ARIANG SCHOOL
Creating a Brighter Future for Sudan
A Brief History of the Ariang School:
The Ariang School was founded in 1993, but had to be discontinued because of continual attacks by North Sudanese Arab militiamen. Since its inception, the school has operated without buildings or permanent structures. The lack of books, pens, pencils, blackboards and even trained teachers have not deterred students from attending their lessons. The school has continued to serve more than 600 students, in makeshift classes held under trees. Older students must walk six hours each day to attend lessons in another village. The new school will allow all students to receive an education in their own village.
The Progress: An Update from the Ariang School Project
Dear supporters of Hope for Ariang,
Greetings from Ariang, South Sudan, where we have been busy preparing to begin construction on the Ariang School! We are excited to report that a great deal of progress has been made!
Reception from the Village:
A week ago, I took Barron Boyd, President of the Board of Directors of Hope for Ariang and Jen Marlowe, filmmaker for Rebuilding Hope to Ariang. Our car was greeted three kilometers away from Ariang by 300 villagers who were running to meet us, dancing, singing and carrying a banner they had made which read: Long Live Honorable Barron Boyd! God will bless you on your coming to Ariang School. Community of Ayien Boma (Ariang) are glad for your cooperation for building of Ariang School. Ayien (Ariang) is glad to have you as our guests!
We all gathered under a large, shady tree while the chief and other prominent villagers spoke about the significance of the school to the community. They especially acknowledged Barron, stating that as a professor, his level of education inspires them to educate their children.
The ceremony was supposed to mark the official “groundbreaking” of the school, but the villagers are so enthusiastic about their school that they could not wait; they had already begun digging trenches for the foundation. Barron and I, alongside men, women and children from the village, dug deeper into the trenches for what will be the foundation. The villagers also proudly showed us the 300,000 bricks they had made last year which are waiting to become the walls of the school.
Meetings with Officials:
We had many meetings with government officials on both the local and state levels. The Sub-District Administrator for Ariang enthusiastically endorses the project, as does the District Education Administrator. We also traveled to Kuajok (the capital of Warrap State) to meet with the state Director General for the Ministry of Education and the Advisor to the Governor for Gender and Development. We also met with the Bishop of Wau, whose diocese includes Ariang. We informed them of the progress of our project and they all expressed their support and cooperation.
Hiring a Contractor:
Locating a trustworthy, affordable contractor, whose work is excellent, was by far the greatest challenge. Construction prices in South Sudan are extremely high. This is partly due to the lack of existing infrastructure from decades of civil war. Transportation costs for the materials alone will cost tens of thousands of dollars.
After meeting with six different contractors, I finally found one that I wanted to work with. He was recommended by the Bishop and spoken of highly by the Advisor to the Governor. He is from a town nearby Ariang and during the war spent time in Ariang, so he knows the village and the villagers know him. Barron and I inspected several examples of his work and the quality was consistently excellent.
World Food Program (WFP: Food for Recovery
We are intending to utilize a program of the World Food Program (WFP) called “Food for Recovery.” This program enables us to hire Ariang villagers to do all the non-skilled labor on the school and receive their payment in the form of food provided by the WFP. We are excited about this partnership with WFP for several reasons: paying labor with donated food greatly reduces our costs; it assists the local Ariang economy; it directly involves many of the community whom the school will serve; and it ensures that the payment, food placed in the hand of women, will go towards nourishing children and families. We have held meetings with WFP at the national level in Juba, the state level in Wau and the local level in Akon to make sure that WFP at all levels knows Hope for Ariang and our work and to investigate everything we need to do to begin the partnership.
Project Coordinator:
As I will only be in Sudan for one more month, it was essential that we locate a project coordinator, to ensure the smooth functioning of all the different moving pieces. The project coordinator we found is from Ariang, knows the community, and is invested in the building of an excellent school in his home village. He has a two-year diploma from a university in Uganda and will finish his university degree after the school is completed. He has spent the entire week with Barron and me and has proven to be reliable, hard working and diligent.
Fundraising Video:
Jen Marlowe, the Rebuilding Hope filmmaker, is documenting the progress of the school. When she returns to the US, she will edit the footage into a new, short video that can be used to continue fundraising efforts.
Next Steps
Our most urgent and critical need is to raise $90,000 in the next four months in order to complete the construction before the onset of the rainy season. Please click HERE for information on how to help us reach this crucial goal.
We appreciate all your support in the past and hope you will continue to support the right of all children to education as we enter this final and crucial stage in the building of the Ariang School!
With appreciation and excitement,
Gabriel Bol Deng
Founder/Executive Director, Hope for Ariang
Looking to the Future:
The Ariang community has donated a site where the school will be constructed. This was chosen by the village elders for its significance as a holy ground, which is believed to ensure the blessing of the youth by their ancestors. The proposed school will consist of twelve classrooms, modest kitchen and a staff room for the principal and the teachers.
Two wells will provide safe drinking water for the students and their families. The current practice is for girls to fetch water from the river, a long distance from the village, which leaves them with no time to attend school. The proposed school will consist of twelve classrooms, a modest kitchen and a staff room for the principal and the teachers.
 Gabriel teaches grade one class at Ariang School (2007)  Ariang Elders blessing the New Site for the school (2007)  Click here to watch a two-minute video.
 The Progress: An Update on the Ariang School Building Project
On May 30, Garang returned home after a very successful completion of the well drilling and brick making in the villages of Ariang and Lang. A total of six wells were drilled and are functionally operating in Ariang and Lang, serving over 20,000 people. Thanks to many of our donors, supporters and friends!
School Construction Phase I: The well drilling and brick-making
 Borehole during the rainy season
Water is the essential element for the well-being of the communities. The villages of Ariang and Lang never had a well since creation. Traditionally, people used to get their drinking water from the Lol and Kom Rivers running through the villages or from boreholes during the dry season. Water contamination is rampant, resulting in many water-borne diseases.
Seeing the wells being drilled was an historic moment in the villages of Ariang and Lang. Mere words cannot describe the excitement exhibited by the villagers, especially young children---who were so amazed by the drilling process---seeing clean drinking water actually flowing into their outstretched hands.
The beneficial impact of well water in educating girls
The significance of the hand pump well goes beyond providing clean drinking water for the students and people in the village, which of course is absolutely essential. It also ensures a higher attendance of girls in the school. Traditionally, girls were the ones walking miles every day to fetch water for the families, preventing them from being able to attend school. Now that the hand pumps are in place, making the daily travel for water unnecessary,
 Borehole during the dry season
Another very important by-product of clean water is the prevention of cholera. Many young children die each year of cholera and other water–related diseases. The provision of portable and potable water will forever change the living conditions and the way of life in the village.
Resources analyst Erik Peterson, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, describes the water crisis this way:
"At any given time, close to half the population of the developing world is suffering from waterborne diseases associated with inadequate provision of water and sanitation services," Mr. Peterson explained.
"There are about four billion cases of diarrhea disease per year, resulting in about one or two million deaths, some ninety percent of which, tragically, are in children under the age of five."
2. The Brick-Making: Building of Ariang School, “One Brick at a Time."
The HOPE for Ariang Foundation provided needed equipment (generator, brick molds, wheelbarrows, firewood) to the people of Ariang, enabling them to make bricks.  More photos from this project
The provision of equipment made it possible for the people of Ariang to make their own bricks for their highly awaited school. The process involved many in the community, creating jobs and a sense of true ownership in the project. The people of Ariang have already made over 263,000 bricks we need to build the school.
Without the support of the many contributors and donations in the past several years, the wells, bricks and hopes for the next generation of Sudan would not be possible. Happily, we are well on our way to the anticipated groundbreaking in Spring 2010!
3. The Next Step forward
At the present time we are working hard to raise the necessary funds to begin the school construction in Spring 2010. The next step will include hiring the contractor and workers, buy school building materials to construct Ariang School, currently operating under trees.
We are so grateful for the generous and much needed support from our donors, supporters and friends. We would not have had such momentous progress so far without all the charitable donations to the HOPE for Ariang Foundation! Together we can bring literacy and hope to an entire community.
If you are interested in supporting our mission of bringing the gift of education and water to the people of Sudan, please make your tax-deductible donation to HOPE for Ariang and send it to:
HOPE for Ariang Foundation
PO Box 6887
Syracuse, New York 13217
or, click HERE to donate online. |
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