More than 1,000 children are still studying in the school that the PCPM built 17 years ago.

With a story like this, the sense of the work of the Polish Centre for International Aid is most evident. In 2007, one of the PCPM’s first projects was to build the Usratuna school in Juba. After 17 years, more than 1,000 children are studying in the school and the building itself has grown considerably!

When the Polish Centre for International Aid started its efforts in Juba, the city was not yet the capital of the world’s youngest country, South Sudan, but was in Sudan.

Before 2007, lessons at the Usratuna school were taking place in a hut made of woven mats in over 40 degrees heat. For very many schools in Sudan, this was an everydayness. The PCPM, in a project led by the foundation’s vice-president Adam Swierczynski, wanted to change this.

The school in Juba has grown significantly

– Your foundation appeared suddenly and helped us a lot. You erected a building with two classrooms, which stood among several other reed buildings. Then you built another building with two classrooms for the tailoring school, which was badly needed,’ says Sister Antonietta, who runs the school.

– Our school gives inclusive education to the population we are serving, rich and poor alike. It is different from other schools. Our objective is not profit but service, the fee is always lower compared to other schools. We are also conditioned by the general situation of the majority of people who are internally displaced. This year we are very much affected by economic inflation in the country – add Sister Antonietta.

The Polish Centre for International Aid, was able to help the school in Juba, thanks to the Polish Aid program of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After 17 years the school is still functioning, but importantly it has grown significantly. It already has four similar buildings and a library, and in them, in the primary school, 1027 children are studying. Each of the grades 1-8 has as many as 60–80 children!

PCPM helps starving children in South Sudan

PCPM has been helping South Sudan, formerly part of Sudan, since almost the beginning. We supplied lighting to a school in Gordhim, and in the same village, we helped children affected by famine. Every year, thanks to donors from Poland, we send transport of therapeutic food, and in 2024 this was up to 45,000 portions.

In addition, this year the PCPM Foundation donated medicines and seeds of okra and sukuma wiki (a plant similar to kale). The center’s staff will sow these seeds at the Gordhim center and give them to the mothers to grow themselves, thus enriching the children’s diets.

You can still support the work of the PCPM Foundation in South Sudan by collecting HERE.