News & Updates
Check out the latest from Sudan and our movement
What Coronavirus Means For Our Movement
An update on how coronavirus is impacting our movement.
Hello supporters and friends,
As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, I want to provide you an update on our day-to-day life at Operation Broken Silence and how it impacts you.
Our leadership is following the directives provided by government officials. Here in Memphis, a Safer At Home order has our staff working from home. Our Board of Directors, who are already far more active than most nonprofit boards, are playing a larger role in our daily operations.
We have two primary goals right now. First, to minimize disruptions with each of you. Second, we have a new campaign we need to make rapid progress on.
Minimizing Disruptions
We’re a nonprofit that exists to empower the most vulnerable people in Sudan. Being nimble, efficient, and adaptable to change are essential to our mission.
This has left us better-positioned than most to minimize changes in our relationships with you. Still, you may notice a few changes in the coming weeks since we are working from home:
Delayed receipts for check donations and stock giving, as well as Renewal welcome letters and membership pins.
No calls-to-action around new Sudan legislation in Congress.
Reduced promotion of our annual gala, Soirée For Sudan, which has been moved to August 29.
Our New Campaign: Do Justice
Our 2020 campaign is remaining front and center despite the COVID-19 pandemic. If anything, this campaign needs your attention now more than ever.
Delaying Soirée For Sudan, our biggest fundraiser of the year, was the right thing to do. But it came at a painful cost to the 24 teachers we support in Yida Refugee Camp. This event provides so much of the funding the Endure Primary and Renewal High Schools receive. The schools face the real possibility of significantly downsizing.
I want to be crystal clear: money fixes this problem. Several of you have already answered the call and joined. We’re grateful and encouraged, but a rocky road lies ahead. The best way you can help is to give $10 a month to these teachers right now. And your first monthly gift will be matched.
21 supporters out of the 200 we need have already signed up. That’s real progress we are making together. This is a tangible way to help the most vulnerable teachers in the world right now. Please join us. We need you now more than ever.
If you aren’t in a position to give monthly, you can make a one-time gift here.
I hope you are staying safe and healthy. Know that our team is thinking about you. Feel free to reach out to us if you have questions. Talk to you soon.
Onward,
Mark C. Hackett
Executive Director, Operation Broken Silence
About Us
Operation Broken Silence is building a global movement to empower the Sudanese people through innovative programs as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We focus on empowering Sudanese change makers and their critical work. Learn more here.
Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. Give today.
Do Justice Campaign: Philip's Story
In 2012, Philip was teaching when he heard a faint buzzing. Like everyone who lives in the Nuba Mountains, he was conditioned to pause.
"Teaching in Yida is hard. But I have hope."
- PHILIP
In 2012, Philip was teaching when he heard a faint buzzing. Like everyone who lives in the Nuba Mountains, he was conditioned to pause. He stepped to the doorless entrance and looked up to the blue sky. His heart skipped a beat. The buzz came from an Antonov bomber heading straight for them.
"Quickly children. Take cover," he said. They filed outside in a brisk fashion before bolting to foxholes. Thankfully, the bombs missed. Philip saved the lives of nearly 80 children that day. He's a hero.
By next week, attendance had dropped 70%. Scared families were sending their kids to Yida Refugee Camp across the border. Philip decided to follow.
On the road to Yida, he witnessed a hint of what awaited him: scared children from across the Nuba Mountains heading south. They had one eye on the road and one eye on the sky for bombers.
Philip finally arrived after a 4 day journey. Over 100 children walked into Yida with him. With no classroom and no chalkboard, he found a tree to gather them under. And he started teaching.
Teaching is central to Philip's identity. Watching students learn and grow is far more rewarding than the paycheck he receives. For the first few years in Yida, he didn't even get a paycheck. His students were all he had.
Philip's hope never wavered. The class he started underneath a tree? That was the beginning of the Endure Primary School, one of two schools we sponsor in Yida. Those first 100+ students? Most of them graduated. There are nearly 1,000 more children in Endure Primary today. Philip certainly has a lot to be proud of.
But there is still a very long road ahead in Yida. By the end of last year, several teachers and over 1,000 children had shown up at the schools begging for an open spot. All of them were turned away. The money just wasn't there to expand.
This is why giving monthly is so important. These people have no one else to turn to. We're it. When you start giving monthly, you're supporting heroes just like Philip.
Soirée For Sudan: Bridging The Gap
We have rescheduled Soirée For Sudan for August 29. While we are disappointed that our celebration is being delayed, the need for Sudan's most vulnerable teachers and children still remains.
Operation Broken Silence supports two schools in Yida Refugee Camp. 24 Sudanese refugee teachers and 1,200 students depend on us to keep the doors open.
With COVID-19 top of mind for all of us, we wanted to give you an update on our upcoming event in Memphis on March 28, 2020. We have rescheduled Soirée For Sudan for August 29.
While we are disappointed that our celebration is being delayed, the need for Sudan's most vulnerable teachers and children still remains. The support raised at Soirée For Sudan is critical to the schools remaining open in 2020.
In short, we need you more than ever.
To bridge the funding gap from delaying Soirée For Sudan, Operaton Broken Silence still needs to raise $23,000 to support teachers with salaries and students with school supplies. If this funding is not raised, the schools will have to significantly downsize and possibly close.
If you have not registered for Soirée For Sudan yet, please do so right now. If you cannot attend the event, please make a donation.
Your support will help bring Operation Broken Silence one step closer to reaching our goal and therefore, one step closer to our vision of a Sudan with strong, self-reliant communities.
For check donations, please make payable to Operation Broken Silenceand send to PO Box 770900, Memphis, TN, 38177-0900.
About Us
Operation Broken Silence is building a global movement to empower the Sudanese people through innovative programs as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We focus on empowering Sudanese change makers and their critical work. Learn more here.
Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. Give today.
Do Justice Campaign: Jafar's Story
The camel-mounted attackers wielded AK-47s when they raided the farm. Jafar fled.
"They shot at us and each other for no reason."
-JAFAR
The camel-mounted attackers wielded AK-47s when they raided the farm. These men are members of the Popular Defenses Forces, a feared regime militia that has wreaked havoc across Sudan for decades. They opened fire and killed Mohammed, an unarmed farmer, for no reason at all.
A regime army unit passing by saw the militiamen and ordered them to stop. Full of rage, the militiamen opened fire on their allies in the army. The soldiers fired back. Chaos ensued.
Jafar was visiting a nearby farm and heard the fighting. He fled. Over the next several days, more regime militiamen raided farms and shops. The army and police refused to protect unarmed Sudanese civilians.
These attacks in the Habila area of the Nuba Mountains didn't happen several years ago, when the regime's genocidal onslaught against the Nuba people was at its peak. No, they happened in November, just a few months ago.
A lot of the news coming out of Sudan is that peace is taking hold. A ceasefire has prevented massive military operations, but attacks like Jafar witnessed are still common. Regime paramilitaries listen to no one in the transitional government.
How are children supposed to learn in this environment? Many have fled to Yida Refugee Camp, where it is much safer. So have teachers. In fact, so many live in Yida that the fledgling education system has been overwhelmed for years.
We're helping by fundraising for 24 teachers in Yida. A lot of work still needs to be done though. We need 200 families and individuals to give monthly for their salaries. Will you join us? Even if you can only pitch in $10 a month, that will go a long ways. Every dollar counts right now.
Do Justice Campaign: Arogo's Story
Like many Sudanese, Arogo doesn't know his birthday. He was born sometime in 1996, years into the first genocide the Bashir regime committed in the Nuba Mountains.
"I don't see the change the world is talking about."
- AROGO
Like many Sudanese, Arogo doesn't know his birthday. He was born sometime in 1996, years into the first genocide the Bashir regime committed in the Nuba Mountains.
Arogo never went to high school. The war took many of his family members. The regime stole his childhood. He's never fully recovered.
Arogo has been living in Yida Refugee Camp since the second war began in 2011. His home was torched by the Popular Defense Forces, one of the regime's jihadist paramilitary outfits that still prowls around the region. He can't return to rebuild.
But Arogo isn't concerned about himself. Everywhere he looks, he sees his story being repeated: no real peace agreement. No real change. And thousands of children unable to get an education.
Life in Sudan's oppressed periphery regions is very different than life in Khartoum. From the Nuba Mountains to Darfur, the most vulnerable Sudanese are in danger by regime forces who have not disbanded. Many can't return home.
This is barely reported on. This isn't right. This isn't justice.
As Arogo points out, Yida Refugee Camp is one of these places. The education crisis in Yida took a turn for the worse in 2019. Several teachers were forced to leave because their salaries disappeared. They aren't coming back. If more teachers leave, this crisis will turn into a catastrophe. Period.
We launched this campaign because we can fix this together. If we all pitch in what we can each month, we can turn this crisis around. Arogo can know that the next generation, who he is so deeply concerned for, can move their people towards a brighter future.
Do Justice: Our 2020 Campaign
We have a new campaign launching Monday, March 16. Here’s what you need to know.
Hello friends and supporters,
This week we are launching a new campaign: Do Justice. Here’s some information on what it is about.
Throughout 2019, more teachers then ever before showed up at our schools in Yida Refugee Camp, hoping for a job. Well over 1,000 refugee students showed up and begged for an opening. Often times with tears in their eyes, the Nuba teachers at our schools turned them away. The resources just weren't there to expand. They still aren't there. And this crisis is not getting any better.
Do Justice is the most important campaign in our history. It's an all-in effort to halt the education crisis in Yida before it morphs into a catastrophe. We're also going to bust some myths about Sudan along the way. That's why we're throwing everything we have, know, and believe into Do Justice.
The campaign launches this Monday. Here are three ways you can help:
Share our posts as they pop up in your social media feeds.
Get ready to learn about this crisis and become involved next week.
Contact us if you can't wait to get involved.
We’ll see you on Monday.
Onward,
Mark C. Hackett
Executive Director
Operation Broken Silence