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The work which became Together for Sudan began while I was living in
Sudan from 1995 to 1999 while my husband Alan Goulty (now Secretary of
Together for Sudan) was British Ambassador to the Sudan. During a visit to
the Nuba Mountains of Southern Kordofan I was approached by a woman who
asked if I could help her daughter attend university. The young woman’s
family had been able to fund her through the one secondary school for girls
in Kadugli but realized they had no way to help her attend Ahfad University
for Women in Omdurman. Because relatives and friends had helped me through
college when I was in a similar predicament, I saw the request as a chance
to repay a debt. And so I agreed thinking that it would be relatively easy
to help one young woman.
Soon, however, other young Nuba women in the same situation began to ask for
similar support and I found I had three young women for whose tuition I was
responsible. Since then, with the help of many people who believe as I do
that educated women are essential to national peace and stability, the
number has increased every year. In January 2010 Together for Sudan had a
total of 187 scholars in 14 universities in Khartoum and the Nuba Mountains
of South Kordofan and 169 university graduates.
Meanwhile, a number of other educational and educational support projects
were also started. It is wonderful what can be accomplished when you know
that you are helping other women and can involve many others in the work.
TfS began The Women’s Literacy Project when a Sudanese Episcopal priest set
up a number of literacy classes for women in the camps for displaced people
outside Khartoum, promising the women that Lillian would pay their teachers!
What could I do? On a wing and a prayer I set to work fundraising and have
never looked back. There hasn’t been time for that because more was to come.
Today Together for Sudan has five Educational Projects and three Educational
Support Projects (Eye Care Outreach, HIV/AIDS Awareness Outreach and The
Solar Project which lights up people’s lives by helping them to study and
learn to read when they live outside the electricity grid.)
Together for Sudan has become a major part of what I think I was born to do.
Where there is a need there is usually a way and those who respond
positively are usually the greatest beneficiaries. I have no doubt that when
we respond positively to people less fortunate than we are, we ourselves are
blessed.
In the mid 1990s, years of terrible trauma for thousands of Sudanese as the
civil war continued, I was approached by a group of northern Muslim women
who asked if I would help them find some southern Sudanese women to talk to
about peace. We met at the British Residence until a women’s
centre was set up. Thanks to those women I became more convinced than ever
that real peace and a stable society will only come to Sudan when educated
women help their uneducated sisters. “Men want power” the Sudanese women
told me, “but we women want peace.” The Women’s Action Group was eventually
closed down, in large part due to men who opposed such ideas. But Together
for Sudan has gone from strength to strength as a result of the Sudanese
women’s desire for education and the resolve of many people outside Sudan –
and inside, such as President Gasim Badri of Ahfad University for Women in
Omdurman and a TfS Patron -- to help them achieve it. The two TfS slogans,
“Power to the Powerless through Education” and “Building Peace through
Service”, are a rallying call for help. “Do not forget us,” the women told
me when I had to leave Sudan in 1998. Since then I have returned to Sudan
some 25 times and continue to visit twice a year. But each year the work belongs more completely to them.
Education is a long and difficult road but, with the strength of Sudanese
women behind us, Together for Sudan continues to push forward even in times
of economic recession and the political uncertainties which complicate
Sudan’s future. Recently I sent out a call for support in face of our
growing economic difficulties and immediately two women I know in Britain
responded positively, one with a gift of £20
pounds sterling and the other with a gift of £1,000
sterling. The amount is not as important as their faith in the future of
Sudanese women and children.
I can never forget the faith, determination and strength of Sudanese sisters
who have given to me far more than I shall ever be able to give to them. One
of my favourite memories in singing with them shortly before I left Sudan in
1998 “We shall overcome, we shall overcome some day. For deep in my heart I
do believe that we shall overcome some day” We sang it in both Arabic and
English to make certain it was heard and understood. The continuation of
Together for Sudan is a response to that heart cry.
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SUDAN" charity.
Looking on Suffering and grace and believing in the future of Sudan
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