Adult Literacy Classes for Women

With assistance from the British Embassy in Khartoum we hold basic literacy classes for women who can’t read or write.

one of our supported adult literacy teachers  with her class.

Over 600 women attend these classes in 20 locations around Khartoum. On our visit we saw women teachers helping women to read. “ Thank you”, said one woman ,” Now I can read signs and I can write my name”.

Learn more about our Women's Literacy project here

Women attending a Women's Education Partnership basic literacy class

one of our teachers in in the centre – to the right is Neimat , our in country coordinator

Learn more about our Women's Literacy project here

A Warm Welcome

Penny and I send greetings from Sudan to Women's Education Partnership supporters in England  and beyond.

It's a hot day here and the traffic is busy.

This is day one of our visit to our staff and our students here.

There are also plans to visits many of our projects - including adult literacy, HIV/Aids outreaches for women and eye care clinics.

George at The Acropole Hotel, one of our strong local supporters,  has made us very welcome from the moment we arrived at the airport from Nairobi.

We were with Neimat in the Acropole hotel on the first day of our visit. She welcomed us very warmly, so warmly that I practised my new video skills on her. I intend on this visit to record short movies of what we see and who we visit so you can see what we see a  bit clearer. I hope you appreciate our efforts.  Thank you Neimat.

A New Year Update

We are very concerned about the reports of continued fighting in South Sudan. There are positive signs emerging about peace negotiations and a possible truce; however there have clearly been outbreaks of violence and unrest in certain  areas.

We hope that rapid progress is made towards securing peace as a matter of urgency and we support the efforts of all peace makers.

We learn from Juba that Kimu health clinic is working as normally as possible under the circumstances. The team there has remained together and our friends are safe. We also learn that the our HIV/Aids outreach programme for 2014 is ready to commence when the time is right and we have news that our staff and volunteers are safe.

We await news about the university and our students  as term is due to begin. We also await news about the adult literacy classes for women which were established in Terekeka.

In the meantime, we thank all our supporters who have sent messages of encouragement over Christmas. As WEP acts through personal contacts, we have been able to pass these on directly to friends in South Sudan.

We will continue to prepare for further projects in 2014 so that when peace returns, WEP will be ready to respond.

A recent Email from a friend leading a project supported by WEP in a troubled part of South Sudan ended with these words.

As we are entering 2014 tomorrow we pray that peace prevails in all corners of the World and wish you prosperous New Year. It is also our hope and wish that WEP's work expands in this New Year 2014.

It is a privilege to share with all supporters of WEP this optimistic message for the future emerging from a place where there is conflict and uncertainty.  Even in difficult times we learn of courage, hope and generosity of spirit.

Peter

Director

An Update on Our Current Situation

South Sudan 

We are very disturbed by reports emerging from South Sudan that there is fighting in certain places, possible military action and more people displaced.

We do not believe that violence will solve the problems which the people of South Sudan face as they seek to establish a new, prosperous and peaceful country,

We pray for an immediate end to bloodshed. This plea is especially poignant at Christmas when we join with people across the world, praying for peace and justice.


We learn that some of our projects continue to function despite the difficulties. 

• The University in Juba has continued working for the students as best it could up to Christmas.

• Our AIDS/HIV outreaches for 2013 were completed safely and planning is taking place for further outreaches to resume in 2014 as conditions allow.

• Kimu Clinic is functioning and the staff are safe.

• We have no word about the adult literacy work in Terekeka but we will continue to pray that staff and the adults in those remote schools remain safe.


We are in contact with our friends in South Sudan and we have, on your behalf, wished them a peaceful Christmas. We are committed to standing beside them and supporting them.

The situation in Sudan is changing rapidly and we will update you with further news of our projects as soon as we can.

Sudan

Our work in Sudan continues and we have regular positive reports from the office in Khartoum about our students at Ahfad. We have recently recruited two further students who will be our St Martin’s scholars in Khartoum

The adult literacy classes for women, work with orphan children and eye care outreaches continue

Recently we have had discussions about extending the involvement of our students into helping with Breast Care awareness alongside our HIV/Aids outreaches. In these outreaches we work to educate some of the most disadvantaged women who are most affected by poverty and lack of opportunity for education.



Thank You

Many of our loyal supporters have responded very generously to our Christmas appeal. Thank you and we look forward to receiving more completed gift aid forms and donations. We will only use funds for projects where we know that the projects can be safely and quickly delivered for the benefit of women.

We pray that 2014 will be peaceful, especially in South Sudan.

We are committed to working with all peacemakers and we know first hand the power of education to promote peace and justice, especially among women.  

We wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year holiday. Thank you again for your support

Peter Hullah

24th December 2013

Two New Scholars

We have just had good news from Khartoum about two recently selected additional university scholars who are being supported by St Martin in the Fields.

This is really excellent news that we are very pleased about. The new scholars are called Samra and Maab.

We are delighted to have this information from Neimat, our coordinator in Khartoum, both women are presently studying at Ahfad University. Peter our Director very much hopes to meet Samra and Maab when he travels to Khartoum next year.

More news on these scholars and all our other scholars will follow. 

HIV/AIDS Outreach in Juba Sponsored by the Women's Education Partnership

Sarah from NWERO Speaks

Sarah from NWERO ( national women empowerment and rehabilitation organisation) talking to over 70 students at an outreach on the Juba University campus. This one of a series of 12 outreaches we are promoting in the town and out in the country. 

In the feedback many students said that his kind of information giving open forum was much appreciated.

HIV/AIDS facilitators

Sarah with the trained NWERO team selected today to deliver this important outreach.  A university   lecturer who attended said how valuable this outreach was for students who are the future of South Sudan. 

Sarah answering questions towards the end of the session about relationships

Adult Literacy with NRC in Terekeka

The partnership is launched with the Norwegian Refugee Council and WEP to deliver and monitor 2 adult literacy classes for women in Terekeka. 

The journey was tough on very poor roads to a neglected part of South Sudan. I am celebrating in Terekeka with Ayoume Elly, the NRC local coordinator who with his team has set up our joint project. Ayoume Elly used to be head of a girls school in Yei and understands our aims well. 

Peter our director with Ayoume Elly

To visit the adult literacy project - women teaching women basic skills in speaking and writing. The rural two-class project is organised and monitored by the Norwegian Refugee Council and sponsored this year by a generous WEP donor. We were amazed at what we saw after travelling for 4 hours to a place where locals have had a troubled past. Terekeka is a forgotten area with many education and social problems especially for women. The literacy project, taught by two women teachers from the community who are being trained locally, serves 99 adults, 68 women and 31 men. 

A forgotten area

Women led the question and answer session

It was a large class taught by Veronica. The curriculum will include literacy and numeracy together with life skills ( teaching among other things, peace education, gender issues and trauma counselling ) and if the project runs for two years , those attending will make the equivalent of 4 years progress at primary school. We have funding for the first year at present.

Learning is serious business

Adult literacy is important to the life of the community

The class thanked us for not neglecting them - they said they really wanted to learn, to speak English and to be able to read and write.