CA Students Help Refugee Pursue Her Dreams

For nearly nine years, Colorado Academy’s Middle School students have put on bake sales and other fundraisers, piecing together funds to pay for a young girl in Kenya to leave a refugee camp and go to school. Aguil Lual was born in what is now South Sudan and moved to the Kakuma Refugee Camp when she was seven years old. She was allowed to leave at age nine to begin her studies.

 

Lual has just completed her primary education at Roots Academy in Nakuru, Kenya. During her time there, she has been the top student in her class, and says her goal is to become a medical doctor to help the people of South Sudan. Just months ago, Lual was one of 942,000 students in Kenya who took the Certificate of Primary Education Exam in order to enter high school. The test is administered at the end of students’ eight years of primary education. Of the nearly 1 million students who took the test, Lual was one of just 5,000 that scored above 400 (out of a possible perfect score of 500). Exam subjects included math, English, Swahili, social studies, science, religion, history, civics, and more.  Lual has now entered high school.

 

She is one of more than 60 children whose education is supported by a Denver non-profit organization, Seeds of South Sudan.  The Seeds of South Sudan organization was founded in Denver by Lost Boy, Arok Garang.  Garang says his vision is to educate 100 children who have survived the South Sudan genocide like he did.  He, too, was given the opportunity to escape the hardships of the Kakuma Refugee Camp and come to the U.S.

Under the guidance of CA science teacher Sue Counterman, CA students fund Lual’s schooling. Money raised at CA provides funding for Lual's tuition, books, and supplies. In return, students receive photos and letters of gratitude.

 

The Kakuma Camp has nearly 250,000 refugees that have been forcibly displaced by war or persecution. It was established by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in 1991. Just this past summer, the UN Refugee Agency said it was building a new campsite to reduce overcrowding at Kakuma.

 

Unless they have help, refugees are confined to the camp and can’t seek either employment or education. Those sponsored by Denver’s Seeds of South Sudan organization are relocated to the Roots Academy boarding school and area high schools in Nakuru, Kenya to transform their lives. Seeds of South Sudan has enrolled at least 56 children, including Lual, in school programs. The organization is also celebrating the first sponsored student who has graduated from high school and qualified and applied for a college scholarship with the World University Service of Canada.