Sudan: Schooling for refugee children in Khartoum

Children of the 'Save the Saveable' school in the parish St. Bakhita in Jabarona. @ACN
Children of the 'Save the Saveable' school in the parish St. Bakhita in Jabarona. @ACN

14-year-old Emma wants to become a doctor one day. But she lives in a country in which such an ambition seems almost foolhardy, especially for someone like her - a refugee child. She attends one of the schools run by the archdiocese of Khartoum, in the Mayo refugee camp. "For me school is really important. Without it I would have no choice but to stay at home. It is my only hope of being able to fulfil my dream of becoming a doctor", Emma says.

Since 2003 ACN has contributed €1.7 million to the programme for the Catholic schools in the archdiocese of Khartoum. A twenty two-year civil war pitted the Islamic North against the Christian South. The most recent phase of this brutal war, from 1983 until 2005 cost over 2.5 million human lives. On paper at least there has been peace between North and South since 2005, a vast country twice the size of France, Germany and Britain combined. But the continuing conflict in Darfur and the increasing violence in the South make the prospect of lasting peace a matter of doubt.

In order to escape the war, some 2000 inhabitants of southern Sudan fled to the North. In all, the number of Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries is estimated at 5 million. Huge refugee camps have formed. Sometimes entire families live here in the space of just a few square metres, without running water and in the poorest of hygienic conditions. The refugees have little food and no work, and no privacy. Their children often have no access to education because most of them do not speak Arabic, the language of education in the Islamic North. In 1986, when it became clear that the state schools could not accommodate the refugee children, Cardinal Zubeir Wako began the emergency programme which was originally intended for only 8,500 pupils and for the first three years of primary schooling only. This emergency aid was the only hope for the refugee children, for without these Catholic schools they would have received no education at all.

Under a state resettlement programme in 1991 and 1992, the refugees were forced to move to remoter regions, often in the middle of the desert. The Church responded by further extending the schools programme. From the year 2000 onwards 41 Church schools in and around Khartoum have been providing education for 16,900 pupils (academic year 2008/2009). The diocese also runs 45 kindergartens. A total of 85 helpers in and around the city support the 681 teachers who teach the children and young people. The schools outside Khartoum are run by the Comboni priests and sisters.
In general the curriculum and timetables are prepared in accordance with the standards of the Sudanese Ministry for Education. The schools are only free to organise the teaching of religion. For the religion lessons of the Muslim pupils teachers are seconded from the state schools.

But now the very existence of the schools is threatened. The archdiocese has exhausted its financial resources and now faces the latent threat of state control. Dr Hassan El Turabi, the Sudanese parliamentary spokesman, has made comments such as: "Those who do not want to be Arabized and converted to Islam must pay the price for rejecting God's wish ... Arabization is good for them. We have to teach these rebel Southerners about what is good for them."
But Cardinal Zubeir Wako believes there have to be alternatives to the state schools. He says: "One has to take seriously what is deliberately imposed in government schools, e.g. of teaching even kindergarten children that they are Arabs and Muslims and obliging them to live accordingly. A Christian girl told her mother: 'In the kindergarten we are Muslims. At home we are Christians'."

The number of children on the programme is falling. Many parents pay no fees at all since they cannot afford even the modest school fees. The biggest worry for Cardinal Wako is the staffing costs. Each year the government increases the teachers' pay, putting a still heavier burden on the diocese. Additionally, the Church has had to invest in the training of these teachers, for many of them are still young and inexperienced.

There will be no future for children like Emma if these schools have to close for lack of money. It is a difficult situation. The government cannot provide schooling for the children in the camps, yet it does not like the fact that they are receiving a Christian education.
And yet the Christian roots in Sudan go back a long way. Around the year 37 AD the apostle Philip baptised the minister of Queen Candace. The first Christian community was established in Meroe. It was not until between the 14th and 16th centuries, long after the establishment of Christianity and of Christian kingdoms in the country, that Sudan was Islamised - with the exception of the South.

In modern times Catholic schools in Sudan have traditionally enjoyed an excellent reputation and since they have always been open to Muslims and Christians alike, they have made a valuable contribution to mutual understanding. If Islamic fundamentalists like El Turabi get their own way, this will endanger the future not only of many individual children but also of peace between the different faith communities. ACN is convinced, as is Cardinal Wako, of the urgent need for the „Save the Saveable School Programme". As the Cardinal says, "If there are no educated Christian intellectuals, then we will have a sad future". He is convinced that the archdiocese must continue with this programme.

Bishop Daniel Adwok Marko Kur, the auxiliary bishop in Khartoum, has written to ACN asking for our continued help. "Without this programme", he writes, "we could never provide an education for these children... We hope with all our hearts that the current peace process will ultimately bring about a return of freedom, so that the people will - perhaps - one day be able to return to their original homes.
If real peace returns to Sudan, then the programme will one day come to an end naturally... For the time being our principal aim, with your help, is to keep these schools open and working."
And he concludes:
"Thank you for your solidarity and support".

 

To know about this and many other similar projects in favour of the pastoral needs of the suffering Church, please contact our national offices.