We’ve made great progress this year at our high school in Marial Bai, Southern Sudan—check out our new photo gallery. There are nearly 250 students enrolled! We constructed the girls’ dorm, library, and science lab, and started work on a soccer field and school farm. To support our students, click here.
After visiting Sudan with Valentino in April, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof produced a great video feature about Valentino and the Marial Bai Secondary School. Kristof also wrote a column about his visit to the school, which followed up on his earlier column about Valentino. Thanks to Mr. Kristof for his continued support of our work in Sudan! (more…)
Our first team of volunteer teachers arrived at the Marial Bai Secondary School, where they’ll be spending the summer training teachers, teaching classes, and helping build capacity at the school. Please enjoy our photo gallery from June, and also our recent photo blog from May.
The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation is proud to announce that the second academic year has just begun at our high school in Marial Bai, Southern Sudan.
Please enjoy the images below of the new school year at the Marial Bai Secondary School—more pictures and information will be posted here soon as the school year continues. All of the images below were taken by Valentino in recent weeks.
Thanks for all of your support of our students and school!
THE MARIAL BAI SECONDARY SCHOOL
Our school is the first proper high school in the entire region, and thousands of students have applied to enroll. This year, we have more than 200 new students, bringing the entire student body to more than 300.
THE NEW GIRLS’ DORM
Construction is nearly complete on our new girls’ dormitories at the Marial Bai Secondary School campus. The school year had to start before the dorms were completed, but the construction workers in Marial Bai are working day and night to finish the buildings for our girl students.
The dorms will allow us to educate girls who have been prevented from continuing school, due to cultural and family pressures and the threat of early forced marriage. The dorms will accommodate nearly 100 young women—more female students than at any other high school across Southern Sudan. Click here to learn more about girls’ education in Southern Sudan, and what the Foundation is doing to help.
Thanks to everyone who supported the girls’ dorm!
THE LIBRARY
We are also nearly finished with construction on the library. Located on the main school quad, this will be one of the first libraries in all of Southern Sudan. It will provide a rich collection of textbooks, reference materials, and literature—in a region where books are extremely scarce. Below, students visit inside the library, where work continues to build the floors. Later this summer, bookshelves will be built and the library will be stocked with tens of thousands of books.
THE FACULTY
To lead the school, a faculty of highly qualified teachers has been recruited from across East Africa. The majority of the teachers are Southern Sudanese, but three female Kenyan teachers have just been hired. Below, the teachers meet with students and parents, and relax after a day of classes in the teacher’s compound.
THE CAMPUS
The secondary school is at the center of a large campus with more than fifteen structures, comprising the library, a dining hall and kitchen, the teachers’ compound and teacher-training hall, a community meeting hall, and the girls’ dormitories. The campus is a work in progress, and construction is ongoing; below are some images of the educational complex, a bulldozer clearing the land, and students help furnish the teachers’ compound with chairs:
STUDENT-PARENT DAY
After the start of the second academic school year, parents of the students were invited to visit the school, meet the teachers, and learn more about the work of the Foundation.
Classes have begun at the Marial Bai Secondary School for its second academic year! Construction is complete on our new girls’ dormitories, which can accommodate nearly 100 young women—more female students than at any other high school across Southern Sudan.
Here are some specific ways you can support our students:
$9 provides a student with a backpack full of school supplies.
$30 provides a student with a full set of textbooks.
$75 provides one laboratory set of science equipment.
$300 provides a girl’s scholarship for a year.
$500 provides the school with one energy-efficient laptop.
$1,500 builds a teacher’s house in our teachers’ compound.
$5,000 pays a teacher’s salary for one year.
Donations to Valentino’s school also make great gifts, and we’ll send a letter to your loved ones letting them know that you contributed in their name. All donations are tax-deductible, and 100% of every contribution goes straight to Sudan for the Marial Bai Secondary School. (more…)
In this past Sunday’s New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof writes about his recent trip to Valentino Deng’s hometown of Marial Bai, Southern Sudan, where he visited our high school and met with students.
Here’s a photo Kristof snapped of Valentino, in front of the school:
And here are a couple photos Valentino took of Kristof, interviewing a student from the school and enjoying a plate of the local food posho:
Kristof also wrote this blogpost while he was in Marial Bai, about girls’ education and Valentino’s efforts to increase girls’ enrollment at the high school.
Valentino’s life and the new Marial Bai Secondary School in Southern Sudan were featured in Nicholas Kristof’s New York Timesop-ed column in late December. Thanks very much to Mr. Kristof and to all of his readers who have supported our organization! (more…)
From left to right: Gabrielle Galvez, Jen Nicholson, Valentino Achak Deng, Colin Weaver, Kelly McDonough, and David Levine.
During July and August 2009, a team of volunteer teachers from the US, Canada, and New Zealand traveled to Southern Sudan to spend the summer at the Foundation’s newly-opened Marial Bai Secondary School. The purpose of their trip was to build capacity at the school through teacher-training, curriculum development, and providing general support for the new school programs. The volunteers met daily with the secondary school teachers for one-on-one mentoring on lesson planning, teaching methods, pedagogy, and strategies to engage students and help struggling learners. Larger teacher-training workshops were offered regularly to local teachers from more than twenty-five primary schools. The volunteers also conducted three regional teacher-training workshops, coordinated by the Ministry of Education and attended by more than 1,000 teachers.
Below are testimonials written by a few of the volunteers.
Colin Weaver
Vancounver, Canada
Teacher at Hong Kong International School
The courage and resiliency of the people of Marial Bai is truly inspiring. They are a people faced with the daunting task of rebuilding after over two decades of civil strife. Situated in a quiet farming village, the community is trying to progress despite being deeply affected by the horrors of a war. Comprehending such horrors is impossible for someone like me. Yet, these people – most notably, Valentino – continue to spend each day finding the positives in their lives. They find the motivation to carry on. They take pride in the opportunity to build a new South Sudan at a time when they could understandably be excused for being overwhelmed.
When I arrived in the village, I was welcomed with open arms. I was immediately treated as part of a family. Our group of volunteers was made to feel as comfortable as possible. We spent a large portion of our time at the Marial Bai Secondary School; the lone high school of the region. Working with the three full-time teachers, we helped model instruction techniques and have professional discussions about curriculum, assessment, and philosophy of education. The students, although short on supplies, are keen to learn. There is a thirst for knowledge as the options for schooling have been so limited for so long. The VAD Foundation is a beacon for a new South Sudan. It provides students with a daily structure, a meal, and most importantly, possibilities for the future. One such possibility is female high school education in a setting that is sensitive to local culture.
Looking back at my experience working in Marial Bai, one moment stands out. It was my final evening there, and Valentino gathered the student body. He spoke softly about all of us being advocates for the south Sudanese. That it is our responsibility to go forward into the world and make it a better place. Being a teacher, I had heard those words spoken many times to high schoolers, but in the context of this setting and with this group, you couldn’t help but realize that responsible action is imperative. That these students truly are the future for this particular region. A perspective, as is often the case in Marial Bai, that is both vast, and inspirational.
Gabrielle Galvez
Calgary, Canada
Teacher at Master’s Academy and College
When I first read What Is the What, a fleeting “man, I would love to go to Sudan someday” passed through my thoughts. I could not have even comprehended that I would be on a small plane two years later, flying into Marial Bai to help out at the school built by Valentino’s foundation.
On the trip I was struck by how rapidly Sudan has been developing (given that a peace agreement was signed just 4 years ago). It was amazing to see roads and buildings being built even during the short time we were there. Juxtaposed on this, however, was the great need I heard expressed from those I met. Most of the needs that I saw were in the field of education- teachers requesting formal teacher-training, teaching materials, and a living wage. I was shocked when I learned that many elementary and middle school instructors had not attended high school, and were requesting admission into the Marial Bai Secondary School.
I felt blessed by every day at the school. The students had a sense of pride in themselves and an incredible work ethic. The Sudanese teachers we worked with are tremendously gifted and flexible educators. I am excited by the Foundation’s goals- not just to build a school but to help teachers in Sudan receive solid professional development. A highlight for me was the opportunity to introduce numerous pieces of scientific equipment (microscopes, chemistry equipment and physics demonstrations) to the teachers and students. Most had only seen scientific equipment in books, and I was able to watch their faces light up with understanding as they worked with the hands-on tools. I also loved working with Gabriel Logo each day. I discovered that despite our differences in education and culture, we shared a common passion as teachers to help our students understand and to make learning interesting. Working through new ideas with him helped me to refine my own teaching practice and gain new insights into Sudan’s educational background. I am so grateful to Marial Bai and the VAD foundation for hosting us so graciously and allowing me to experience life in Sudan for a short time!
Kelly McDonough
San Francisco, California
Teacher at Brandeis Hillel Day School
Living in Marial Bai for a month was an incredible experience. People were curious, warm, friendly and always eager to shake our hands and greet us. We spent many afternoons at one of the many tea shops in the market, taking walks, trying to pet baby goats, hanging out and talking to people. At times it was really, really hot.
At first many of the students seemed shy and maybe even a little afraid of us. They warmed up quickly and were clearly eager to learn and wanted to share their experiences with us. My impression was that students seem grateful to have a school, teachers, uniforms and lunch. A very common question they asked toward the end of our time there was, “When will you come back?” And they were not satisfied with vague answers to this question. One Sunday at the volleyball match, Bakita, one of the girls in my after school class came up to me and held my hand as we walked.
The main objective for our being there was to train the teachers in best current practices in education. The teachers were interested in our workshops and training sessions but it became clear to us that the information we were presenting was so entirely new that it looked like it might take longer than we expected to see results. In addition to teacher training we held classes for the students, we did some individual tutoring, we tried to learn to speak Dinka, and we recorded some interviews with students and other community members. My hope that our being there reflected for the students and the people in Marial Bai that they are noticed by an international community that cares about what happened and what will happen next in their lives.
Valentino arrived in Marial Bai about half way into our stay and he brought chocolate from Nairobi with him. He was kind, generous and warm and so soft-spoken. He is a really tall man with an impossibly delicate voice and gentle demeanor. It was really painful to imagine him suffering.
It was interesting to watch Valentino straddle two worlds. One minute he was communicating and interacting easily with us and the next he’d switch to his role as community leader/organizer. In this role he negotiated with workers to get the library finished, arranged meetings with politicians to get their support for building roads toward the school and other seemingly endless tasks.
Overall, it’s clear that the students want to learn. They so badly want to have opportunities to develop their skills and their knowledge and do something with their lives. Their education and their whole lives have been disrupted by war, poverty and uncertainty and these students have dreams to become professionals that seem almost impossible to attain.
But Valentino’s school offers these students in Marial Bai some hope that they might have the chance to keep learning beyond primary levels. Moreover, Valentino’s support of education for girls is clear. He has made on-campus housing available for them so that they can attend school and hired a “den mother” to look after them and reassure their families that they will be safe. This school is central to the development of the community and it was an honor to participate in the efforts.
David Levine
Portland, Oregon
Teacher at Oregon Episcopal School
I really like what the other teachers wrote on this page. In particular I appreciate Kelly’s astute picture of Valentino, Colin’s description of our last night as Valentino spoke to the students, and Gabrielle’s comment about watching development occur in front of our very eyes.
To say it was an inspiring summer, doesn’t do the experience justice. There was a lot of observing and thinking, working and just simply being with others. One day while waiting in one of the many tea shacks to meet with the adult education administrator, I passed the time with my journal and an impromptu game called “One Minute in the Market” – a list of all you can observe in 60 seconds in “downtown” Marial Bai. Here are the results. I hope it provides a snapshot of the vibrancy of life in Marial Bai:
Women in colorful dresses
Men in western clothes and also in gowns
Men walking with canes, staffs, rifles
Water jugs carried on women’s heads
A soccer ball
A crying baby
Sorghum plants growing, blowing in breeze
Trash
A motorcycle. A bicycle. A donkey.
Big birds soaring 50 feet above
Primary school children on holiday
The beating motor of the sorghum mill
A boy rolling an inner tube
The tea lady walking a drink across the market
A man in camouflage. Another in light blue military clothes
Spicy coffee in a glass
David Levine, a teacher from Portland, Oregon, teaching math.
Melanie Borgman, a teacher from New Zealand currently teaching in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a seminar class of girl students from the Marial Bai Secondary School. (Photo credit: Jen Nicholson)
Teachers at the Marial Bai Secondary School: William Atak Deng, Mabior, and Gabriel Logo Kwach.
Melanie Borgman leading a regional teacher-training workshop attended by more than 500 local Sudanese teachers. (Photo credit: Jen Nicholson)
Front row: Gabriel Logo Kwach, David Levine, William Atak Deng, Colin Weaver. Back row: Greg Larson, Jen Nicholson, Gabrielle Galvez, Mabior Deng, Kelly McDonough, William Kolong.
The volunteer team with the Marial Bai Secondary School student body. (Photo credit: Jen Nicholson)
In May 2009, the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation opened a brand new high school in Valentino’s hometown of Marial Bai, Sudan. It’s the first fully-functional secondary school in the entire region, where after twenty years of war, students have had no other opportunities to continue their education. (more…)
Valentino will be returning to the United States for a brief speaking tours this spring. There are select dates left, so please read on to learn how you can invite Valentino for a speaking event in your town. (more…)
After spending most of the year in Sudan overseeing his new secondary school, Valentino made a brief visit to the US in November for a series of speaking engagements and fundraising events. He spoke to packed auditoriums about his life and his new school in Sudan at events in the Netherlands and at American colleges all across the country. In Wisconsin and Maryland, he and Dave gave presentations to huge groups of students who had read What Is the What as their required summer reading.
Dave and Valentino showing a slideshow about the new school in Sudan for students at the University of Maryland. Photo credit: Jaclyn Borowski
Valentino’s tour was also the kickoff for a fundraising campaign to raise money for a girls’ dormitory at the Marial Bai Secondary School. Across the country, small fundraisers were organized to help support the campaign for girls’ education. If you’re interested in organizing your own fundraiser to help support Valentino’s school in Sudan, click here or email info@valentinoachakdeng.org.
If you weren’t able to catch Valentino this time, he’ll be back in the US next spring. If you’re interested in inviting Valentino to speak in your town, check out his profile at the Lavin Agency speakers bureau.
Valentino speaking in the Hague, Netherlands. Photo credit: Theo Wierema
Valentino meeting with Jan Pronk, former UN Special Representative for Sudan. Photo credit: Theo Wierema
Valentino with Rudd Lubbers, former high commissioner of the UNHCR. Photo credit: Theo Wierema
Valentino at the University of Tampa. Photo credit: Abby Sanford
Congratulations to Dave Eggers for being awarded the 2009 Prix Médicis Étranger, a prestigious French literary award, for What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng. (more…)
This Friday, come to 826NYC in Brooklyn to see a new video and photos from Valentino’s recently opened high school in his hometown of Marial Bai, Southern Sudan. (more…)
Construction is finished on the Marial Bai Secondary School in Southern Sudan, and classes began in early May with nearly one hundred students enrolled. (more…)
The President read Dave Eggers’s What Is the What in recent months, and urged his aides to read it as well. To read an article about it from Politico, click here. (more…)
Next Thursday in San Francisco, Bright Antenna Records will be screening the documentary “Jeff Buckley: Grace Around the World” as a fundraiser for the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation. (more…)
On February 10, the Voice of Witness book series hosted an event at the Center for American Progress to discuss the new book Out of Exile, a collection of oral histories about abduction, displacement, and slavery in Sudan. Editor Craig Walzer and Voice of Witness series editor Dave Eggers addressed members of Congress at the event, which was co-hosted by the Enough Project. (more…)
The Foundation recently posted videos from Valentino’s hometown of Marial Bai on its new YouTube channel. The videos include a short documentary about Valentino’s foundation, an interview with three girls from Marial Bai, and a tour of the construction site where Valentino is building a secondary school. (more…)
Since groundbreaking in late May, construction has progressed quickly on the secondary school that the Foundation is building in Marial Bai. These artist renderings show what the educational center will look like when it is completed. (more…)
McSweeney’s Voice of Witness is proud to announce the release of its latest title, Out of Exile: Narratives from the Abducted and Displaced People of Sudan. For information about the book tour, read on. (more…)
Dave Eggers’s What Is the What has recently been selected for three library programs that invite communities to read and discuss the same book. (more…)
Jan Peter Balkenende, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, recently gave all of his ministers a copy of What Is the What to read on their summer holidays. (more…)
Valentino is currently back in Sudan, starting construction on the secondary school that the Foundation is building in his hometown, Marial Bai. Using Valentino’s accounts of the trip and his emails and phone calls from the field, the Foundation helped assemble the following narrative. (more…)
Valentino is working on our project to build an educational complex in his hometown of Marial Bai. The first phase of construction is a multi-classroom secondary school. (more…)
In December of 2007, Valentino traveled back to his hometown of Marial Bai in Southern Sudan, to start construction on the secondary school that the Foundation is building in the village. (more…)
On November 10, Valentino and Dave Eggers will participate in a panel discussion at the Chicago Humanities Festival. The theme of the festival is “Climate of Concern,” examining global environmental and ecological disruption. (more…)
On October 29, Valentino will be in conversation with Dave Eggers as part of the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures speaker series.
In addition to discussing Valentino’s life in Sudan, his experiences at Kakuma Refugee Camp, and his collaboration with Dave on What Is the What, they will present pictures and video from their trip back to southern Sudan this summer. (more…)
On October 17, Valentino will meet with students from Ohio State University, discussing his life in Sudan and his collaboration with Dave Eggers on What Is The What. At 7:30 p.m., Valentino and Dave will have a public discussion at Mershon Auditorium on the OSU campus.
What Is the What was OSU’s 2007 selection for the Buckeye Book Community, a program that introduces incoming freshman students to the intellectual community through a shared reading experience.
On October 15, Valentino and Dave Eggers will speak at the International Rescue Committee’s Fifth Annual Bay Area Dinner in San Francisco, benefiting the IRC’s global efforts to help refugees. (more…)
On Wednesday, September 26, Valentino participated in a panel discussion entitled “Promise of Education in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations” at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) (more…)
A brief note about this account: After returning from Sudan, I tried for many weeks to make something artful from the notes and recordings I made during this most recent trip. I tried and struggled and half-started, and meanwhile too many weeks have come and gone and I felt I was being silly and precious. The important thing, I realize, is to produce some account of the trip, with useful information for those interested in the work of Valentino’s foundation (and others like it), and to do it quickly. (more…)
The Foundation recently made a grant to the Voice of Witness book series, to help fund a forthcoming book about slavery and forced displacement in Sudan. Click here to read an excerpt. (more…)
In July 2007, Valentino headed back to his hometown of Marial Bai in the Northern Bahr al-Ghazal state of southern Sudan. He spent the summer there meeting with the community and local officials about his plans to build an educational center in the village. (more…)
In spring of 2007, Valentino toured the country speaking about his life in Sudan, his resettlement to the United States, and his collaboration with Dave Eggers on What Is the What. The response was tremendous. There are many Sudanese public speakers in the United States, so we’ve established a speakers bureau to connect them with schools, churches, community organizations, and other interested groups.
Many have experienced the same struggles as Valentino, but they all have their own stories to tell. As a way of educating your group about the ongoing crises in Sudan, please visit our Speakers Bureau and consider inviting a Sudanese speaker to your town. These speakers represent their own organizations that are working to help southern Sudan. They are not affiliated with the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, but they share Valentino’s vision.
This book by Dave Eggers tells the life story of Valentino Achak Deng, from his pre-war life in southern Sudan to his resettlement in the United States.
Valentino is currently back in Sudan, starting construction on the secondary school that the Foundation is building in his hometown, Marial Bai. Using Valentino’s accounts of the trip and his emails and phone calls from the field, the Foundation helped assemble the following narrative. 
A brief note about this account: After returning from Sudan, I tried for many weeks to make something artful from the notes and recordings I made during this most recent trip. I tried and struggled and half-started, and meanwhile too many weeks have come and gone and I felt I was being silly and precious. The important thing, I realize, is to produce some account of the trip, with useful information for those interested in the work of Valentino’s foundation (and others like it), and to do it quickly. 
In July 2007, Valentino headed back to his hometown of Marial Bai in the Northern Bahr al-Ghazal state of southern Sudan. He spent the summer there meeting with the community and local officials about his plans to build an educational center in the village. 
