Background
The work which became TOGETHER FOR Sudan began in 1996 and originally
focused on providing university scholarships for women from Sudan’s Nuba
Mountains, a deprived area from which only a handful of women had graduated
from university. Initially known as The Bishop Mubark Fund for Nuba Women
after a well-loved Nuba bishop who died that year, this work expanded
rapidly in both scope and practice and in 2005 was merged with Together for
Sudan, another small charity set up while Dr. Lillian Craig Harris was
living in Sudan as the wife of British Ambassador Alan Goulty. Together for
Sudan has been a registered British charity since 2000.
Together for Sudan has no religious affiliations and is supported by Muslims
and Christians living in Sudan and abroad as well as by various funding
organizations abroad. Among well known Patrons of the charity are the
Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, the British Ambassador to
Sudan, Dr Rosalind Marsden CMG, former Sudanese Ambassador to the UK, Dr.
Hasan Abdin, Sudanese elder statesman Maulana Abel Alier, Sudanese surgeon
Dr Zakieddin Ahmed, American publisher Lynne Rienner, Sudanese British
businessman Dr. Mohamed Ibraham and physician Dr. Hania Fadl, and a great
supporter of our work, Dr Gasim Bedri, President of Ahfad University for
Women in Omdurman.
Initially TfS worked only in the settlements for some two million displaced
persons in the Khartoum area but expanded in 2002 to the Nuba Mountains of
Southern Kordofan and in 2005 to Darfur where it is currently engaged in
women’s literacy training. We also have small projects in both Juba and
Abyei in southern Sudan. Our work is primarily with women and children and
in all three areas we have forged strong partnerships at the request of
displaced and/or destitute people.
There are two TfS project centres at present, in the Khartoum area and in Kadugli in
the Nuba Mountains. The charity has no premises outside Sudan and its only
paid aid workers are Sudanese in the two TfS project centres. Support for the charity
involves donations from friends in Europe, Britain in particular, and in the
United States as well as Sudan. TfS Trustees are in process of registering a
sister group, Friends Together for Sudan, in the United States which will
primarily assist in raising awareness and funds.
"Power to the Powerless through
Education"
Together for Sudan aims to secure a better future for disadvantaged Sudanese
women and children by providing educational support without religious or
ethnic discrimination.
Scope
Together for Sudan will work where allowed in Sudan and
expands its projects and geographical reach as funding and management
permit. Any project or programme which educates or supports the education of
Sudanese women and children living in Sudan is within our scope including
technical, vocational, medical and paramedical training. Male children may
benefit from Together for Sudan but adult male education
other than vocational training, is outside the Together for Sudan
mandate, as are theological education and education outside Sudan.
Our Work
- Women’s literacy classes
- University scholarships in Sudan
- Educational scholarships for orphans whose families are afflicted by HIV/AIDS
- Solar lighting panels for literacy classes, community centres and clinics
- Crucial medical care, in particular for women and children, through the Eye Care Outreach projects
- HIV/AIDS community awareness outreach; support to people living with HIV/AIDS
- Teacher training and support programmes; Paying for teachers’ salaries in self-help schools for displaced children. TFS monitors progress carefully
“Building Peace through Service”
We strive to unite Sudanese of different ethnic and religious backgrounds in
community service for the promotion of community reconciliation.
TFS Believes in
- Education as a human right
- The empowerment of women for a better future
- Responding to what marginalised people, women in particular, say they need
- Respecting people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds
- Personal and community empowerment through service
- Promoting volunteerism
- Provision of basic medical and other support to foster education
- Combating HIV/AIDS through education
Target Groups
- Marginalised, displaced and illiterate Sudanese women
- Marginalised and displaced young women seeking university education in Sudan
- Children from destitute or displaced families
- Communities with no affordable medical resources
- Teachers in self-help basic schools
- Community organisations in settlements for displaced persons
- People living with HIV/AIDS and HIV/AIDS orphans
Achievements - From the Beginning
- Women’s literacy classes now at 40 sites in Khartoum, the Nuba Mountains and setting up in Darfur
- Graduation of more than 2,250 women from literacy classes
- Enrolment of nearly 300 TFS students in Sudan universities
- Graduation of 224 TFS women scholars from Sudan universities
by 2012
- Payment of basic and kindergarten teachers’ salaries in 32 self-help schools.
- 150 educational scholarships for AIDS orphans
- Installation of nearly 30 solar lighting panels in support of education, 9 in the Nuba Mountains.
- Examination of more than 6500 individuals yearly by the Eye Care Project which also provides free reading glasses, medicines and eye surgery in excess of 670 cases.
- Provision of basic medicines to communities with no other access to health services
- Funding for over 120 AIDS orphans at basic and secondary schools
- Unique HIV/AIDS Awareness project which reaches over 15,000 people each year in the Khartoum vicinity
See Our Achievements - Click Here