When I arrived to Maban County in northeastern South Sudan in March, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Just days before, a fresh round of fighting had broken out. The country, just four years old, has been embroiled in civil war since its inception.
And if that weren’t hard enough, the young country is also home to refugees from neighboring Sudan, which is also engulfed in war. Maban County alone is home to four refugee camps that more than 130,000 people call home.
The organization I work for, Lutheran World Relief, is working with long-time partner Lutheran World Federation, which manages the camps, and my recent visit there was to monitor progress on the work. The project has three main objectives:
1. Make sure South Sudanese and Sudanese kids are protected from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence.
2. Provide quality education to these children and others, along with life and vocational skills.
3. Reach out to host communities to make sure their needs are met, in order to promote peace.
There are a lot of reasons to be concerned about the situation in South Sudan. But as I saw on my trip, there are also reasons to be hopeful. Working for a faith-based organization provides many opportunities for me to not only reflect on my faith but also put it in to action in my day-to-day work. While I grew up outside of a specific congregation, my parents instilled in me from an early age the importance of helping those in need, no matter their race, religion, or any other difference because we are all equal in the eyes of God. It’s this idea, paired with my love of learning about cultures, which put me on this path of working for an organization like Lutheran World Relief. I feel blessed because I wake up every day excited to go to work. While there are many daunting challenges in the relief field, I chose to see the good when possible because if you look closely, hope is there in even in the darkest of places.
Here are a few inspiring highlights from what I witnessed in South Sudan.
Women Learning Sewing Skills
One component of the South Sudan project is vocational training to both refugee and host community members. On the right is a tailoring class where students learn basic sewing skills, which they will hopefully turn into a business once they receive their certificates. The patterns you see on the right are what the women use to learn to make dresses, but they will also serve another purpose. Lutheran World Federation plans to partner with the women and employ them to sew uniforms for schools that don’t have them yet.
Ashi Gibril
This is Ashi Gibril, a widow with five children who is a refugee in Yusuf Batil. She’s actually from the northern part of Sudan but came to South Sudan when she married her husband, who was native to South Sudan. Since she has no family in the area to help her, she decided to join the tailoring class. She told me that she would like to set up a sewing shop in the local market using the skills she has learned.
Early Childhood Development Centers
On the left is the Early Childhood Development Center, which serves preschool children. As you can see, it’s in severe disrepair, and Lutheran World Federation is awaiting more funding from UNICEF before they can make any upgrades. On the right is what a primary (elementary) school classroom looks like when it is first built. The Lutheran World Relief project is adding walls, fencing, and doors to make these spaces more inviting and safer for the children.
The Children of Gendrassa Camp
These are primary school students in Gendrassa camp. They’re part of a newly established Child Rights Club within the school that monitors and reports violations. This group of young people blew me away. They took their job very seriously and would not let us leave until we heard all of their issues. They recently even reported a teacher who was stealing their play equipment. While we were there they sang a song to us about the right to food, the right to clean water, the right to education, and the importance of not getting married too young. In this community, it is a common practice for men to marry girls as young as 11 years old. Lutheran World Federation is also working with community members and leaders to hopefully reduce the occurrences of early and forced marriages.
In the past few weeks, South Sudan has been back in the news due to new rounds of violence and economic turmoil. It’s devastating to see and a strong reminder of the value of our work. This project will not be able to fix South Sudan. But by empowering women with new skills to support their families and empowering children with the knowledge that their lives – and bodies – have value, we are able to make a measurable impact. It’s incredible to see and yes, it gives me hope for the region’s future.
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