Darfur Dream Team Presses for Sudan Refugee Kids

Tracy McGrady might not make the US Olympic basketball squad next summer in London, but that isn’t stopping him from leading the Dream Team.

The Darfur Dream Team, a group of NBA players headed by the former Houston Rocket, is partnering with humanitarian organizations like the Enough Project to create the Sister School Program, an initiative that aims to fund educational programs in Eastern Chad’s refugee camps, where over 250 000 people from Sudan’s Darfur region have been forced to seek shelter for nearly a decade.

Human rights activist and co-founder of the Enough Project, John Pendergast was at the UN to discuss the initiative during a book launch for What You Wish For, a collection of short stories from internationally renowned children’s authors, released by the nonprofit Book Wish Foundation. 

The Book Wish Foundation will donate 100% proceed from book sales to help UN High Commissioner for Refugees develop and fund libraries in refugee camps in Chad.

The idea for the Darfur Dream Team Sister School Program came about after Pendergast travelled to the region with McGrady in 2007 and both spent time talking with children in refugee camps. Pendergast says the importance of access to educations was emphasized by nearly every child they spoke to. 

“Their choices in a long term refugee situation are bleak. In the absence of quality education, they perceived themselves to have no future.” he said.

UNHCR’s New York director Udo Janz says educational resources in the camps are  scarce, and while 88% of camp children are enrolled in elementary school programs , the number of them able to pursue secondary education is only around  2%.

Although education for Sudanese refugees has for the most part taken a back seat to other priority issues, Pendergast says the long term benefits of educational programs for children who grow up in camps can’t be neglected.

“We could, yes, just focus on the policies that would stop the problem. And yes, we need to get food and medicine to people, but we also need to acknowledge and lift up the dreams and aspirations that young people have.” he said. “Having the opportunity to go into a little room, and be able to go off into other worlds, and read and be challenged and excited by other cultures and other ideas is terribly important for building a future set of people who are going to govern the country down the road.” 

Pendergast says the Sister School Program wants to go beyond typical fundraising initiatives by creating direct relationships between students and encouraging dialogue.

“Suddenly these refugees, who are to most American citizens far away victims, become people that young people in the United States are getting to know and can advocate on behalf of and in support of in the future.”

So far, 26 American schools have taken part in the program’s initial technical trials, with students exchanging messages, pictures and videos with their African counterparts. Program coordinators are currently working to find partners in the telecommunications industry to help develop cost effective ways of connecting camps in Eastern Chad to American classrooms.

Over 275 US schools in 41 different states have signed up for the program. Teachers interested in taking part can find more information on the Darfur Dream Team website.