A letter from Nancy Smith-Mather serving in South Sudan
November 2014 - Fighting Fears
Many young girls in South Sudan live with the fear that they will never have an opportunity to go to school. Many students currently enrolled fear they will be taken out of school too early. Let’s help them fight these fears.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s partnership with the church in Sudan spans over 100 years. Today we remain in close relationship with the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan (PCOSS) as well as other denominations in the Sudans. The PCOSS leadership, even in the midst of violent conflict in their country, remains committed to increasing and improving educational opportunities for young people in South Sudan (a country in which more than half of the population is under the age of 18). The Presbyterian Church of South Sudan requests Presbyterian churches in the United States to join their efforts.
The South Sudan Education and Peacebuilding Project (SSEPP), launched at the PC(USA) General Assembly in June 2014, offers a resounding YES to that request. We committed to a five-year, $3.4 million, project to strengthen educational systems and opportunities in South Sudan. The vision and implementation of this project comes from the PC(USA)’s global partners in South Sudan: PCOSS, Across, Yei Teacher Training College (YTTC), and RECONCILE International. The peacebuilding component of the project underscores the need for stability and safety in order for schools to thrive. The following are key aspects of this multi-faceted project:
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Training teachers
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Mobilizing communities to support local schools
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Building the capacity of the PCOSS Education Department
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Raising awareness about the importance of educating girls
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Funding school construction (in collaboration with community-raised resources)
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Training in conflict transformation, peace studies, community-based trauma healing
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Radio programming on inter-ethnic cohesion
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Training and mentoring peer counselors to help communities heal from trauma
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South Sudanese students marching to the market to make presentations for Girl Child Education Day in Boma, Jonglei State
Please join in this effort. Our partners, students, teachers, administrators, parents, and collaborating PC(USA) mission co-workers in South Sudan can be strengthened by your prayers. In addition, funds need to be raised to meet the $3.4 million commitment.
South Sudanese are fighting many fears right now. Let the ministry of building peace and educating children be ways in which we, the church in the U.S., state clearly that they are not alone in their struggle. Let our voices and efforts accompany theirs as together we proclaim that God desires something better for the people of South Sudan. Please pray. Please share this opportunity with others. Please give a gift of support.
Thank you.
With a Grateful Heart,
Nancy
Below is a reflection I wrote in 2010 as a Young Adult Volunteer serving with PC(USA) partner Across in southern Sudan. The event described is an effort to educate communities about the importance of sending girls to school.
Pleading for an Opportunity to Learn
I take many things for granted. If you asked me what things I take for granted, I could give you a list off the top of my head, yet there are some things I take so much for granted I would not think to put them on the list. On August 6, 2010, I added to the list an item that was previously missing: that, as a young child, my gender did not restrict me from attending school.
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Girls pleading with their community to allow them to go to school and stay in school
In January I began working with Across, a Christian organization that labors alongside communities in southern Sudan to improve education, health and livelihoods as well as to strengthen local churches. At the time Sudan’s civil war ended, access to basic health and education services was extremely limited for people in the south. Additionally, educational opportunities for girls were further restricted by the cultural practice of early marriage and negative attitudes about sending girls to school. In 2005 the “primary school completion rate for girls in southern Sudan hover(ed) around 1 percent” (UNICEF, 2005). Five years later “in South Sudan nearly half of primary school–age girls do not go to school” (Sudan Tribune, 2010), a statistic that reflects improvement yet remains alarming.
Until the 30th year of my life I took for granted that my opportunity to attend school was not limited by my gender. Not any longer. I have been transformed by the voices of young girls crying out to their parents, leaders, and community, pleading for an opportunity to learn. Last month Across organized a celebration of girls’ education that gave students an opportunity to share a powerful message in the town’s open-air market. The girls addressed those gathered with the following words: “You look at us, and you see cattle” (a reference to the dowry price paid for a wife), “but we want to go to school.”
In Boma a daughter usually leaves her home and becomes a part of her husband’s family at age 15. Therefore many parents do not view educating their daughters as a useful investment. The students gathered in the market for the celebration, however, urged their community to think differently.
“Pilots, nurses and presidents for southern Sudan are among us!” the girls promised. “I am a girl child,” they chanted, “I can do what the boys can do. I can write. I can read. I can play football. Father, father, mother, mother, let me go to school!”
The enthusiastic students sang, danced, and recited poems clad in new yellow T-shirts with bold black letters stating: “Educate a Girl, Educate a Nation.” Their energy and confidence filled the market as they displayed the benefits of education to all who were gathered. With words they fought their fears that parents may pull them out of school, with joy they persuaded other girls to join school, and with courage and strength they convinced their leaders to listen. They shared a burden that now weighs heavy on my heart, and I am thankful.
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 129
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 139
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