Education Link

• Parochial giving (from churches and organisations in the diocese)
• Private donations
• Services where a Bishop presides (such as confirmations)

We are charged with supporting the following:-

• Theological education—this means in the 5 Provincial theological colleges, and the theological education by extension programme (TEE).
• Education in ECS schools.
• Youth work.

Learn About the Five ECS Provincial Theological Colleges - click on the links below 

Bishop Ngalamu College - Mundri
Bishop Shokai College - Omdurman
Bishop Allison College – Arua
Renk College – Renk
New Bishop Gwynne College - Juba

How do we do this?

Theological education – our focus is on supporting the 5 Provincial Theological Colleges to either gain, or maintain, accreditation to the diploma course from St. Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya. Bishop Gwynne College in Juba is now in its second year of teaching the Limuru Diploma. It is essential that the growing church in Sudan has well qualified priests who are also leaders within their own communities.

Education in ECS schools – There is a huge demand for more schools to meet the needs of both Basic (Primary) and secondary age children. As a Link we cannot fund the building of schools, or the salaries of staff. What we can do is to support teacher training in order to ensure that those who do receive schooling are being taught by qualified teachers.

We also actively encourage, and support, links between our own diocesan schools and ECS schools.

Youth work – we focus on two specific projects to support youth work within Sudan.
- One is to give money to SOMA to enable a regional youth leaders conference / workshop to take place annually in Sudan. We also try to encourage one or two people from  our diocesan to attend these conferences.
- The other is to bring two Sudanese youth leaders to the Salisbury diocese for a period of up to six months every two years. Visa restrictions have prevented this happening for the last two years but we will resume this project when the visa issue has been resolved.

Our budget for 2012 was as follows:-

• ECS schools—training for diocesan schools coordinators         £10,000
• Training of Secondary school science teachers                        £  2,000
• Theological colleges                                                              £12,000
• SOMA youth conferences                                                      £  3,000
• Theological commission meeting in Juba                                 £  2,000
• Contribution towards funding two visiting                                  £  2,000
  lecturers to Bishop Ngalamu College

How do We Prioritise Where our Support Should be Directed?

We do not decide what the priorities should be. The Sudan Link is, above all, a partnership. We work with the two ECS commissions (theological and education) in deciding what we, together, feel are the most relevant areas to support. We are not the only partners working with the ECS so it is essential that we decide together where we can be most effective with the resources at our disposal.

Each year, John Foster (ed. Comm. chair) attends the theological commission conference which brings together the five Provincial colleges. This is an ideal opportunity to discuss needs and priorities. During that visit John also meets with the education commission to engage in a similar discussion.

If you would like to donate to the work of the Education Link please click here.

Education Link News: The Latest from John Foster

Now that 2012 has ended we can look back with more positive than negative feelings.

• two clergy from the diocese spent a very successful four weeks in South Sudan as visiting lecturers at Bishop Ngalamu Theological College in Mundri in October. We intend to make this an annual event with different clergy going each time (you can see a You Tube clip of their visit here).
• Money obtained from the Jerusalem Trust has meant that we could send more to the Provincial Theological Colleges to enable them to support students who do not have any financial provision.
• A further grant from the Jerusalem Trust means that we can plan a training programme for Diocesan Education Coordinators in 2013.
• We were able to give £10,000 to the Education Commission for their training programme so that more of their own staff are properly equipped to undertake their work.
• Further grants have gone to each of the 5 theological colleges which we support.
• In partnership with SOMA we have supported a youth leadership training course.
• We have responded to to a request from Bishop Andudu of Kadugli (his diocese is at the centre of one of the attacks on the border states in the Nuba Mountains) to support both the training of teachers for schools which are able to function, and salaries for 3 staff in a bible training college. These are both short term grants as the position is constantly changing.

John Foster

Contact: Sudan Secretary
Email: sudan.secretary@salisbury.anglican.org
Tel: 01722 411922
Fax: 01722 411990