As 2024 is drawing to a close, we’d like to share an update about the three self-help schools which the Education East Africa Foundation is supporting with your help, and to appeal for more aid!
The Eisa Mahanna School
When war broke out, now almost a year and a half ago, most schools in the country closed. There was heavy fighting in a number of areas and many people fleeing the violence in their neighbourhoods moved to the so-called ‘safe areas’ – areas not occupied by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), including much of White Nile State.[1]
This is where the Eisa Mahanna School for children with disabilities is located in Elgezira Aba, a large island in the White Nile, some 300 kilometres south of Khartoum. And the good news is that the school is open again!
Education East Africa Foundation has pledged to fund once more the transport of the students, including seven children of displaced persons, from this month on. The teachers are looking for a bus owner to transport the children as cheaply as possible.
To mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the head of the school and volunteers organised a festive opening of the school for the children last week.
Salwa’s kindergarten
Salwa Abdelrahman’s kindergarten is located in Omdurman, in an area completely occupied by the militia. For the first four months of the war, we were unable to reach her. In September last year she managed to contact us herself, using WhatsApp on a friend’s smartphone, as her own phone is broken.
There is no internet in her neighbourhood – the army has cut off the internet in the areas where the militia are – so she used the Starlink connection that the RSF militia rent out. This connection allows us to send her money again (through a Sudanese banking app), even though it’s not on a regular basis. There is often no electricity either – the militia use their own generators.
A month ago, Salwa sent an audio report in response to a question from us about the situation in her neighbourhood in Jabarona, in the ‘far west’ of Omdurman. This is what she told us:
‘Everyone here is exhausted. We are actually scared all the time. You have to be constantly on your guard, because something can happen to you any moment. After sunset, no one leaves the house anymore. The army bombs the militia with drones, but usually it is the houses are hit. Sometimes they bomb as many as four times a week, sometimes things are quiet for a week.
‘If you leave the house to buy something, not only can you be hit by a stray bullet or rocket, you can also be robbed by RSF soldiers or by street gangs. We are also afraid of burglars, afraid of being attacked and raped, afraid to fall ill, from malnutrition, malaria, typhoid, or some other disease, because medicines are no longer available. Often there is no water either.
‘The situation for the people who have not been able to flee is truly awful. They have almost nothing left to eat. Some children have already died of hunger. And even so, there is quite a lot to get at the markets that are still open. But people have no money left. They now often sell their household goods to buy food. But when you have to walk for kilometres to get to a market, it is hard. And it is also dangerous because you can be robbed at any moment.
‘The financial support you give me allows me to buy sugar, rice, macaroni and other food. Not at the same time, because it gets noticed, and before you know it, you are known as someone with money and your house is looted. At home, I divide the food into smaller portions and give them to the mothers I know. I deliver the food to them personally. That way, no one knows I am helping several families.
‘I was finally able to reach my family in Khartoum Bahri (North). Most of them are in the same situation as us. Others live in districts controlled by the army. You are unable to go from one neighbourhood to another, it is far too dangerous, as you can be regarded as a spy for the enemy for no reason. It is like Sudan is divided into two countries’, she ends her story.
The Elrayan school and soup kitchens
The Elrayan school is in an area that has remained under army control. The front, to the south, is not far away however, and the danger of being hit by a stray rocket is still present, especially in neighbourhood 50, where the school is located.
In the two neighbourhoods 43 and 44, north of the school, the two soup kitchens continue without fail to cook and serve a meal of fava beans or thick lentil soup day after day, each soup kitchen caring for about 200 families. The Sudanese Hadhreen organisation provides a new supply of food every fortnight, including onions and spices, but also charcoal, as there is no gas to be had. Food prices have fallen slightly, and we hope, especially for the people there, that this trend will continue.
This is important as well for us, as from 1st of December, the Foundation is fully funding the soup kitchens once again (see also the previous newsletter).
To be able to continue with the food aid, we hope that more people will monthly donate 10 Euros or Dollars (or more).
Want to help? Please, set up an automatic monthly payment to NL27 TRIO 0198 3671 71, and send an email to onderwijsoostafrika@yahoo.com to sign up for our newsletter.
One-off donations are of course also welcome. The Foundation is an ANBI organisation, so your donations are tax deductible.
The Elrayan school has a few more classrooms in addition to the school building in district 43. They are meant for middle school students,[2] and the teachers who have not fled are thinking of teaching there again, albeit on a provisional basis. We hope to tell you more about this in the next newsletter. The children, whether they are hungry or not, will in any case be very happy with the decision.
This is also evident from the short videos recorded by one of the teachers. She interviewed a number of pupils about the situation. One of them is 14-year-old Morgos George, who was in class 2 of the middle school when the war broke out a year and a half ago.
He explains that his mother died and that his father goes out every day, looking for jobs to earn some money, at the market or near the church.
Fortunately, he managed to raise enough money to open a small kiosk for his eldest son, Morgos, who now sells cigarettes, trinkets, and sweets there every day.
Asked if he earns anything, he says ‘So-so’.
What are his wishes for the future? ‘Ah, because of the war, our dreams are gone. When peace comes, I hope everything will go back to the way it was. Then I want to go back to school as soon as possible. After that, I’ll see what else I want from the future.’
Peace on earth
In a following newsletter, we will let you know how the students of Heerbeeck College in Best helped our crowdfunding campaign, and how many oliebollen (beignets) the sisters of two of our board members baked to help our charity.
Finally, we once again wish you a very good Christmas and a healthy 2025! We hope next year will bring ‘peace on earth’ for everybody.
Warm greetings from the board of Education East Africa Foundation (Djûke, Marijke, Marcel, Marjan, Khalid, Elseline, and Rianne)
Amsterdam, 18 December 2024
[1] Sudan is a federation of 18 states.
[2] The civilian government that was formed in September 2019 following the revolution that ousted dictator Omar Elbashir has instituted a new school system: six years of primary school, three years of middle school and three years of high school. The old system consisted of eight years of primary school and three years of secondary school.