Universal Children’s DayThe LWF provides educational support and protection for children in South SudanAjuong Thok, South Sudan/Geneva 20.11.2014. On 20 November, countries around the world celebrate Universal Children’s Day. In its humanitarian work, the LWF places special emphasis on education. The European Union (EU) project “Children of Peace” for ‘over-age’ pupils is one example of how the LWF provides education for children in conflict regions. Fourteen-year-old Nafisa Hamada Kuku from South Kordofan, Sudan, is in the LWF-coordinated accelerated learning programme (ALP) at the Ajuong Thok refugee camp in South Sudan. After completing this course, she wants to study medicine at university. “I would like to be a surgeon, to help people in my village or anywhere in the world,” she says. “In doing so, I will use the knowledge I will have gained at school.” Through the EU project “Children of Peace”, the LWF is helping to educate 3,615 children in South Sudan’s refugee camps whose schooling has been affected by the conflict in Sudan. The LWF-coordinated accelerated learning programme (ALP) is offered to children in the Yusuf Batil and Kaya refugee camps (in Maban County) in Upper Nile State and in the Ajuong Thok camp in Unity State. The aim is to give children and young people affected by the conflict access to schools where they can learn in a safe environment and also receive psychological support that would help them heal the traumas of war. “For many children, the conflict and war in Sudan has interrupted their normal participation in the learning process, as a result of which considerably older children are enrolling in primary school,” said Anneke Kavine, LWF Department programme coordinator in South Sudan. “For example, 36% of the children who have enrolled in primary school are older, which means that we see many 17-year-old pupils learning in the same class together with six-year-olds.” The majority of pupils who have enrolled in the ALP programme, which is currently available in 12 primary-school camps, are able to complete two grades in one year. “My most vivid memories of working with these children are their eagerness to enrol in schools and learn, despite the large differences in age. We also had some mothers of children who had had no schooling. They wanted to learn so much that at first they even brought their infants along, until we found childminders who could support them,” said Kavine. “It really is a great motivation to support these children in continuing their education.” The LWF’s additional support includes teaching and exercise materials, a help desk and children’s rights clubs, as well as training opportunities for teachers so that they are able to respond much more effectively to child-protection incidents in the camps. ALP students are also educated about awareness of the dangers of armed conflict and about issues of violence and protection, and they have better access to protection mechanisms for children and young people. “Education can not only improve future employment prospects, it can also provide valuable psychological support and life skills, which include the development of a child’s self-esteem,” said Kavine. The “Children of Peace” project was established by ECHO – the EU humanitarian office – after the EU received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012. The LWF has provided access to education as part of its emergency assistance to South Sudanese refugees in both states and other regions of South Sudan since 2012. Note from the LLSTA editorial team: South Sudan is one of the youngest countries in the world, having gained the status of an independent state in 2011. South Sudan is located in East Africa, and until 2011 it was part of Sudan. Despite its separation from Sudan, armed unrest continually takes place in South Sudan in the interests of various military, economic, and power factions seeking to destabilize the country. As a result, neither the economy nor politics in the country is stable. Educational opportunities in the country are still limited. On 20 November this year, the LWF received in Brussels a grant from the European Union of 600,000 EUR, or 815,000 USD, to implement access to education for children affected by war. The EU reportedly allocated the said sum from the funds earmarked for the 2012 Nobel Prize. (Aļesja L.)
The report was prepared based on information provided by the LWF http://www.lutheranworld.org
Photo: Lutheran World Federation, Michael Hyden, South Sudan 2013.
Translated from English by LELBāL pastor Ieva Puriņa
Proofreader Mag. Theol. Milda Klampe