Hope Through Action

Hope Through Action; Our Work in Wartime

Above and title photo, Emmanuela, from South Sudan. Emmanuela was pursuing her undergraduate program at Ahfad University when the outbreak of war forced her to flee back to her homeland. She is now able to resume her studies In Public Health at Upper Nile University in Juba. Emmanuela is one of several sponsored undergraduates Women’s Education Partnership continues to support. For background to the education crisis in Sudan, see The Education Crisis in Sudan.

Update on our Projects in Sudan and South Sudan

Sudanese Refugee Children in Cairo Our Sponsored Undergraduates

Our Women’s Literacy Program Our South Sudan Programs

Sudanese Refugee Children in Cairo

Above, end-of-year certificate award celebrations for Sudanese refugee children, October last year in Cairo. We are supporting the education and living needs of 80 Sudanese youngsters in Cairo. This is a lifeline for these young people who are unable to join mainstream Egyptian schooling.

The on-going war in Sudan has inevitably led to the suspension of much of our work at Women’s Education Partnership. In April last year our colleagues in Sudan managed to flee the fighting in Khartoum only to find themselves once again in war zones as the conflict spread. Despite immense challenges, trustees and colleagues on the ground have stayed in touch and continued to support our beneficiaries, as well as exploring ways we can help Sudanese women and child refugees outside Sudan.

At the same time, through the efforts of our trustee and expert in South Sudan, Sue Claydon, we have expanded our work there.

Last year, our Chair of Trustees, Dr. Abdul Suliman visited Sudanese refugee centres in Cairo. He was shocked by the suffering of many Sudanese he met there and saw firsthand the urgent need for educational support. Through the links he established, we are now sponsoring 80 young Sudanese in refugee teaching programs there. We very much hope to sponsor more children as soon as we can. Dr Suliman is currently traveling to Ethiopia, Egypt and Juba, South Sudan to report on the situation for Sudanese refugees and ways we might be able to help.

If you feel you might be able to help more youngsters like this brave young Sudanese refugee in Cairo, please consider donating through our website, Women’s Education Partnership

Our Sponsored Undergraduates

Trustee Dr Anna Snowdon and her Sudanese colleagues have been monitoring the situation of our sponsored undergraduates since the outbreak of the war and are in regular WhatsApp contact with many of them. Tragically, so many students have had to abandon their studies, and while some universities are scheduled to re-open shortly, most are still indefinitely closed. Eleven students have registered to continue their courses online under an initiative recently launched by the Universities of Khartoum and Bahri. Dr Snowdon has also been in regular contact with Ahfad University and is following developments in offering online courses for their dispersed undergraduates, including many of our sponsored students. It must be remembered, however, that internet disruption is substantial and access to internet extremely limited. Dr. Snowdon writes,

“Amazingly some of our students have taken or will shortly take university exams. One student took seven days for dangerous travel between Nyala and Atbara. Some students are applying for course in Cairo and Alexandria and one has succeeded in getting a conditional offer at UCL.”

Learn more about our pre-war work in Our University Scholarships

In the meantime, acting on the initiative of one of our scholars, WEP has funded thirty of our undergraduates to attend a one-year British Council English Language Self-Study course. Sadly, poor internet coverage has meant only 15 students have been able to continue their course, some of whom are based in Egypt, where interest access is more secure. Those following the course say they have found it very useful.

Our Women’s Literacy Program

Although Mrs Adila Osman, our literacy coordinator and colleague Aisha, have been able to set up some informal women’s literacy groups among communities outside Khartoum, the situation is now too dangerous for these to continue as fighting has engulfed their former safe havens. We are ready to re-activate the classes as soon as it is safe to do so and we have raised the funding needed.

Learn more about our pre-war work in Opening Doors

Our South Sudan Programs

Above, scenes from our South Sudan health and education programs. See Health and Literacy in South Sudan; Outposts of Hope for more information on our work there.

WEP is presently sponsoring 26 young women in nine higher education institutions in South Sudan. We fund tuition and supply laptops and other equipment needed. We support our scholars for the duration of the course to ensure that they have the stability they need to flourish in their studies. They are studying across a broad-spectrum of disciplines including clinical medicine and midwifery; public administration; business management; nutrition and dietetics. This program is the fruit of a referral from the late Right Reverend Emmanuel Murye, of the Diocese of Kokeji for a young woman who wanted to study Clinical Medicine and Public Health.

Gune Christine, the first student sponsored in 2021, says:

“My Parents were unable to support me into higher education. At the suggestion from the Church, I contacted Women’s Education Partnership. I needed to produce documents and my admission acceptance. Clinical medicine was my chosen course. I selected this because in my home village there are no facilities or health workers. Community awareness on health is very low. My course finishes later this year and I will then have a year’s placement at Juba City Hospital. I chose this hospital because they deal with so many people.My course has given me confidence. I hope to pursue a career in Public Health, assisting people to know how to care for themselves and their families. I plan to go back to my village. The course has given me confidence ad I can stand as a responsible citizen.”

Together with our South Sudan partner, Kimo Integrated Development Organization, WEP continues to support and expand our literacy and health programs; see Health and Literacy in South Sudan; Outposts of Hope. Above, students attending adult literacy classes at the Kimo Centre in Juba. Several of our literacy students are now working through to the primary leaving exam. We now have nine teachers working in these programs.

Below, our partners and colleagues in Juba; Gale Emmanuel, Silas Jojo and Chriss Alokore.

If you would like to support this vital work, please consider donating through our website Women’s Education Partnership