Yida Education Update - December 2021
In 2015, Operation Broken Silence began funding four Sudanese teachers in Yida Refugee Camp. They were giving lessons underneath a tree with a single, broken chalkboard.
With your support, their small effort has blossomed into the Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools. Over 24 Nuba teachers come to work here every day. They run the show —not us— and roughly 1,400 students are in their classrooms every week.
Endure Primary is now the top performing elementary school in the region and a treasured possession of the Nuba community. More than 6,500 children have been served by the school to date. Renewal Secondary began a three-year phased opening in 2019 and has already scored some early successes.
One of the largest demographics in Yida is children under the age of 16. The teachers’ vision has always been to ensure that every single child in Yida has the opportunity to attain a quality education.
Student Spotlight
Abdu was born and raised in Yida Refugee Camp. His mother arrived in Yida in 2015 —roughly four months into her pregnancy—after fleeing the Sudanese government’s relentless bombing of her village. Abdu has grown up never seeing his family and community’s land.
But he has found a home in Yida. The camp is a relatively safe place and, following nine months of being on the wait list for the Endure Primary School, Abdu began his education journey in 2020. He says:
“My friends are here. I am learning how to read. My mother is happy that I am here. She tells me I would not be able to go to school in our village because it was bombed.”
Abdu’s family will begin talking about returning home when there is a peace agreement, something his mother is insistent must be signed first. Until then, their future is in Yida, where Abdu and hundreds of other children are already thinking about a brighter future for their country.
Attendance Fluctuations
It’s an interesting season at the schools as some families have decided to depart Yida and attempt to recover their land in the Nuba Mountains.
Attendance at Endure Primary has dropped to a little over 700 students daily, although numbers are already ticking back up as new students enroll following an academic assessment by the teachers. It’s common to find students of various ages in all grade levels at the school, as the war and school openings and closings over the past decade have severely disrupted the childhood education journey. Rather than placing children who have been out of school for years in a grade based on their age, they are placed based on previous academic experience.
Similarly, attendance at Renewal Secondary has dropped to just over 200 students daily, down roughly 30% from the normal soft-opening phase number of 300-350 students per semester. New students are already enrolling to fill empty spots as well.
Secondary Exam Results
After multiple delays brought on by COVID-19, national exam results are finally in for Renewal Secondary. Out of the 130 students who participated, 118 passed! This was the first time that students from Renewal Secondary took the final exam that allows for graduation.
English comprehension, specifically writing, was the primary struggle for the 12 students who did not pass. The teachers are currently examining ways to bolster the school’s English courses as a result. Still, everyone is thrilled that the results were this positive for the first round of testing! This is a testament to the dedication of the teachers for more than two years as they worked toward this milestone.
New Headmaster At Renewal Secondary
A headmaster has finally been found to manage Renewal Secondary! Trained in education program management by the Catholic Church, he is originally from the Nuba Mountains and has worked in a variety of secondary and primary schools the past few decades.
Teachers and students report that adding a headmaster has been a boon to the school’s activities, with the music class expanded and additional cultural events added in each month for the students and broader community in Yida. We’re excited to see what other changes are on the horizon!
Classroom Conditions
Over the past three years, we’ve worked with our education partner to improve classroom infrastructure at Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary. Thunderstorms were repeatedly damaging classrooms and forcing expensive repairs. By early 2020, all classrooms had received significant weatherproofing and strengthened roofs.
We mentioned in our last update that a strong thunderstorm had rolled over Yida and damaged quite a few structures in the camp. The schools were largely spared, but two classrooms at Endure Primary saw severe damage. Thanks to your giving, repairs are now underway!
Supporting Other Schools In Yida
After years of financial struggles, the only other secondary school in Yida was on the verge of permanently closing earlier this year. Vision Secondary School was founded several years ago with pledges of support from other outside nonprofits, most of which never materialized.
The teachers we support at Renewal Secondary have now partially taken over operations at Vision to try to keep the school afloat. Since most of our teachers specialize in certain areas, they are bouncing back and forth between both schools to fill gaps left behind by Vision’s mostly unpaid and departing teachers. Vision is far from being out of the woods —with funding being the primary challenge— but the temporary assistance we are providing has brought some much needed stability to students there.
Endure Primary School is also now serving as the central national exam preparation facility for primary students in Yida. Moving forward, the camp’s eight additional primary schools will receive support and resources annually for student test prep. This ancillary program will positively impact an estimated 2,100+ students every year!
Funding & Morale
Teacher and student morale is high at the moment, although there is a bit of weariness as some broader humanitarian issues in the camp emerge. Some of the main clean water pumps are beginning to fail as humanitarian organizations scale back operations, leading to longer lines for water, and the limited healthcare services that were in the camp have decreased to the point of being almost non-existent.
But fundraising for the teachers and students continues to improve. Our supporters have restored 70% of the funding the schools lost in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and political instability in the United States, where the majority of our donors live. There’s still a long road ahead to full funding, but we’re trending in the right direction. Learn how you can help us continue making progress below.
Get Involved
Operation Broken Silence is the only nonprofit in the world funding community-led education in Yida. Without the Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools, the entire education system would collapse.
When we all do our small part, the teachers and kids in Yida are able to create the conditions for their people to thrive. Here are the three most common ways to get involved:
Donate Crypto
Your crypto donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law, if you pay taxes in the U.S. Here are just a few examples of the impact crypto has in the lives of teachers and students in YIda:
1 BTC funds Endure Primary for 1 year
1 ETH supports 4 teachers for 1 year
1 LTC gives supplies to a classroom
Donating crypto is safe and fast:
Select a token and enter gift amount.
Type in your info, or choose to give anonymously.
Make your gift!
You can elect to receive an automatic tax receipt at the email address you provide. Crypto charitable donations are processed quickly and safely with The Giving Block and Gemini Trust Exchange. Please note that all crypto gifts are nonrefundable.
OTHER WAYS TO GIVE
Make checks payable to Operation Broken Silence, write Education in the memo line, and mail to P.O. Box 770900 Memphis, TN, 38177-0900
Donate from your DAF, gift stock, and discover other ways to give.
About Nuba
The Nuba Mountains are home to roughly 100 African tribal groups who have lived here for over 2,000 years. The roughly 1.3 million Christian, Muslim, and traditional Nuba people live mostly in harmony.
Sadly, the Nuba way of life has been in danger for decades. Extremist regime officials have long viewed the Nuba people as a threat to their iron-fisted rule. The Sudanese military and their paramilitary allies have committed two genocides in the region since the 1990s.
Dictator Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in a military coup in April 2019. A fledgling transitional government replaced him and is supposed to be moving the country toward civilian, democratic rule. A coup in November 2021 disrupted this progress. A fragile ceasefire is in place in the Nuba Mountains right now.
Operation Broken Silence focuses on the Nuba Mountains and nearby Yida Refugee Camp. We are the only nonprofit in the world funding community-led education in Yida. Your generous support is essential for the Sudanese teachers we partner with. Learn more about our mission here.
