Joseph is helping a community in his homeland of rural Southern Sudan to grow into a self-sustaining and thriving place for families. The area was destroyed in the civil war, though it is fertile farmland.

The children need an education so as adults they can help the new country stand on its own feet. The girls in the town need to learn the academic skills that will equip them to get good jobs if they wish. And they will learn the vocational skills of agriculture, health education, and domestic abilities that they will need to be able to bring up families prosperously.

So we are building a school for girls that will give them an excellent education. It will set the standard for schools in the state. Joseph and the local community wants the school to give priority to girls who have had no education. There are very few other schools active in the area, though the state has started to rebuild a school for boys. For security reasons, NGOs tend to operate nearer the borders of Southern Sudan and tend not venture more permantently into the centre of the country.

This project is developed with the local community, who is being consulted on the way the school runs and has members represented in the governing body. This year we are beginning to provide education for adults as well as the children. And we are building a lasting relationship between the school and its community, and between them and schools and communities in Europe.

The school has an Anglican Christian ethos, though non-Christian children are welcome.

It is independent of the administrations of the state and of the church, though both state and church support are welcomed.