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.

South Sudan Gets UN Nod: Hard Road Lies Ahead

The international community is less than 24 hours away from recognizing South Sudan as the world’s newest state.

UN Security Council today recommended the new Republic of Southern Sudan as the 193rd member of the United Nations.The General Assembly will vote tomorrow to officially recognize the Republic of Southern Sudan at UN headquarters in New York , where the country’s flag will be raised during a special ceremony.

After over two decades of civil war, Southern Sudanese overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence from the North in a referendum earlier this year.

Although the vote was meant to be the culminating point of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and South, both countries still have to deal with a number of unresolved issues, such as the question of citizenship, demarcation of borders and ongoing violence in regions like Southern Kordofan and Abyei.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon urged both Northern and Southern leaders to continue working towards a peaceful solution to the unresolved elements of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

 “A viable South will need a viable North and vice versa. Together South and North must face their common future as partners, not rivals” Ban Ki Moon told Security Council members.

One of the poorest and least developed regions in the world, Southern Sudan will also face the difficult task of providing basic services to a growing population with little existing infrastructure available through out the country.

Ban warned UN member states that now was not the time to end funding to Southern Sudan, and called  on the international community continue providing much needed resources.

“In many ways our work has just begun. Institutions of government are weak. There are tremendous challenges on every front: social services, health, education” said the Secretary General. “At the day of its birth, South Sudan ranks at the bottom of almost all human development indicators.  Like any newborn, South Sudan needs help. Our responsabilities are enormous.” 

Southern Sudan: Results Show Nearly Unanimous Vote For Independence

Virtually every voter in Southern Sudan’s January 9th Independence referendum cast their ballot in favor of seceding from the North, according to results released by the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission on Friday. The Commission’s most recent count was at 98.7 percent in favor of independence.

With the independence referendum accepted as most observers expected, the focus will not be on other issue that are harder to manage.

In the months and weeks leading up to to the vote, tens of thousands of Southern Sudanese who had been displaced by years of fighting returned South, often to areas along the border with the North. Southern Sudan remains one of the poorest regions in the world, and some aid groups have voiced concerned that a large influx of internally displaced people could put a strain of the new state’s already weak infrastructure. 

 The new state and the government of Sudan in Khartoum will still have to deal with a number of unresolved issues in the coming months, including oil revenue sharing, citizenship and the status of disputed areas like the Abyei border region, where violence broke out during the voting.

Voter Registration Running Smoothly For Sudan Referendum, Says USAID Official

By Kyle LaFleur

Southern Sudanese referendum registration has gone smoothly both in the African nation as well as internationally, according to US Agency for International Development Sudan Mission Director William Hammink. 

“Registration began on time, November 15th and has proceeded peacefully in the ten states of southern Sudan, the 15 states of northern Sudan and in most of the eight countries where out-of-country registration and voting will take place,” Hammink said. 

Sudanese citizens will be able to register until December 1 for the January 2011 referendum which will decide whether the South and North will remain one country or split into two independent nations. 

“We are continuing to educate communities and voters about the process, to assist local media reporting on the process, to support Sudanese organizations observing the process and to support independent international observation,” Hammink said.

Panel Believes Quality Education In Sudan Is Within Reach

Sarah Mamula - Talk Radio News Service

Sudan’s educational system is taking giant steps towards improving its quality, but a panel of experts said Friday at the United States Institute of Peace that there are still many more obstacles to overcome.

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, the northern-based National Congress Party (NCP) and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) shared government control of Sudan. When the interim period ends, Southern Sudan will have the option to vote and secede from a united Sudan, an outcome experts said is likely to occur. According to the panel, tough challenges lie ahead for a newly recognized state, and overhauling the education system is a major priority for the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS).

“Right now, we are in the process, in Southern Sudan, of creating a quality education system for the first time in the history of Southern Sudan,” said Marc Sommers, Associate Research Professor of Humanitarian Studies at The Fletcher School and expert on the region.

Senior Education Adviser at the Academy for Educational Development Elizabeth Leu said enrollment in primary and secondary schools has nearly doubled since 2005. Despite this success, Leu said the high dropout rate is one of many problems facing the education system.

“In 2009, there were almost half a million students in primary schools, in grade one. In grade eight, there were only 18,000 students,” said Leu. “A lot of students are entering school and very quickly dropping out.”

Some major issues Southern Sudan is currently facing includes training and paying teachers and balancing the gender disparity. According to Leu, 85% of males in Southern Sudan enroll and only 57% of females enroll. 

Experts said the Southern Sudan’s government has a lot of work ahead of them, but remain optimistic that the progress being made will continue.

“I just see a lot of new energy and commitment within the education sector,” said Leu.