April 14, 2011

We have all returned home full of wonder and hope for the people of the newest country in the world: the Republic of South Sudan. 

Daniel is busy as ever in Sudan: Meeting with the Ministry of Education to check into state teacher training, as well as meeting with NGOs such as UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services, Joint Aid Mission, and Save the Children. He is arranging food distribution to all the school sites from World Food Program, working on a proposal to procure desks for Pagook primary, getting bunk beds made for 52 girls at the Ayak Anguei Girls school, looking into helping establish community borehole maintenance training for PES drilled water wells in Pagook and Konbek, arranging for 102 orphan girl’s uniforms to be sewn and delivered, and getting a PES office space with one of the NGOs in Bor town. And that is just in the past month! He, in the midst of his busy schedule, is also getting settled in a home of his own in Bor town. He sends his greetings and constantly expresses his thanks when he calls or emails.

The children and parents are thanking our Journey of Hope 2011 team: Tamara Banks for her filming and bringing their new freedom stories back to the US and Lee Ann for her helping the children with their reading and playing with them with her bubbles! They felt so loved and cared for by the team and are already asking when our next PES team will come!

Panther Kelei, PES Field Coordinator, is busy overseeing construction and maintenance of the kitchen and CARE/community-built pit latrines, and getting P6-8 middle school students from Marc Nikkel into Jonglei Hope Academy. He is our liaison with Juba, living there with his beautiful wife Mary. He is now in the process of helping us get registered with the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development.

There are so many stories we will share with you in the coming months. Stories of young women and men in class P8 from Pagook, Marc Nikkel and Ayak Primary Schools who will be the first in their families to graduate the end of 2011, new classes being planned, community, girls and teacher leadership programs being developed, along with the solar iPod educational podcast program being piloted in Pagook with Oklahoma State University and Ears to Our World.

We must always include the bright teachers, mostly “Lost Boys” from Kakuma Refugee camp, who came home to dedicate themselves to educating the new leaders of tomorrow. And students like Rachel Anai, 13 and Angeth Awan 14, Gai Deng Kur, 16 and Samuel Gai Thiak, 16 who are honor students hoping to become medical doctors and teachers to help their new country.

We hope you have been inspired by the blogs we have been sending. Think about how you can help to build schools and hope by becoming involved. Consider helping us reach our goal of $100,000 with our June 2-September 9 fundraising effort, Climb for Sudan (www.climbforsudan.org), by sponsoring one of the 54 Colorado 14’ers. Two young professional climbers are climbing in honor of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” and the Sudanese people as they celebrate their new freedom after 120 years of oppression.  We are using Crowdrise to spread the word so please start your own Crowdrise support page! www.crowdrise.com/climbforsudan

“I feel inspired to follow education because it is the only hope I have since my father was killed in the fight for freedom. I want to become a doctor to help my people who suffer with disease. Someday my dream is to be the Minister of Health of South Sudan. That is why I study and go to school.”

Samuel Gai Thiak,16 P7 Pagook Primary School

We ca leec areetic,

Carol Rinehart                                                                 Daniel Majok Gai           

Co-Founder/Executive Director                                       Sudan Program Director

To view all blog posts please go to:

http://projecteducationsudan.posterous.com/

Nairobi, Kenya 4/2/2011

The baton has been passed and Daniel is in the PES Sudan Program Director seat!  The amount of work we covered together with Field Coordinator Panther Kelei has been impressive. Even as I was departing May 31^st at Juba International Airport, I bumped into the head of JAM, the food implementer for WFP whom I met with last year.  We met with CRS and found out they will not be this year’s implementers for food distribution for WFP food for students, but JAM would be. We needed to connect with Maxine to find out why the Ayak Anguei Girls and Pagook students had not received food since last November.  I introduced Maxine to Daniel and they are meeting next week! That made our day as we have made many in roads with our friend Atem, who is one of the head directors for Jonglei State Ministry of Education, CRS, David Dut (whom Daniel discovered he is related to!) who is looking into helping PES with borehole problems in Pagook and Konbek; UNICEF head of education, Noelle whom we are writing a proposal to secure desks with MOE for Tong Pagook Primary; UNICEF Grace who is head of girls and women’s programs.

We finished all our teacher training in-services concluding with Marc Nikkel and Maar Government schools, passing out the last of the Ears to Our World teacher resource radios.  Peter Lual, past headmaster at MN has been let go and a new HM is in his seat.  CARE has completed three of five pit latrines this week and P6, 7 & 8 will be moving into Jonglei Hope Academy this week; the four classrooms at MN are completed and are the highest quality construction in Maar! Malual is finishing up the upgrades to the JHA kitchen and beginning to buy materials to store until the rest of the funding from Diocese of Indianapolis is secured to start another block of four classrooms. The feminine hygiene pad program was a HUGE success with the women of Maar, Pagook and the Head Matrons from Tong Primary and Ayak Anguei. I learned quite a lot about the cultural aspect on this subject.

While in Maar, Daniel sleep in a tent and was woken up the first night with a fat frog on his face! Each night he was visited with kissing frogs. I told him he would wake up soon as a prince!

While in Maar I met with the Chief of Nyany as we were trying to solve the mystery of the missing grinding mill that was intended for Maar. Evidently, the Chiefs and community of Maar decided to give it to Nyany and we have been trying to find it for two years! We drove past Nyany and discovered it was indeed there, but not functioning. When we arrived in the village, the chief was proudly wearing a Project Education Sudan t-shirt, a bit ragged on the edges! Panther, Daniel and our great and wonderful driver Mario concluded what the mill needed and we promised the Chief we would fund the repairs if the community built a shelter and make a fee schedule for each grind to secure up keep of the mill. The Chief promised and also threw in that he would consider making me one of his wives!

Students and teachers are in school now and still working on teachers getting paid. We stopped by Ayak Anguei for a community meeting and handed out the hand made bracelets Making a Difference for Sudan students from Eaglecrest and Donnie Osmond Club. MAD has raised over $3,000 for bunk beds for the girls at Ayak Anguei! The head master, James Deng, who is the best head master any school would want, wrote many letters along with the girls for the American Students from Steele Elementary, Hamilton Middle School, Southmoor Elementary, The Women’s College, DU. The last of the book bags from the women’s college were delivered as well as the seeds for the Seeds for Sisters community garden pilot.

There is a water shortage due to extreme dry season and only one well in Pagook is supplying the village with water. If the rains don’t come soon, they will be in an emergency situation. The well at Ayak Anguei is also going dry, so we are working on getting another well for Pagook as well as having PH or CRS help fix and possibly re-drill our wells deeper.

There is also a shortage of food and many families are going with only one meal a day. The PES team was not informed of this so as not to worry them. I realized the problem when our wonderful Sudanese woman translator, Ajah Gai, shared her children have gone without food for two days and there were many families in Pagook in the same situation. When a little boy and his brother who were orphans started coming secretly to my window, I would give them LARABARS and dates. We handed out all our LARABARS and it still was not enough. It is difficult to eat when you know there are those going without.

In spite of the water and food shortages, the Dinka people’s spirit continues to be one of jubilation, deep faith and hope. I danced with the women until my calf muscles ached. Sisterhood is strong when women connect with the same soul of love and wanting a bright future for our children.  While in the dancing mood, we discovered our cooks at Pagook are quite the dancers and funniest women! We taught them to say Dinka Donuts for the delicious Dabo they served each morning, and taught them to Disco! They are really good disco dancers. One day, after a hard day’s work, I returned to Pagook with the three cooks lined in a row dancing and singing with their moves in soulful, smooth unison! I proclaimed them the Pagook Supremes and if they needed an agent, I would be happy to represent them!

I have been in Nairobi for two days cherishing the precious moments and writing up a storm in my journal. I capture the continued story that has now spanned six years of loving relationships, proud teachers, eager students and community women and men who are so dedicated to bringing education to their children.

I share with them all about the dedicated volunteers, board, donors and supporters PES has who are the thousands who have heard their cry and responded. I hope through the couple of blogs you may have a touch of what impact you have made and continue to make. It brings tears to my eyes of how gracious and generous you have been and continue to be. South Sudan is already moving into their new freedom with dignity and dedication to secure the future of their new country.

Bless you all!

Carol Ayen tong Pagook

It has been awhile since we have had the opportunity to get to a place where we have access to internet or just time to blog. We have been nomads moving from Pagook to Maar; Maar to Pagook, Pagook to Konbek, Konbek to Juba and back to Bor where we are right now.

On our way back to Bor from Juba where we meet with UNOCHA, UNHAS, NSV, ECS teacher training, and UNICEF Girls and Women’s , we stopped at our favorite mango market in Mangala. After purchasing about three dozen mangos, bananas, and sugar cane to chew on, we headed  back on the bumpy road to Bor. Panther peeled the sugar cane while he kept proclaiming “ we have dancing bags in the back of our van”! I turned around from the front seat of the van to see Daniel chewing his savory sugar cane like a kid in a candy shop! He said it had been over 25 years, when he was only 5, since he had sugar cane. Bless him, he was covered in sugar cane from cheek to cheek!

Tamara and Lee Ann have returned to Colorado by the time you get this. I could have titled this blog “Baba Gai and the Gai Girls”. Tamara and Lee Ann were blessed by Daniel’s father, Baba Gai, with new names: Tamara is Yar skool white cow and school, since her spirit is bright like a shiny school roof and Lee Ann is Aluel nguei, red cow and rare red termite. I was given the name Ayen tong Pagook by Baba years ago as his daughter and I now have two new sisters! Daniel is our brother as all three of us are Ayen, Aluel and Yar Gai. Thus “Baba Gai and the Gai Girls”!

We have completed teacher in-service training at Pagook with Pagook and Gopmeth teachers. Seventeen very bright teachers participated. Daniel, Panther, and I split up various segments of the lesson on classroom management that PES School Outreach teacher extraordinaire, Teri Appell put together.

We had two community meetings; one in Maar and one in Pagook. Both had the usual community representatives: Chiefs, PTA, C.A, women, headmaster, and teachers . Maar is very pleased with the quality construction our  contractor, Malual Gai has done on the Marc Nikkel Primary School four classrooms. The enrollment of MN is now at 1, 970 so the community decided to put the upper grades of P6-8 into the Jonglei Hope Academy  classrooms until it opens. The reason for not opening as a day school yet is due to insecurity and the referendum. It will not open officially now until the two dorms are completed to accommodate the boarding of long distance students. PES followed up on the CARE pit latrines and they are to be completed by the end of the month.  The kitchen is being completed and updated by Malual and is expected to be looking new and operational by mid-April. Maar would like us to complete the dormitories and build four more classrooms at Marc Nikkel Primary.

Pagook tong Primary is also requesting next steps be a block of four more classrooms. Daniel and I are following up with our Juba Rotary/Mile High Rotary Denver connection for pit latrines, and after meeting with Grace Keyene with UNICEF, we will hopefully get some desks for Pagook. 

We are now resting at Freedom Hotel in Bor since we went to Ayak Anguei very early this morning to discover Chief Chol, the headmaster James Deng and teachers are in Bor for the teacher strike negotiations. We will conduct the teacher in-service tomorrow and have our community meeting afterwards. We conducted the girls survey last week and handed out the rest of The Women’s College, DU book bags and panties. The seed distribution will take place tomorrow along with the feminine hygiene pad program proposal. Bor County Commissioner, Maker Lual Kuol, is following up on the sewing machines that  will be purchased and suggested the project be a skills based program not for the women of Konbek, but the girls. UNICEF agreed.

Onward to Maar to complete our last teacher in-service March 22-23, meet with the Jonglei Ministry of Education in Bor on 25^th, meet with the women and older girls of Pagook about the pad project, then head back to Juba to meet with UNDP, CRS and World Relief.

Daniel, Panther and I have been learning a lot and moving forward with confidence in the new future of the Republic of South Sudan.

- Carol

Dear Supporters,

We arrived at Kenyatta airport at 11:30 March 4^th with 12 huge bags lugged through security screening. When we checked into Jet Link reservation desk, we had our first challenge to resolve: Carol forgot her immunization card back in the U.S.  In order to get into Juba, I had to have evidence I had a yellow fever inoculation.  I was told to get another inoculation, so off Tamara and I went across the street to the International Health building to get one.  We were greeted by three great Kenyan “Sisters” who said for $50 USD I could get a card.  The women quickly produced a certificate and quietly said, “Remember, you just got a yellow fever shot “and winked. We tipped them $10 and thanked them with a group hug and a sister high five! The next challenge was the overage costs: we were quoted we could bring two bags each at 23 kg, but in fact we could only have one bag each at 20 kg.  All 12 pieces of luggage were weighed and the bill was presented. We did not have enough Kenyan shillings to cover it, so Lee Ann went into Africa mode and started negotiating! She really was impressive. We got it down to the exact amount of shillings then were told we should be an US $100 dollar bills! Time was getting short; only 15 minutes to board! We paid in US currency, ran to the gate, went through security and settled in our seats.

We arrived at Juba International airport and were greeted by Daniel’s big smiling face, our Field Coordinator, Panther Kelei and Bol Deng.  It was the smoothest entrance I have ever experienced.

Since it was 4:00 and a Friday, I suggested we hit the road fast and get our tails to the bank to change US dollars into Sudanese pounds. Challenge #3 of the day:  the Sudanese central bank now has decided without reason not to cash crisp 2006 minted US dollars that have a micro count stamp on them. ¾ of our US dollars had the micro stamp on them.  Daniel and I meet with the bank manager and explained our ordeal: We didn’t have enough government approved $100 US dollar bills to survive our expenses on the trip!

The manager agreed to give us a lower rate on not just the stamped bills, but even the clean ones!  Daniel and I took about an hour to get to that point.  We argued and finally came to the conclusion we had to get PES to wire money to the bank in order to get clean $100 dollar bills. The wire is supposed to come on Monday.

Abraham Deng came to our rescue with a nice invitation; dinner at the Queen of Sheba restaurant where we had the best Ethiopian dinner ever!

In Sudan, every challenging moment has grace shed on it; something I am constantly amazed about.  The next day, Daniel and I decided to bring us all out to his cousins’ hotel on the Nile to have lunch.  Upon arriving Lee Ann was so moved, she titled the occasion “PARIS ON THE NILE”. Daniel’s cousin thought Tamara was French (she is; her grandma is from France), so it set the mood for the afternoon!

We were escorted to a table on the deck sitting right over the Nile River and dined on chicken stew with Ugali, Stony ginger and Tusker beer beverages, mesmerized by the Nile. The Blue Nile River has a mysterious and ancient history which connects one at a deep place. We all sat in a quiet sacred moment in awe.

We lazily watched fishermen pushing their boats with long poles into the river, casting their nets with such graceful movement; it seemed like a dream in slow motion.  Young boys swam and splashed while a giant salamander moved on the surface of the water.

That evening I went to visit my dear friend Bishop Nathaniel Garang. I make an effort to see him each year and to my wonderful surprise, he is living on the ECS compound where we are staying. After meeting his wife and two sons, Tamara interviewed him for her documentary.  He equivalent to Bishop Tutu of South Sudan: humble and mystical. He is getting old and is retiring next month. He will continue to be wise council for South Sudan as he has been working for years on inter-tribal unity and resolution.

Sunday brought what may well be considered the Juba finale!  We went to the Cathedral “Dinka” service where Bishop Nathaniel was preaching.  It was a service filled 3,000 congregants, over 100 women and girls from four different tribes dancing and singing, Bishop Nathaniel sharing his story of how he fought in two civil wars, dropped his gun and became the “Lost Bishop”, who went secretly village to village protected by the women spreading the word of God.  Daniel, Lee Ann, Tamara and I were brought to the front of the congregation and introduced as Project Education Sudan. Bishop Nathaniel said we were the fulfillment of his mission to inspire “Lost Boys” in the U.S. to become educated and return to their homeland to help build and become the next generation of leaders.  Daniel was introduced as the Sudan Director of PES to much applause!

It is an historical time to return to South Sudan this year. Lee Ann, Tamara and I feel so very blessed to be here now.

We attempted to send this blog yesterday, but it went into cyber space.

We are waiting to receive our wire of monies at Equity Bank in Juba; hopefully tomorrow so we can get on the road to Bor where we really need to be with our families in the field. We are taking the time we have today to make appointments with the NGO’s who expressed an interest in meeting upon our return to Juba on March 17 & 18^th. We also went to the American Consulate and registered with them.  Some things are getting easier with the change or in Daniel’s words, ”things that used to be easy to get are more difficult, things that were difficult to get are easier now. TIA.

Thinking of you all back home and are filled with gratitude for what you have helped to create: such hope and a bright new future for a new country!

Carol and Daniel

Dear Supporters,

We arrived in Bor/Pagok on 3/8 and departed and arrived in Maar on 3/9. On 3/10 we had a community meeting that was amazing: chiefs, PTA, Deputy Headmaster of Marc Nikkel, priests and the Women's Union attended. On the way to Maar, we stopped by Gopmeth and were greeted by over 30 women who were mudding the new Gopmeth Primary that was funded by PES $1,000 and the commnunity! Talk about initiative and using the community resources. It was International Women's Day the day we arrived, so Lee Ann, Tamara and I celebrated with the women in Nyankai; sisterhood.
 
We have quite a presence there; more than I expected. The four classroom will be completed at Marc Nikkel and the kitchen, 5 CARE pit latrines and kitchen to be completed by the end of the month.
 
Since the erollment at MN is now at 1,950, the community requested the use of the not open Jonglei Hope Academy be used for MN upper grades: P6, P7, P8. There was over 50% approval to so this.
 
We arrived in Jonglei State as the teachers went on strike to protest non-payment of salaries for months; not uncommon since 2005. The teachers feel confident it will be resolved in their favor now that there are more competent and qualified admin with the Ministry of Education. Meanwhile, there are no students in school. Pagook is "staging" a lesson for Tamara to film.
 
Our home base is Pagook and we have, as usual, been greeted with Dinka hospitality. The community came to the school at 9:00 am but we arrived at 6:00pm! Bless them.
 
We are sleeping in the Pagook classrooms. We stayed in Bol Deng's compound in Maar. No mud and thatch huts this year! boo a hoo!
 
We came into Bor today to meet with Maker Lual Kuol, Bor County Commissioner. While waiting for our 3:00 o'clock appointment we went by World Food Programme and got oriented by the head of WFP Jonglei State.
 
We are now at Freedom Hotel for internet, cold drinks  and buffet. It is not as hot as last year thank God! And having constant  available transport has made our constant movement possible.
 
We will have a teacher in-service tomorrow with the Pagook and Gopmeth teachers; on Sunday we will be meeting with the Pagook community to talk about next steps.
 
There will be another gap in days when we go back in the bush and we will once again be incommunicado.
 
I hope you all are getting these blogs via our PES admin as we are unable to send them through our blog.
 
We are all doing well, no dysentary, or heat exhaustion.
 
The changes that are taking place in just one year are amazing! They know the word democracy; but now the work begins to teach and mentor the process of implimenting it. Only the future will tell, but we and the country is hopeful, but realistic.
 
Off to Ayak Anguei Girls School Monday to distribute the book bags, sanitary pads, conduct the girls survey. Teacher training will be conducted on the 14th.
 
No cell and internet in Pagook yet, so we sign off and will update you in a couple of days.
 
Carol & Daniel

  Carol, Lee Ann and Tamra arrived in Nairobi late last night and awoke to a beautiful sunrise with birdsong. We were greeted by familiare faces when we arrived at our PES Nariobi home, Methodist Guest House .

  All 12 bags arrived with us! We were nervous about them reaching Nairobi since we only had a 1 hour lay over at Heathrow. The only snafu in Heathrow was Lee Ann and Carol being detained at security while they emptied and searched our back packs. We almost missed our connecting flight, but ran to the plane with only 1 minute  to spare!
After boarding, our flight had an electrical problem delaying take off by an hour. The delay worked in our favor allowing our 12 pieces of cargo to get on board to follow us to Kenyatta Airport!

  Dear Daniel, who is in Juba working dilgently on securing our exemption letter from the South Sudan Ministry of Finance ,(in order for us to go through customs without hinderance) was approved just late yesterday! We brought all the supplies in hope of getting cleared. Daniel has not  left Juba since arriving last week to get this important document. He is very eager to get to his vilage of Pagook and see his family he has not seen in two years.

  We arrive in Juba today at 3;45. Bol Deng has arranged our transport and security for the entire trip! We no longer have to hitch hike on local matutus this year. We will have constant transport throughout our month's stay. This will make filming for Tamara Banks much easier since she and Lee Ann will only be in South Sudan for two weeks. 

  This morning at breakfast, Tamara, Lee Ann and I started realizing we will be entering the newest nation in the world today!  I have been so moved to be a participant these past 6 years helpnig the South Sudanese build their country. I have been reflecting on my first trip, only a few months after the signing of the CPA in 2005, to now coming home to once again celebrate the next step in South Sudan's history of freedom after decades of war and oppression.  There is so much emotion; we can barely wait to touch ground and embrace our sisters and brothers in a spirit of jubulation.

  We will try to communicate when we arrive in Juba if we can get access to internet. Since it will be Sunday, we may go to the Cathedral in Juba and greet Bishop Nathaniel Garang, Archdeacon Bol Deng and many friends of the ECS.  But, Daniel is very eager, as are we, to get on the road from Juba to Bor so we can get settled in Daniel's village of Pagook which will be our homebase.

  Until our next communication!

  Blessings,

  Carol

Carol Francis-Rinehart, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Tamara Banks,  Emmy Award winning documentarian and international journalist, and PES Board member and attorney, Lee Ann Huntington are departing today, March 2^nd for South Sudan!

Our intinerary includes gathering data, doing surveys to create and implement  community, girls, and teacher leadership, meeting with South Sudan officials and NGOs: UNICEF, WFP, CRS, STC, CARE, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, distributing 300 book bags filled with panties for the Ayak Anguei Girls school, deliver over 650 friendship bracelets made by many Eaglecrest High and Australian high school students with Making a Difference for South Sudan, negotiate next steps, do an all day teacher training in-service, deliver 44 more hand crank radios and start our pilot with the ETON solar powered docking station and present the iPod podcasts in partnership with Ears to Our World and Oklahoma State University.

We have also been selected by Tamara Banks to be the educational infrastructure part of her full length documentary on South Sudan as an emergent new nation. She will be filming both our PES work in South Sudan and gathering up- to-date news on South Sudan.

Daniel Majok Gai, PES Sudan Program Director and Panther Kelei, PES Field Coordinator have been busy preparing for our arrival. They have been in Juba securing our tax exemption letter from the Ministry of Finance and arranging for our transport and security. Bless them!

We are eager to get to the bush where our precious  Sudanese sisters and brothers and over 3,000 students are in Jonglei State, Bor and East Twic Counties!

Our blogs will be written as we are able to get to any internet service. We work in the most remote interior where there is NO electricity, running water, latrines. We live with the villagers in mud and thatch huts, and have one bucket of water to “shower” with per day in over 125+ degree weather!

We will write a short blog upon our arrival to Nairobi and when we arrive in Juba. From there we head out to Bor and East Twic Counties to begin our work and filming!

Carol

Carol Francis-Rinehart

Executive Director

Project Education Sudan

P.O. Box 6851

Denver, CO 80206

303-316-4528 U.S. Office

303-217-3102 U.S. Cell

+249 911 578 866 Sudan

+254 733 398 077 Kenya

www.projecteducationsudan.org

"Building Schools and Hope in South Sudan"

Daniel arrived in Juba yesterday! He was greeted by our Project Education Sudan Field Coordinator Panther Kelei and Abraham Deng Kuot from Save the Children Sweden Internatinal.