Teacher Training 2015: Support Education in South Sudan
Supporting Education in South Sudan Means Supporting Teachers
The Jalle Peace School is in session even though the building is simply a steel frame. In the Jalle payam there are 44 teachers, 6 of whom are teaching under the school’s steel structure in what is being called, “The Open Space School.” In Jalle there are 250 kids (105 girls and 145 boys) who are under the tutilidge of the 44 Jalle teachers who are fighting illiteracy.
On September 13, 2015 a Rebuild South Sudan team will host a teacher training for the teachers in Jalle payam and the neighboring Kolnyang payam serving between 50-55 teachers. The training is designed to holistically address the needs of the teachers through 3 components. First, this is a professional development training designed to sharpen and develop teachers’ skill sets. Second, for at least 10 days these teachers will not be hungry – they will have food. Third, this is a time for emotional and spiritual restoration. Teachers will have the opportunity to reflect with Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu’s newest book, The Book of Forgiving. The teacher training serves mind, body, and spirit.
Teachers who participate in the training will receive a kit of supplies to use in their work. The kits include world maps, big picture books, lesson planning templates, and a variety of other resources. Teachers will also receive a certificate of completion, honoring their work and time in the training. We’ve worked hard in our team and with our advisors to ensure that we are bringing strategies and supplies that work in rural South Sudan, a place with extremely limited supplies. Things that we take for granted, like paper, are hard to come by.
We’re fortunate to be sending a solid team of educators and community organizers to conduct this retreat. Gail Efting has a Masters in Leadership and is currently working on her Doctorate in Educational Leadership. Susan Esswein comes to the team with as a certified TESOL instructor with years of cross cultural experience working as tutor and organizing homeschool coop programs. Paul Esswein is a pastor also with much experience working cross culturally. Katie Rivers, Rebuild South Sudan’s Board President, has been working with Rebuild South Sudan since 2011 and has studied early childhood education. We are accompanied by Awan Anyieth, a South Sudanese man from Kolnyang currently living in San Jose, Ca., and Renata Browne, a volunteer staff member for Rebuild South Sudan and a para educator in the San Francisco Unified School District. And last but not least, we will be met in Bor Town by John Mayen Yong, the Educational Supervisor for Jalle Payam. The team is advised by educators who have done teacher trainings in South Sudan and Kenya: Dr. Mac Brown (Ed.D.), a retired professor from University of South Carolina’s Department of Instruction and Teacher Education, and Mary Higbee, a retired teacher currently working as an episcopal missionary.
Participate with us in the 2015 Teacher Training! We welcome your donations to help make this training possible. Funds will go towards teacher kits, food for the training, copies of the Book of Forgiving, and the logistics of hosting the event. Be a part of empowering South Sudan with us!
