Gua Africa officials first visited Leer (the home-place of our founder Emmanuel Jal) in 2008, in order to assess the needs of the community. It was agreed that the most pressing need was to first improve facilities at the two local primary schools.
At The Leer Primary School, Gua Africa replaced the roof, erected a perimeter fence to keep out the roaming cattle, and cleaned then painted the interior of the building, including classrooms. Finally, a set of brand-new toilet blocks were built, providing students and staff with hygienic facilities for the first time.
At the Mary John Primary School students were being taught under the trees so Gua Africa funded five classrooms to be built on their site and built a borehole. In 2013 the staff and students at Mary John achieved the highest exam grades out of all the primary schools across Unity State, no doubt due in part to their vastly improved learning facilities.
Since the breakout of conflict in 2013 it has been hard for us to continue with further construction in South Sudan but we have supported the provision of resources such as books, pencils and teacher’s salaries that ensure schools remain open during times of emergency.