Sounds of a New School Year

Our blog launch isn't the only big news for Africa ELI this week-- it's also the start of a brand new school year for our girls in South Sudan! The girls have begun arriving on their campuses this week and going through the registration and enrollment process with the help of our recent 2011 graduates.  School leaders have told us that the students have all been "very cooperative," and went right to work setting up dorm rooms for other students who haven't yet arrived.  This year Africa ELI is sponsoring students in ten different secondary schools in South Sudan. The students are from multiple states, including the Nuba Mountains, an area that has experienced intense military conflict as they have fought to join South Sudan in independence from the North.

Africa ELI's Director of Schools, Wani Kenneth, reported the arrival of 4 new East African teachers who have come to teach in South Sudan for the year; more new teachers are expected to arrive within the week.

At Africa ELI-sponsored Excel Academies, the beginning of a new school year is rung in with the sounds of hammering and sawing as beds continue to be made by staff and students alike for boarding students. For a nation whose people  have experienced a lifetime of violence, conflict, and destruction, these sounds of hammers and saws are sounds of peace, of fresh opportunities, of hope. And we hear them loud and clear.

Student registration is underway for the 2012 school year.

Sounds of hammering and sawing ring in the new school years as beds continue to be made for boarding students. Funding for the bunk beds provided by Africa ELI donors including the Rotary Clubs of Pigeon Forge, West Knoxville, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 

* Photos source : Wani Kenneth Evans, Director of Schools for Africa ELI and Founder of Excel Academies