‘academy of hope’ school in south sudAN

The local community in Wau with their new school in the distance. We have equal numbers of girls and boys and teach in both English and Arabic to reflect our pupils’ diverse ethnic origins. Daughters are sometimes sold into early marriage with older men whom they don’t know. Without education, girls have very little say in this. Boys are often expected to tend the family’s flocks of cattle and goats rather than go to school. Schooling allows all young people an informed choice, rather than blindly following tradition. Better education reduces poverty, improves health and lowers the economic burden.

THE KELLY ACADEMY OF HOPE

When I first met Gabriel and the other South Sudanese 37 refugees in 2017, after they’d fled internal strive at home, they told me that their dream was to complete school in Kenya to take back to their own country and share with their people who have very limited access to education. I agreed to build a primary school back in their District of Wau if they completed their studies.

Both of us kept our word and the school was built during 2023 and opened in early 2024 with a handful of pupils. We have now expanded to 172 children and 7 teachers, in 6 classrooms to cover the first 6 Primary School years. I have just returned from opening the ‘Kelly Academy of Hope’ on what would have been my Father’s 100th birthday. He worked in Africa too, and we’ve named the school both in his honour and in recognition that the tin hut housing the 38 refugees during their time in Kenya was optimistically christened ‘Hope House’. Sometimes dreams really do come true!

We covered the initial costs of building and running the school, but many others remain unfunded. Paramount are more desks and books, along with teachers salaries and a security fence. We now have a basic water supply and soon hope to have enough solar energy for electricity to run lighting, provide filtration and to access internet. We would like to expand facilities with two more classrooms, a library and a teachers office. Our temporary nursery is a bamboo hut and we rent land nearby to grow food. Ultimately we will need a small cooking area as we want to provide free school meals.

Any help that you are able to offer us towards running costs for the crucial next few academic years will be enormously appreciated. If you wish to make a donation via bank transfer, our Natwest Bank Account details are:

Account name: Kelly CA. Account Number: 67129250; Sort Code 60-08-45