Submitted by Angela Stephens, USAID/LPA
Following more than two decades of civil war, Southern Sudan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. The areas in Sudan’s north-south border zone also suffered greatly during the war, including Blue Nile state, bordering Ethiopia. Girls have been disproportionately affected, with lower rates of literacy and school attendance than boys. To help alleviate these challenges, USAID this year opened the Granville-Abbas Girls’ Secondary School in the Blue Nile town of Kurmuk. The school is named in honor of John Granville, an American diplomat who worked on democracy programs for USAID in Sudan, and his Sudanese colleague Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama. They were assassinated in Khartoum on January 1, 2008. The school, which can accommodate 120 female students, has three sets of classrooms, a library, theater, cafeteria, dormitories, and teachers’ offices. A USAID-supported learning center attached to the school provides students with Internet access and computer training. Watch this two-part video of the school dedication ceremony and tribute to Granville and Rahama.
To see PART TWO, click here.
