From Cleaning The Office to Training to Become a Midwife

My name is Marry Adam Koko. I am a Nuba coming from the Haiban tribe existed in eastern part of south Kordofan state. I’m number seven in my family of 4 girls and 5 boys.  Unfortunately although I’m the only one in the family who has a Sudanese certificate, I was not able to enter University. It was necessary for me to go out and earn money to help my father. 

We settled in Khartoum Al-fitemab village and I did a lot of casual work to earn money and help my family before joining Together for Sudan organization as a part-time cleaner in July 2012. 

My ambition has always been to complete my studies to find a better job or to acquire skills to enable me to work professionally.

I learnt about the midwifery scholarship during my work for TfS. I decided to apply because the training would develop me socially and I know that in my area there is an urgent need for trained women. There is only one midwife in our area and she is always busy.

Some of our midwives in training with Lillian, Mary is in the middle of the back row, standing next to Neimat, our in country coordinator.

“I hope sincerely, if I succeed in completing this course, to work honestly helping my people in the village where I reside and if the situations permit I would like to go back home at Nuba Mountains to disseminate the knowledge and deliver health messages and to educate my people about the family health and care.”
Thank you Together for Sudan. Without your support I would never had this opportunity.

The 2 year training scheme is supported by the government but Mary could not have joined as she is poor and needs uniform, special shoes, a special scarf, a bed sheet and some hostel accommodation together with help with some transport costs and food. Our supporters are funding Marry and another 9 women in this way. Thank you for your generosity.

Peter Hullah
Director

Training Teachers to Train Other Teachers in the Nuba Mountains

This week I read a report from the TfS office in Khartoum about teaching teachers to become trainers of other teachers in the Nuba Mountains of Southern Kordofan. That ought to be simple because Nuba people are clamouring for education of all sorts. But life in the Nuba Mountains is difficult for many reasons and this time we came up against the weather when delay in a funding transfer took us into the July to October rainy season.

When it rains in the Nuba Mountains everyone and everything bogs down; even tractors are often unable to get through the mud. So training had to be rescheduled for November/December 2008 when 25 kindergarten teachers, all women, were finally taught training techniques, administrative skills, preparation and use of teaching aids, how to identify possibly useful materials, etc. This may sound simple to those who have enjoyed the benefits of well equipped schools and university trained teachers. And so it is: simple, effective and efficient. So efficient, as the report revealed, that two months after the training some of the participants had already set themselves up as teacher trainers and were teaching other teachers how to become teacher trainers.

Things don’t usually happen this quickly in Sudan and the reports writer in our Khartoum office allowed himself a bit of rather unrestrained rejoicing. The impact of the training was, he said, “good news”, in fact it was “a triumph for the people of the Nuba Mountains”, as well as “a milestone to our endeavor to upgrade education in the region” and “a beginning which makes us hopeful that more work will follow”. Well, that sums up fairly well how I feel, too.

Lillian Craig-Harris