Faces of Success: Michael Marial Mangar

This is the first in a series of profiles from students currently enrolled at Hope & Resurrection Secondary School. In May 2009, Form One and Form Two students wrote short autobiographies, sharing information about their families, livlihood and desire for education. We hope these glimpses of life in Southern Sudan will inspire you.

I am Michael Marial Mangar. I am 21 years old. I live in Rumbek East County. I am short and have black skin. I am Southern Sudanese, from the Dinka tribe. I have five brothers and four sisters. I am in Form Two at Hope & Resurrection Secondary School.

I am living in Atiaba Village. We like keeping of livestock; like goats, cows, chickens and we even have three dogs. At home, we have four houses and one sitting room. I live at the farm, and it is full of beautiful trees with beautiful flowers.

After school hours, I read in the evening, and I also like to play volleyball. On Saturday I like to work on the farm. On Sunday I go to church and then I spend the afternoon with my best friends.

When I finish my senior year I would like to attend university and study finance and management to become a Minister of Finance. If I could be in that post, I could help my community in social stability, like hospitals, schools, and communications.

Stories from Sudan: Bill Branch

This is the first of a series of four reflections on life in Southern Sudan. These reflections are written by members of St. James’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, who returned from a mission trip to Hope & Resurrection Secondary School in May 2009.

Hope & Faith Feed the Soul: Bill Branch

On our daily 9 km drive from our camp to Hope & Resurrection Secondary School, it never ceased to amaze me how all the pre-school aged children would run from their mud or brick huts with thatched roofs, and wave to us as if we had just won the World Series. It was initially a boost to my ego, because I noticed that they weren’t waving quite as enthusiastically to the other U.N. / aid vehicles that drove by. I soon realized that they really weren’t waving at Bill, Laura, Angie, Janie and Randy, but rather the 1991 Toyota Hilux (think African Tacoma pickup truck), which belongs to the school, and is normally used by the four teachers from Uganda.

As they associated the pickup truck with the school, I soon realized that what they were really excited about was the hope of what an education could provide to them.

With the end of the second Sudanese civil war four years ago, schools such as Hope & Resurrection are beginning to provide basic education. A secondary/high school education in southern Sudan means walking to school two or three hours each way, wearing the same (yet surprisingly clean) clothes everyday, and sitting on benches in cramped classrooms with only minimal educational resources.

The fact that the ages of the 77 students range from 16 to 41, that 85% are male, and that a few of the students were former soldiers, are indicative of the disruption of the educational system in Sudan. They are fortunate as the school started providing them with lunch, which alternates between porridge and rice and beans. They are also fortunate because at the primary school down the dirt road, the students there are not given lunch, and a classroom is literally a tree with a blackboard.

The vast majority of the student at Hope & Resurrection were dedicated and sincere. When asked what they wanted to do following their secondary education, a common theme was to study at a university in Kenya or Uganda, and then become an engineer, physician, or teacher, so that they can return to their village and improve the conditions in their community.

Most had experienced death of family members from conflict or disease, and deprivation unheard of here in the United States. Yet they still had a sense of pride and hope for their communities that can only be described as humbling. Many of the students walked to the Episcopal Church of Sudan service on Sunday, and prayed with us for strength and faith.

While our mission to Atiaba, Sudan was brief, my experience of what hope and faith can provide to the soul will last forever.

Check out our new website

We are happy to announce the launch of the new Hope for Humanity website. Check it out at http://www.hopeforhumanityinc.org.

You'll also find details about our seventh annual Walk for Sudan. Mark your calendar and plan to join us!

Walk for Sudan 2009

The Midlothian Exchange covered our Walk for Sudan in their May 6, 2009 edition. 

* * * * * 

Building the Future for a Village

by Elizabeth Farina, Midlothian Exchange

One could clearly hear the joyous call of song and the beating of drums from area Sudanese as the large group of walkers circled the track at the high school in spite of the threatening afternoon rain on Sunday, May 3.

Walkers made laps around the high school track in support of Hope for Humanity’s 6th annual charity walk. photo by Elizabeth Farina

For Jody Wilcox of Chesterfield, the local Hope for Humanity event at Deep Run High School was a tangible way to continue contributing to Atiaba village’s secondary school, where he helped build teacher housing last spring and learned how to make bricks. Jody’s wife Angie unfortunately would miss out on the sixth annual event because she was thousands of miles away at the same African school. She is currently a volunteer teacher at the Hope and Resurrection Secondary School in the village.

The Wilcox couple had heard Darryl and Jennifer Ernst, founders of the Richmond-based charity organization, speak at St. James Episcopal Church about the many needs the African country is facing after a 20-year civil war. Both decided Southern Sudan was a place they could help make a difference in the future of the tentatively peaceful nation, which the U.S. helped establish. 

“When you go there, you are amazed at the resilience of the people there – because they need so much,” Jody Wilcox said. “The villages are welcoming.”

Jody Wilcox at the 2009 Walk for Sudan - Photo by Elizabeth Farina

Wilcox explained that one of the top issues the country is facing today is in education. The highest level of education for most who have survived the civil war is at the eighth-grade level. There are only 22 secondary schools in Southern Sudan, which is geographically the size of the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean. “That’s the first thing,” he said.

Medical issues were also an emergency need because clinics have been developed at the pace of schools in the country. “It needs a stable government, to be honest. And food, as well,” Wilcox said.

Darryl Ernst, who was also at the event, said that building and operating a secondary school in the Southern Sudan began with a little idea. The Ernst couple became involved through their former church in 1999, he explained. They became good friends with one of the “lost” boys of Sudan, Maker Marial, who arrived in Richmond in 2000. “He became like our adopted son,” Ernst said.

In 2005, the Ernst family took Marial back to his native country to be reunited with his family in Atiaba. They saw the need for education to extend beyond the elementary level and started fundraising the same year. Last May, the school opened for 64 of the estimated 1.5 million school-aged children in Southern Sudan, according to Hope for Humanity. “We have 100 this year in the ninth and tenth grade level,” Ernst said.

The walk that is annually held the first Sunday of May is in its sixth year. Instead of focusing on construction, the walk on May 3 focused on feeding students lunch and teachers’ salaries. “Those are the biggest parts of the budget,” Ernst added.

Marial, who had finished walking the track laps, said that education gives the Sudanese a chance to contribute to their country. “It is the most beautiful school in the area,” he said.

Marial added that Deep Run High School was more of the size of a university in Southern Sudan than a secondary school. The Hope for Humanity school is a one-story brick building that is open to boys and girls ranging in age from 15 to 37 – because of the interrupted education from the country’s civil war. The peace treaty has been in place for three years, but there are numerous challenges with corruption and tribalism. However, the school does provide opportunity to break the cycle of those challenges. “Education has been lost,” he said. “What we are doing in Southern Sudan is preparing the leadership of the country.”

For more information about Hope for Humanity, Inc. visit http://www.hopeforhumanityinc.org.

Sudanese Student Adjusts to Life in Virginia

The introduction to this January 2006 Richmond Times-Dispatch article tells the story of Gideon Mabeny, a Sudanese attending Fork Union Military Academy.

* * * * * 

Sudanese Student Adjusts to Life in VA:

Through a donor's generosity, he now studies at Fork Union Military Academy and hopes to go to college.

by Alberta Lindsey

Gideon Mabeny learned his ABC's and numbers on a splintery log under a tree. Only the teacher had a textbook. If it rained, children went home. Now, Mabeny not only has his own textbooks, but also has a desk in an indoor classroom with computers. Classes continue in rain, sleet and snow.

Eighteen year old Mabeny, a native of Sudan, began classes Jan. 4 at Fork Union Military Academy, a college preparatory, military boarding school in Fluvanna County for boys in grades six through 12 and postgraduates. “I'm excited to be here. It's a nice school,” Mabeny said during the break from classes Tuesday. “The first day came, I didn't know what to do. I was new to this place. I think now I'm getting to know my way around.”

When Mabeny enters a room, he ducks his 7-foot-tall slender body to keep from hitting his head on the door frame. Although his height is a bit of a problem here, he sees it as a gift from God. The school's uniforms and mattresses are too short. A seamstress altered his uniform for him. But when he sleeps, he just bends his legs, he said, laughing at the thought. Eating three times a day amazes Mabeny, who is used to one meal a day. “ You eat too much food.” he said. The Fork Union staff describe the young Sudanese man as shy, polite and hardworking.

* * * * * 

To read the rest of this article and discover the part that Hope for Humanity played in this story, please visit our website.

A 'Lost Boy' Goes Home to Sudan

The introduction to this July 24, 2005 Richmond Times-Dispatch article tells the story of Maker Marial, the inspiration behind Hope for Humanity.

* * * * * 

A 'Lost Boy' Goes Home - Mother and Son Reunite in Sudan 18 Years After War Tore Them Apart

by Alberta Lindsey

A woman in a yellow flowered dress stood alone peering down the dirt road. A few feet away, either woman and children also watched the road. As the Toyota Land Cruiser came into view, the women started jumping up and down, screaming and waving.

Inside the Land Cruiser, excitement also grew. Three or four times, Maker Marial scanned the faces of the waiting women. “Oh, there's my mother,” he said of the woman in the yellow dress. Their eyes met and Maker knew he was right. The Land Cruiser had barely stopped before the women grabbed the rear doors and pulled Maker from the vehicle. His mother and two other women were hugging him at the same time. Suddenly, it was a group hug. No words were needed. Long, clutching embraces said it all.

Mother and son were together for the first time in 18 years. Neither knew the other was alive until three years ago. I am happy. Very, very happy,” said Maker, 27, who lives in Henrico County, VA.

He is a full-time student at J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College and worlds nights part time as a cashier at Wal-Mart. His goal is to become a human rights lawyer.The last time he saw his mom, he was a boy of 9. He returned to his native Sudan last month as a part of a mission team from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.“I lost my son. Now I have him back. I am very happy. I thank God,” his mother, Rebecca Ajout Maker said, smiling. She spoke in Dinka, the native language of this area in southern Sudan. Maker or his brother, Akot Marial, translated.

* * * * * 

To read the rest of this article and discover the part that Hope for Humanity played in this story, please visit our website.

Jennifer Ernst Recognized

Congratulations to Jennifer Ernst, Hope for Humanity's co-founder, who was nominated as an Honored Woman by the ECW (Episcopal Church Women)

An excerpt from the May 2009 Virginia Episcopalian article by Emily Cherry:

* * * 

The day’s events will also include a special recognition of Virginia’s nominee for ECW Honored Woman, Jennifer Ernst. Ms. Ernst, a member of Christ Church, Glen Allen, began volunteering with the Sudanese refugee community in Richmond in 1999. Since that time, she has worked to develop worship services in the tribal Dinka language; organized a yearly Walk for Sudan to raise money for schools in southern Sudan; with her husband, Darryl, founded Hope for Humanity, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education for the youth of Southern Sudan, and secured funding for Hope and Resurrection Secondary School in Atiaba, Sudan. To date, 25 students have graduated from the school, which opened its doors in spring 2008.

Ms. Ernst will be honored with other dioceses’ Honored Women at the ECW Triennial Conference, which takes place concurrently with the General Convention meeting of the Episcopal Church in July in Anaheim. One diocesan nominee will be selected as the National ECW Honored Woman at Triennial. 

Jennifer Ernst, pictured here with her husband Darryl at the opening of the Hope and Resurrection Secondary School, received the Virginia ECW’s nomination for Honored Woman of the Year for her work in Sudan.

Welcome!

Hope for Humanity Inc. is an organization dedicated to growing educational opportunities for the future leaders of Sudan.

We hope that you'll enjoy keeping up with news and information, from both here at our headquarters in Richmond, Virginia and with our students in Southern Sudan.