School News
2011 News:
Our first project phase has seen a number of accomplishments since the Marol Primary School opened in April 2008. Here is a list of what was planned for and been completed, and what’s outstanding from the initial list.
Completed:
Classrooms – 8
Staff offices – 3
Storage – 1
Library – 1
Latrines – 3 (boys, girls, teachers)
Water hand pump
The funding for all these came from The Marol Academy for the most part, but was supplemented by funds from our friends in the U.K., including Baroness Cox, Naomi Pendle, and FIE, and friends associated with AIB in Bonn, Germany. The library particularly was covered by funds that Naomi had raised. Rainer Zaeck contributed an initial gift for the library by using his 60th birthday party as a Marol fund raiser.
The classrooms and storage room were funded up to 90% by The Marol Academy, US. It has also covered most of the 3 years of teachers’ salaries, totaling $54,000 at $18,000 a year, some of which was covered by Jok’s own funds. Eric Reeves contributed $10,000 in late 2010 to be put toward teacher salaries in the 2011 school year. The Marol Academy’s contribution to the latrines was $3,000. Cost of uniforms and school supplies over 3 years came to $6,000. The total of what we have spent on the school at Marol is $171,000. The total amount which has been transferred from the US Wells Fargo account to the Marol School account in Juba (via Kenyan Commercial Bank branch) from 2008—2010, is $113,000.
Outstanding construction requirements:
Kitchen/dining – a two--room structure
(an initial gift has been received from Gary Born of the UK, honoring his
parents, to be put toward this construction)
School farm – still struggling with nursing the trees that were planted. Many died this past dry season as there was no permanent attendant, which requires planning for in the next year.
The school is going well this year. There has been a minor interruption, but which has long-term repercussions for the future of Marol Primary School. The incident was that the new head teacher, Albino Giir Buoi, could not account for some 2,000 SS pounds that had been collected as fees. These nominal fees are often used toward small school expenses such as the cost of grinding maize for the school lunch, which normally is done at the market in Luonyaker. This is a small amount of money, but the principle of financial transparency we have emphasized as the basic ethos was breached and this cannot be tolerated.
We moved, through the local community elders to force Albino to pay the money and for him to then be terminated. One of our former teachers, whom we had sent to Yei Teacher’s Training College, will finish his training this December and will be ready to take up the role of school head master in April 2012 when school opens again for the new year.
Establishment of Marol Secondary School:
A major development that has happened and about which Jok brought to the attention of and sought advice from the board of directors at the September 2011 quarterly meeting is the establishment of a Marol Secondary School. It is currently housed in the structure that was to function as the storage room for the primary school. This year is the first year we now have over 40 students who will be completing one year of a 4-year high school program. We have been fortunate to have a volunteer couple this school year, Gordon and Joyce Lovering, to set up this secondary program. Gordon is a retired high school science teacher experienced in starting schools in Africa, having worked in Zambia and Kenya in the 1970s. Joyce is a nurse who has now been so instrumental in the little public clinic at Luonyaker and has attended so efficiently to our Marol students.
Naomi has also been able to raise some money to pay for 3 Kenyan teachers who are now assisting the Loverings to run the secondary school. The question presented to the board is whether or not to take on the challenge of working toward the building of a secondary school, requiring construction of classrooms. The question put to the board of The Marol Academy is whether to approve this step of working toward building a secondary school. Naomi and Jok have made the estimate of how much it would cost to build: 4 classrooms, a science lab and 3 staff offices. It is assumed it will have to go through phases just as the primary school project has done. If approved, this year would focus on building the four classrooms and this phase would cost $70,000, suggesting Marol Academy would raise $35,000 and Naomi would try to raise the other half. Should we take this step in light of the fact we still have to raise money yearly for the teacher salaries in the primary school, at least for the next year or two until we see what the government of the new republic would be able to do in supporting education?
Recognizing how important it is for those students completing grade 8 to have a next step for continuing their education, the difficult decision was made by the board at its September 2011 meeting, to complete the primary school first before committing to the project of the secondary school. It is our hope we may find funding sources soon which would allow us to expand the opportunities for those pupils completing grade 8. If we can see the primary school teacher salaries can be guaranteed by funds we raise, then we want to move forward with offering secondary school courses, particularly oriented to training community health workers.
At the September 2011 meeting of the board of directors, Jok thanked the entire board, stating our efforts are highly appreciated in the village of Marol. “We still have a few bumps on the road but we have made so much progress since we started in 2008. It has made such a difference in the lives of young rural girls and boys in and near to the village of Marol.”
(Posted December 2011)
2010 News:
Three carpenters to travel to Marol:
Conrad Lyons, owner of Conrads Joinery Shop in the UK, along with two other carpenters—Jason Wells and Jerry Cole—will travel to Marol School to build as many desks as possible during the three weeks when they will be there in November. They also plan to build library shelves for the books being sent from the U.K. to Marol.
In the process of building the desks (the prototype can be seen in the photo with Conrad seated at it) the three volunteer carpenters plan to train some of the older pupils in basic carpentry skills so they can build more desks on their own in the future. Conrad Lyons’ clients have donated hand tools, which are being shipped to Marol, making it possible for local people to learn the skills and have the tools to work with after these three fine and generous volunteers return home. We applaud their extraordinary efforts in raising funds for their travel from the UK to South Sudan, the gift of their time and skills, and ensuring they leave behind in Marol more than their own fine handcrafted work—in tools, learned skills, and motivation to build for another day. From left to right: Jerry Cole, 48, Jason Wells, 40, Conrad Lyons, 48.
(posted October 31, 2010)
Marol School Library nears completion:
A third classroom block is needed to accommodate the increasing demand of pupils
wanting to enroll at the Marol School (613 are enrolled in the current, 2010 school year).
Also urgently needed is a library/reading room. Marol local decision makers decided the
library would have priority for summer 2010 construction.
Many have contributed to funding this effort—in the U.K., the U.S., and in Bonn,
Germany. Rainer Zaeck, managing director of the Akadamie fur Internationale Bildung
soliticited funds for the Marol library from those attending his 60th birthday celebration
in May. Jok spoke at two fund-raisers held in Los Angeles, one in March (Dan Hyslop/
Rebecca Danelski’s home) and one in May (a joint effort of the Wehbi, Sundeen,
Mathieu families). Jok explained that pupils attending Marol School have no access to
books, except what a school library or reading room could provide. Marol teachers see a
need for reading practice, and as pupils have no books of their own, with a school library
and books they will be able to practice reading before, during and after school hours.
Jok and Naomi had contributed their own monies to complete the library, but Jok has
just written that friends of Marol in the U.K. have generously offered the necessary funds
to complete the library project. This kind donation frees the funds Jok and Naomi had
contributed toward the library toward materials needed for building the third classroom
structure. The bricks have been purchased in Wau, but await the end of the rain season
when the road is passable for delivery to Marol.
Some have asked about sending books for the library at Marol. As the cost of shipping
books is prohibitively expensive, and with no assurance that what is sent will arrive,
money donations for purchase of books ‘locally’ are welcomed.
(posted: August 16, 2010)
Seattle Residents to Visit Marol:
Frank and Pam McKulka, friends of the Marol School, plan to visit Marol in November
of this year, as they will be visiting their son, a photographer for the United Nations
Mission in Sudan and his wife, a human rights lawyer who has started a women’s
cooperative in Juba, the capitol of South Sudan.
Makah school children initiate ‘pen pal’ relationship with Marol school children:
When Jok left L.A. in May for Marol (South Sudan) to stay until September, he carried
with him a large packet sent by Americorps teacher, Lucy Cutler. Lucy came up with
the idea of the 3rd grade pupils at the Neah Bay,WA (Olympic Peninsula) school,
becoming pen pals to the pupils at the Marol School.
When the Makah pupils learned there were child soldiers in Africa, they questioned why
children their own age didn’t “just go to school and not to war?” Lucy knew of the
Marol School project and thought it would be an effective exchange for the two groups
of school children to learn about one another through sharing letters, photos, and other
information about their daily lives. Lucy Cutler and Naomi Pendle, teacher from the
U.k., volunteer teaching at Marol this year, corresponded with each other and agreed
on the benefits of this effort to both groups of pupils. (Both have our great thanks!)
Jok thought it a fine idea, except these two groups of children would not have
a conventional ‘pen pal’ correspondence--there’s no mail delivery to Marol!
So, Jok donned his postal ‘hat’ and carried the letters, hand-written by each child with
her/his picture at the top of the letter page. Each child also made either a bracelet or a
paper-airplane individually colored and tucked in the envelope with their personal letter
to their ‘pen pal.’ Lucy enclosed a class picture of the third-graders and information
about the history and culture of the Makah tribal people who traditionally, have been
whalers.
Jok’s plan is to return with letters from the Marol pupils, to be sent to Neah Bay, in
September. Though Ms. Cutler is currently applying to join the Peace Corps, she
arranged with the 4th grade teacher to continue the ‘pen pal’ relationship with those
youngsters moving to that next grade in fall.
(posted August 15, 2010)
2009 News:
Many developments have taken place this year at the Marol School, most important of which is the completion of some very crucial construction phase. The school now has 6 class rooms built of concrete material, as opposed to the previous structures which were very rudimentary in nature. Also the school now has a source of clean drinking water, a bore hole, courtesy of a strong collaboration between UNICEF, CESVI and the Marol Academy. We also have 3 pit latrines, which are extremely important for the maintenance of hygiene and general public health in the village.
Another important development was the visit of 3 professional teachers, one from the US, a Ph.D student at university of Wisconsin, Madison, and 2 from Wellington College, a private high school in England. Their visit was extremely valuable in terms of providing a much needed teacher training, as all of them are experts in the field of education, and they sparked a very valuable debate among the teachers about effective pedagogy.
In the summer of 2009, our colleague Jok Madut Jok, traveled from Marol to Kuajok, the capital of Warrap State and met with the Minister of Education and its Director General, and he got the Marol School registered by the State Ministry. This registration will enable us in the future to seek assistance from the ministry with school supplies and perhaps teacher salaries. The minister’s response was quite positive, but the state has suffered major fiscal difficulties this past year and cannot at the moment provide assistance. We were promised such assistance in the future.
Colleagues and associates of Jok Madut Jok have been great supporters of the Marol School education project, giving personal financial assistance and activating professional resources to enable teacher trainers to both teach and work with local Sudanese teachers at the Marol School.
Eric Reeves of Smith College has been a generous contributor and supporter of the Marol School education project. To read more about and by this professor of English Language and Literature/Sudan scholar, please visit the following webpages:
Sudan Research, Analysis, and Advocacy
Regime change in Sudan isn't enough
Sharon Hutchinson of University of Wisconsin, Madison is professor of anthropology and is deeply engaged as a human rights advocate for South Sudan. To learn more about her efforts, particularly with Schools for Sudan, begin with the following links:
Professor makes an impact in Sudan human rights
World People's Blog: Sharon Hutchinson
Andrew Epstein, a PhD candidate and student of Professor Sharon Hutchinson, spent several months teaching and doing teacher training with the teaching staff at Marol School. Andrew had gone to Darfur with the Save the Children Fund early in the year. When Pres. Al-Bashir expelled all NGOs from Darfur in anger at his indictment for human rights abuses by the International Criminal Court, Andrew went to Marol to share his expertise with Marol teachers.
Baroness Caroline Cox of Queensbury, British House of Lords, has been a supporter of the Marol School since her visit in 2008. This year she contributed to the classroom construction project and enabled two fine volunteer teachers from Wellington College to spend their summer months teaching at the Marol School and training local teachers in team teaching strategies. To learn more about Baroness Caroline Cox, who recently became the first Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University, please visit the websites below:
Baroness Caroline Cox The Foundation Chancellor
Baroness Caroline Cox: One Tough Lady
Baroness Caroline Cox on Wikipedia
Naomi Pendle and Eunice Gillan, both of Wellington College, who, at their own expense, traveled to rural Marol to teach and train teachers during their summer months. They resided in Luonyaker, some 4 miles distant from Marol. To get to Marol, they purchased bicycles, then left them for the local teachers who travel a distance to teach daily at Marol. To view information on Wellington College, go to the following link:
Wellington College
Mayik Thiik, School Supervisor and Accountant, who continues to give much time and support to Marol School, in addition to his role as Accountant for World Vision based in Luonyaker, 4 miles from Marol.
Vodafone ‘World of Difference’ competition winner One of the Wellington College teachers, Naomi Pendle, has won a grant that will allow her to be resident at Marol for a full year. She has taken time off from teaching at Wellington and will devote all of her grant year to assisting the Marol School.
Naomi Pendle wins grant
Marol School Construction and Facility Development has been possible due to the many contributors listed on the Contributors page, those listed above, as well as to donations from the following agencies and companies:
Latrines (3), one for girls, one for boys, one for staff—materials donated by World Vision International. Labor, paid by Marol Academy.
Food for school children to have a cooked lunch—donated by World Food Program.
A storage facility was required before WFP would deliver the food, so that is in place, but there is no ‘dining area’ for the children to eat.
Hand pump is now installed—donated by UNICEF; engineer provided by CESVI (an Italian NGO); labor costs, responsibility of Marol Academy.
Five additional teachers needed to be added (13 total) with the great increase in pupil enrollment (over 600) this school year. Existing 8 teachers have taken a pay cut—hopefully, temporarily—so new teachers could be paid.
Three day laborers and two guards (one day, one night). Three parents have taken responsibility to do the intense cooking to prepare the hot lunch for over 600 pupils for no pay. They are given some incentives in the form of soap, salt and grain. The two guards have been given some small amounts of money. These guards are necessary to protect the welfare of children during their time at Marol School. The school cannot take responsibility for children before they arrive and once they leave Marol, but a ‘buddy system’ has been instituted so children know to travel in groups. Jok has walked with some children to see how far they walk to and from school. He found some boys are walking 10 miles, one way, to attend the school. School is in session during the rain season.
The flag of South Sudan