By Noelle Frampton

Hope is a powerful thing. It is part of the foundation upon which civilizations are built. It sustains families in hard times. It allows the weak to grow strong and remake lives torn by tragedy and trauma.

That kind of belief in a better future was more evident than ever before, during this historic time, to the journeyers who recently returned from Southern Sudan's Jonglei State. They saw it in the faces of those they encountered, who are expecting the coming birth of their new nation with a 99% vote for secession from the North. And they brought it home with them.

"This year's Journey of Hope was filled with a sense of deeper commitment, brighter hope and a people who are eager to learn what their newfound freedom and democracy means," said PES Executive Director Carol Rinehart. "The jubilation and celebratory singing, dancing, and pride-filled performances were everywhere we traveled. They have a lot to celebrate after over 125 years of colonization and oppression and two civil wars. South Sudan will become the newest nation in the world on July 9th."

"The Sudanese want to learn to do things for themselves-and are eager to be guided and mentored to allow themselves to be more self-sufficient and self-sustaining," Rinehart told PES supporters last week. "We are all about empowering them."

Rinehart spent March in Southern Sudan, strengthening ties with local communities and leaders, conducting several surveys designed to measure and improve PES' programs, and helping to lay the groundwork for Daniel Majok Gai, a former Lost Boy who sought refuge in Denver, to start in earnest his new role as PES Sudan Program Director there.

Gai is thrilled to be back home in Pagook, free to eat and sleep with long-missed family members and able to help his people toward great prospects.

"Good things for South Sudanese are just next door," Gai wrote in a recent e-mail. "There are tremendous changes going on in the country and when I returned I felt welcomed by the communities PES works with. I'm proud of my people. It had never crossed my mind when I think of the day I left home at a gunpoint in 1987 that I will come home happy and see my people smiling and opening their hearts, minds filled with joy. PES has given me this magnificent opportunity to exercise knowledge I have gained in the U.S."

PES board member Lee Ann Huntington and award-winning journalist Tamara Banks traveled with Rinehart this year for part of the trip. Huntington found her first trip to Sudan "inspiring." She recalled her amazement at the way the Sudanese she met were making the most of what little they had, the deep gratitude they expressed to PES workers, and the simple highlight of reading with school children in the village of Pagook who'd learned to read English surprisingly well, from young teachers who mastered it while living in a Kenyan refugee camp and who are paid poorly or not at all by the government.

Having watched Gai in action on PES business, Huntington added that "It is so exciting to imagine the good results that Daniel's work and leadership in the field this year ... will bring to PES and South Sudan."

      By Claudia Mettelman

If you go into any school in a developed country and ask the children what they want to be when they grow up, many will say, "I want to be a doctor."

Carol Rinehart was given the very same response when she asked Annah Angeth Awan, a 16 -year old girl form Tong Pagook Primary School. Annah Angeth just received a sponsorship from She's The First in their poetry month e-card campaign.  "You know when it's different," explained Carol still very moved by the young girl. She could hear the same answer a million times from children all over the world, but never with as much certainty and determination as from Angeth.  

It is known that South Sudan has the lowest access to primary education in the world, with less than 1% of girls finishing primary school and over 93% of all Sudanese women being illiterate (UNICEF).

"I love books and all subjects," Angeth proclaims as she reads just about everything Carol and the PES crew would give her (including TIME Magazine from cover to cover!).

"I want to work in a hospital as a female doctor helping my people...If I follow my education [it] will allow me to know the whole world, be able to plan for my future and know what is going on."

While South Sudan is going through many changes, with the overwhelming vote for separation (99%) in the March referendum, Angeth's cultural situation is still rarely heard of. Why does Angeth have such confidence and determination to grow into a key role in her community? Is it the overwhelming and rare support she receives from her brother and mother to succeed and become an educated member of her society?

Angeth's father was killed during the War. Displaced from their village, her brother and mother raised her in Pagook hoping for the day they could return to safely back to their home village. The time finally came when their village was safe and bomb-free, but Angeth had risen to the top of her class in PES's Tong Pagook Primary, known for its outstanding teachers and high-performing students. Her brother and mother were 100 percent supportive of her efforts in school and decided to remain in Pagook for the sake of Angeth's education, and in turn, her success in life.

This rare understanding and support of a family truly is life and community changing. Carol is confident that with a little help, Angeth will fulfill her dreams of going to university and become a doctor.

PES's efforts have been a catalyst in the education process by not only providing infrastructure, but empowerment as well. They are teaching a community how to operate on their own and support each other, allowing the newest nation in the world, South Sudan, to become independent and responsible for their own promising future.

Annah's Article on She's The First