Education East Africa

Imagine you were born in one of the poverty-stricken suburbs of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Your grandparents are displaced by the war in the Nuba Mountains or in Darfur. Your mother, who never went to school herself, cleans homes in one of the richer neighbourhoods in the city centre. Your father is a day labourer. There is no chance whatsoever to enter a good but expensive private school. At state schools, you learn next to nothing, as classes of 100 pupils are no exception.

Fortunately, there is the self-help school. At such a school, set up by volunteers, you pay enrolment fees according to what your parents can afford, giving you the chance to get a good basic education – and who knows to go on to further education or training.

These self-help schools are registered with the Ministry of Education. They follow the state curriculum, are visited by the inspection team, but receive no –desperately needed– financial allowance.

For this reason, the Education East Africa Foundation was created. It raises funds from individuals, institutions, and companies in the form of monthly donations for the salaries of teaching staff, and one-off donations, which are used to pay for maintenance, teaching materials, and other necessities.

In this way, the foundation gives self-help schools and other initiatives in the field of education and teaching the financial support they lack and some of the poorest children in Sudan a fair chance of a carefree childhood and a hopeful future.

Would you also like to help? A monthly contribution of €10 is already very welcome! Send your monthly or one-off contribution to St. Onderwijs Oost-Afrika, Amsterdam, account number NL27 TRIO 0198 367171 of the Triodosbank.

For more information, please email onderwijsoostafrika@yahoo.com