States. PES is very excited to have
identified its very first school, which is a secondary co-ed boarding
school in the region of Maar/Paliau of Southern Sudan! Our second school,
a primary all girls’ boarding school is being planned in Konbeek. It
was negotiated by Lost Boy Isaac Khor Bher, Vice President of PES, his
home village chiefs, elders, team members Carol & Rich Rinehart,
Martha Riley and other PES team members. Our third school site, Mach
Deng or Tong-Pagook is going to be negotiated and assessed in our return
trip in 2008.
Another
important goal of the December trip was to drill boreholes in Maar to
give the community safe drinking water. Jeff and Lauren Larsen have
partnered with PES on a fundraising plan and raised enough money to
be able to drill two boreholes on our trip. While in Sudan, Jeff assessed
and drilled another borehole at the all girls’ boarding school in Konbeek.
He also assessed for boreholes needed at future school sites. Panther
Abuk Kuol, Lost Boy from Denver, Colorado, assisted Jeff in coordinating
all drilling. 
PES
is proud to partner with Africa Today Associates from the University
of Denver and professors and students from the University of Colorado
Denver-Boulder who are interested in building health clinics in Southern
Sudan. Frederick Agyeman-Duah, Executive Director of Africa Today Associates
is a graduate student at the University of Denver in International Development.
In November, 2006, Frederick worked with students at the Rev. Marc Nikkel
Primary School on the importance and techniques of personal hygiene
to prevent sickness. Frederick assessed the area’s needs for a health
clinic that Africa Today Associates anticipates building in the near
future. Frederick will be working with both the villages of Maar and
Paliau with the elders, traditional medicine people, as well as the
students/ parents of both the Paliau and Marc Nikkel primary school.
The outcome of his assessment is a 50-paged medical report on the healthcare
conditions in the area. They plan to bring healthcare professionals,
graduate students and doctors early December, 2007, to Maar/Paliau to
begin Phase I of their project.
In
April 2006 Bol Deng, the founder of Jonglei Development Society and
partner of Project Education Sudan, alerted PES that there had been
a dangerous outbreak of cholera in the region of Paliau/Maar, where
the first school site is located. PES was deeply concerned about
the well being of the community in this region. Unfortunately,
it appeared that the UN and USAID were unable to coordinate an effort
quickly enough to assist the people who were affected by the outbreak
of cholera. We were able to send funds to combat the outbreak
immediately through a donation to Episcopal Relief and Development in
New Yorkk, and were able to help effectively control the threat of the
disease to our partner community. We were joined in our fundraising
efforts by a network of active donors who mobilized quickly to respond
with funds for this critical need.