We have received some very moving letters from the sponsored pupils at Aquinoe and I wanted to share some of the comments. These are from some of the South Sudanese pupils and show how much they appreciate just being able to be at school at all.
CD wrote: “I enjoy being at Aquinoe and am doing well in my studies. There is a good number of Sudanese pupils here and this makes me feel at home. You may not know but Sudan is very different from Kenya. Kenyans are always very busy working but in Sudan people enjoy the social life. This makes me miss our country so much. I know that one day peace will prevail in our country and we shall be able to go home.”
ND wrote: “Our parents went back to South Sudan. I feel good to be in school. When we were in Kakuma [refugee camp] we never went to school.”
NM wrote: “I like schooling so much but I have a big challenge. I stay with my grandmother who is very old. Our mother is in South Sudan. I have ten siblings whom I make sure to take care of before coming to school. I like our headteacher because sometime back I failed to go to school for a week but he came for me at our home together with my sister. It may be difficult for me but I promise to use this opportunity and work very hard so that I may achieve the best out of it.”
ND wrote: “Life sometimes becomes so tough for us, even we lack meals. This is because of the war that keeps on occurring in our country so much but we cannot go there.”
ND wrote: I am taking my education seriously so that one day I would go and serve my country Southern Sudan. Have you ever experienced war in your country? If not, pray to God that it will never happen. It is a very ugly thing and I really hate it because it forced us to seek refuge in Kenya.”
NN wrote: “I come from a very big family and as you know we’re just refugees in Kenya, Am sure we could not afford to stay in school. I am working hard in school so that when I grow up I can go and work in our country and support the people of Southern Sudan.”