Help Lost Boys Support Education & Peace

Dear Friends and Supporters,
 
It has been an incredible three months since we wrote with an update on the Raising South Sudan project and our Global Giving campaign to help former Lost Boys support education and peace in the world's newest country - South Sudan.
 
We are glad to report that generous donations received through Global Giving from late November through early January represent about 20% of our 2015 goals. This means that we have received full funding to support new uniforms for 300 children attending two primary schools (Nyarweng and Gumriak) from three villages (Nyarweng, Aliap and Pariang) in Unity State, South Sudan. For the students from Nyarweng and Aliap, these will be the first uniforms ever purchased for the children, not just by us, but in their lives. For the students from Pariang, the new uniforms will replace other uniforms that have nearly worn out their welcome. We also provided a stipend to former Lost Boy of Sudan James Manyror to return to South Sudan. He started support of this project in January. He has since helped facilitate the purchase of more than 90 chairs and supplemental desks for the Gumriak school. It's fun to send a photo of some of the chairs with this update.
 
This is an important year as April marks the official fifth anniversary of the Raising South Sudan project. Looking back, it's hard to believe that we started with little more than a dream from James Lubo Mijak of Charlotte and Ngor Kur Mayol of Atlanta, $3,000 from a fundraiser at a church in Salisbury, NC, and a series of what were called Rations of Hope lunches - simple gatherings of 6 to 8 people over beans and bread led by "Lubo" and hosted by his friend Phillips Bragg with support from nonprofit Mothering Across Continents and Karen Puckett, a key catalyst on this project. Through the kindness of hundreds of individuals, foundations and churches, the first permanent primary school was built in South Sudan since Independence in 2011 (Nyarweng), pre-loaded Kindles were sent to Gumriak, the former Lost Boys that have returned to South Sudan to work on these projects are working very effectively together, and aspirations remain high for the future.
 
On March 6, we will be honored when former Lost Boy of Sudan John Dau, the central figure in the original, award-winning documentary about the Lost Boys transition to the US (God Grew Tired of Us), joins us for a celebration and fundraising event in Charlotte, NC. During his time in Charlotte, John will also speak to assemblies of Charlotte high school students participating in "Any1Can Walks for Wisdom" throughout April. In these Walks for Wisdom, students will walk three miles and raise funds to purchase 300 copies of the primary school book "What Will You Do for Our New Nation," produce 300 copies of a new primary school peacebuilding book that gathers tales from across South Sudan, and provide solar lights to families of children attending schools that we support.
 
We are also hopeful that when we write you again with our next quarterly update, several other steps in the 2015 project plan will be complete. Lubo and our good friend and facilitator Gerald Kabuye have been planning a "peace festival" to be held with parents and community members around the Nyarweng school. The purpose of the festival is to help the teachers, students and community with a plan for the future of the school including goals for exams performance and construction of extensions such as a fence. We will have our first report on how the students from Aliap are doing since they began attending the Gumriak school in February. And we will be able to share details of a new project that we are adding in Jonglei State that is focused on putting women at the center of community-building and education in a village called Old Fangak. This project is led by Ann Evans, whom we have known for two years as she has traveled back and forth as a nurse practitioner to work on much needed healthcare in the area. As you can see from the photo we're providing with this report, Ann is a courageous woman and pioneer willing to work in the most challenging circumstances to make a difference to women and children in South Sudan.
 
Of course, by writing with an update like this, we always run the risk of making it sound as if everything is easy and well-attended to . . . That would be misleading. We must not lose sight of the reality that South Sudan is the newest and one of the most fragile countries in the world, with more than 90% illiteracy among adults in the areas where we support education, school building and teacher training. We are still in the midst of a major campaign, including our efforts through Global Giving, to make sure we can fund teachers, meals, and general school operations into the future. Your support, and that of anyone that you share this story with, is priceless. 
 
Thank you,

Patricia Shafer
Chief Catalyst, Mothering Across Continents/Raising South Sudan