Nuba Education Update - June 2024
Program Background
In 2015, Operation Broken Silence began funding four Sudanese teachers in Yida Refugee Camp. They were giving lessons underneath a tree with half of a broken chalkboard and no support.
We sprung into action and helped them scale their effort into the Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools. 24 Nuba teachers overseen by a headmaster come to work here every day, where they instruct over 700 students in their classrooms. Endure Primary is the top-performing elementary school in the region and Renewal Secondary is the only fully-functioning high school in Yida. More than 11,000 children have been served at the schools to date.
Beyond these schools, we also provide teaching support to Yida’s only other secondary school, supply a limited amount of supplies to eight additional primary schools in the camp, and oversee a national exam prep program for most of Yida’s primary students.
Today, Operation Broken Silence remains the only nonprofit in the world supporting childhood education in Yida Refugee Camp. The teachers and students work hard every day, and they rely on supporters like you to continue doing so.
Hannah’s Story
Hannah’s family came to Yida as refugees several years ago. She was born in the Nuba Mountains but was too young to remember her village when they left.
“My mother brought us to Yida because there was no water or food in the village. She remembers seeing the Antonov (regime warplane) fly above but it never hurt us the way it did others.”
Humanitarian conditions in Yida were better than in the Nuba Mountains when they arrived. Hannah’s mother had heard there was ample clean water access in Yida and multiple schools for her children to attend, but even she was surprised by just how much safer and easier it was to thrive in Yida.
Like so many families here, Hannah’s hopes to return to their village in the Nuba Mountains when there is peace one day. For now she is enrolled in our education program, which is funded entirely by people just like you. For Hannah, she knows the best thing she can do right now is come to school.
“I don’t think people in the world know how bad it is for students in Sudan. A girl who came to Yida early this year joined our class. She says most schools in Sudan are closed because of war. I try to imagine all the empty classrooms. It is hard. All the children of our generation need the opportunity we have here. We come to school everyday for them and not just ourselves.
We are thankful for bringing us school supplies and helping our teachers. My people feel alone right now but at school we can see that we heard and believed in by people all over the world. Thank you for supporting our schools.”
Recent Updates
Endure Primary & Renewal Secondary. Life at the schools goes on despite Sudan’s severe hardships. Student attendance continues to fluctuate at Endure Primary as some families return to Nuba and others arrive in Yida, which is more or less the trend since 2021. Over the past two months attendance at Endure has hovered around roughly 500 students. Daily attendance at Renewal Secondary has been a bit more stable due to the lack of secondary schools in the Nuba region, with 210 students sitting for classes on most days. This is on the lower of end of enrollment compared to previous years; however, as we’ll get to in a moment, we expect attendance to start ticking up again soon.
Teachers at both schools will begin preparing Primary 8 and Secondary 4 students for national exams in August. Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary have been the top-performing schools in the region when it comes to testing the past several years. Last year, we saw a record 43 of the 45 students who took the Grade 8 national exam pass.
Basic repairs are currently underway at a few classrooms at both schools. Seasonal rains just arrived and, as usual, exposed some maintenance needs. New weatherproofing tarps and roofing are being replaced and a few walls rebuilt. Most of the materials needed were pulled from storage and those stocks are beginning to run low. By the end of the rainy season in a few months we’ll likely need to replenish several building and repair items.
Supplementary Education Support. Endure Primary School continues serving as the central national exam preparation facility for primary students in Yida. The camp’s eight other primary schools receive support and resources annually from our teachers for student test prep. This supplementary program is expected to positively impact 1,600 students this year!
Vision Secondary, the only other high school in Yida, remains afloat with help from our teachers. The school was founded several years ago with pledges of support from outside nonprofits and churches, not a single one of which materialized. The teachers at Vision are all untrained, so a handful of our teachers at Renewal Secondary have stepped in to help teach science and provide general guidance.
Our Nuba education partner has made three deliveries this year of limited supplies to Yida’s eight additional primary schools, most of which operate with no outside support. There continues not to be enough basic items like chalk, paper, pencils and notebooks. While deliveries like these don’t meet all the material needs we are seeing, they are critical to sustaining Yida’s fragile education system.
How war is impacting life at the schools
The devastating civil war that began in Sudan last year rages on today. Yida remains an oasis of calm, but the extreme violence and catastrophic humanitarian conditions in Sudan have cast a dark shadow here and brought new financial burdens for the schools.
Map: Location of Nuba Mountains. (Operation Broken Silence)
Local officials estimate that over 900,000 Sudanese have fled into the Nuba Mountains as war and famine have spread across Sudan. This is placing significant strains on the region and made prices of basic goods soar in Yida. Sporadic fighting on the western and northern frontlines in Nuba remains ongoing. The teachers and families at our schools are war-weary and frustrated that the world is ignoring the crimes being committed against their country.
If violence does erupt on a larger scale or humanitarian conditions worsen in Nuba —the latter of which especially seems likely— larger refugee flows into Yida will begin. This means more children will need to rely on our schools and the supplementary assistance we provide.
Like nearly every other need in Sudan right now, funding remains the largest obstacle for education in Yida. Rapidly rising costs from the war and a grueling international fundraising environment means our schools have only 55% of the funding needed to provide a holistic experience to students.
Internationally-minded donors are still struggling to comprehend the massive needs in Sudan as major media outlets cover Gaza 24/7 —and to a lesser degree Ukraine— despite Sudan being the largest and most severe emergency in the world. Our awareness efforts are slowly bringing more attention and funding to bear; however, this is still very much an uphill battle and not nearly enough to keep up with rising costs and needs. The teachers and students in Yida are facing a $65,000 shortfall in needed funding this year.
Despite the severe hardships in Sudan and these financial challenges though, the work being done by brave teachers and students at the schools continues on. We are pushing ahead with our fundraising as well despite the enormous barriers we face. Needs are rising and most everything is more expensive than it was a year ago; but, with your help, the lives of children —Sudan’s future hope— can still be changed for the better. We invite you to join us in supporting these amazing people to that end.
The Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools are a small bulwark against the massive education crisis brought on by the war in Sudan. With so many schools across the country closed, every open classroom is more critical than ever. As humanitarian conditions in the Nuba Mountains get increasingly unstable, there is a rising chance we will see larger numbers of children returning to Yida in the near future. Right now, we don’t have the resources to mount an adequate response.
Your generosity can make the difference now and help the teachers prepare for what lies ahead. Giving options highlighted in bold are the best way to make the largest impact.
$2,200: Fund an entire classroom at Endure Primary for one semester.
$1,000: Support one teacher for an entire semester.
$750: Deliver three new chalkboards to classrooms.
$500: Provide additional materials and extra pay to teachers who are working with students to prepare them for national exams.
$250: Give pencils, notebooks and other supplies to 40 students in Yida Refugee Camp.
$100: Helps repair classrooms damaged by seasonal rains and provide for general maintenance.
$50: Give soccer balls and other sporting equipment to students.
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Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence with Education written in the memo line and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900.
Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.
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“I don’t think people in the world know how bad it is for students in Sudan...most schools are closed because of war. All the children of our generation need the opportunity we have. We come to school everyday for them and not just ourselves.” - Hannah https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-june-2024
Operation Broken Silence remains the only nonprofit in the world supporting childhood education in Yida Refugee Camp, right outside of Sudan. They rely on supporters like you to continue doing so. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-june-2024
Like every other need in Sudan, funding remains the largest obstacle for education. Rising costs from the war and a grueling fundraising environment means our schools have only 55% of the funding needed to provide a holistic experience to students. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-june-2024
Sudan is home to the largest and most dangerous humanitarian emergency, far outpacing every other crisis in the world. Food and healthcare are dwindling, and children are some of the most impacted. Here’s one way to help: https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-june-2024
