NEW KINDERGARTEN OPENED IN REMOTE VILLAGE IN NORTH DARFUR, SUDAN, THANKS TO JOANNA LUMLEY, PATRON OF KIDS FOR KIDS
Villagers in Abu Digeise, North Darfur, never thought that their dream of a kindergarten for their children could become reality. But dreams can come true, even in Darfur, one of the most isolate and neglected regions in the world. The Kids for Kids Joanna Kindergarten opened its doors for the first time to small children in their remote village in September.
“The absence of education for young children means that they lack essential stimulation during the crucial formative years of their lives. Opportunities are lost which can never be regained, and which diminish the development potential of the children forever” says Mary Clark, UN Poverty Alleviation Consultant. 98% of women in the villages of Darfur are illiterate, yet they know that education is the best way out of poverty. The UN World Health Organisation reported that Darfur has the highest incidence of malnutrition in Sudan. 28% of children are acutely malnourished. Mothers cannot afford to feed their families. People walk long distances to fetch every drop of water. Without help many children will die this year. Click here to help right now, thank you!
Since 2001 Kids for Kids has been adopting villages, providing water close at hand, health care, livelihood techniques and, to give essential protein, minerals and vitamins to the children, and an income to the mothers, goat loans which transform the health of the children. Village leaders report that there is no malnutrition in Kids for Kids’ villages, but fulfilling the dream of a Kindergarten seemed an impossibility. Until 2014, when Joanna Lumley, Patron of Kids for Kids, offered to support a Kindergarten. The Kids for Kids Joanna Kindergarten is the second Kindergarten provided by Kids for Kids. “I could not be more thrilled and happy that the Kindergarten is welcoming its first children. All my love and congratulations and encouragement and cheers and vast starbursts of joy I send to all those who teach and learn there” Joanna said when she heard that is was completed in record time. But already this new Kindergarten is too small. Because Kids for Kids’ villages are stronger and have trained key helper such as village midwives, first aid workers, veterinary care for the animals, many families are asking to move to them. So many families have moved to Abu Digeise in recent weeks that the school is already overcrowded. We now need funds to build two extra classrooms. Can you help please? “I am delighted to say that the Director of the State Ministry of Education who officially opened the school in September committed to providing an extra teacher for these additional children” said Patricia. In October 2013 the first Kids for Kids’ Kindergarten was completed in Abu Nahla. Funds for this school came from a painting donated to Kids for Kids by HRH The Prince of Wales. When the State Director of Education visited the first Kids for Kids’ Kindergarten he said nothing like it had been seen in Darfur. “I am grateful to the State Ministry of Education for promising to fund the teachers in our Kindergartens” said Patricia Parker MBE, founder of the charity “without this we would not be able to build any schools. Their commitment will ensure the sustainability of the Kindergartens and with the help and hard work of the communities I know that the dream of the mothers of Darfur will not only become reality today, but this dream will last and last, giving a real chance of a better future to many generations to come in the villages of Darfur.”
Two more Kids for Kids’ Kindergartens will be opened this year in Darfur. If you would like to make a lasting difference to children’s lives and support our Education Programme, please ask how to become a Children’s Champion. These special friends commit to supporting projects over a three year period including education, the provision of water, health care, long term environmental projects, and much more. These are the dreams of mothers in Darfur. To donate bricks to help us build the two new urgently needed classrooms in Abu Digeis, or to fund sets of books for our new and exciting Lending Libraries, the first in Darfur, please click the link below:
Please give what you can to help us build and equip more kindergartens! Thank you.