Construction is nearly complete on our new girls’ dormitories at the Marial Bai Secondary School campus. The dorms will be completed very soon, in time for our second academic year. The project would not have been possible without the generous contributions from thousands of donors over this past holiday season; thank you for your support!

Here are some photos from March of the early progress on the dorm buildings—more up-to-date photos will be posted soon!

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.

Valentino has spent much of 2010 in Marial Bai, overseeing construction of the girls’ dorm. Working closely with the community, all of the building materials were purchased locally, the bricks were made in Marial Bai, and all of the construction workers are Southern Sudanese from the surrounding region.

Here are some photos from the construction site in January and February, 2010:

Currently, less than 1% of girls across Southern Sudan are enrolled at the secondary level, due to cultural and family pressures, the issue of early marriage, and the lack of school facilities after decades of war. Our female students in Marial Bai will be the first of their generation to have the opportunity to graduate from high school. As the school expands, so will our boarding program. It will make Marial Bai one of the few centers in all of Southern Sudan where young women can strive to further their educations and pursue professional lives.

To oversee the dorm, we will hire a matron or “dorm mother” — a local woman who the community will trust to look after the young women at the school. Valentino consulted with the Marial Bai community and determined that this is a key component for the girls’ dorm: parents need to know that their daughters will be safe and under the guidance of a woman everyone knows and trusts. Valentino has already identified several candidates for this job. The Foundation will also offer mentor and tutor programs, parent outreach, and life skills training, to make sure our girl students have all the support they need to stay in school and succeed.

To learn more about girls’ education in Sudan, and for ways you can help support the Marial Bai girls’ dormitory, click here.

This entry was posted by Greg on Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 7:13 pm and is filed under news.