Archbishop Daniel Bul Deng of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan has said giving education to young people will bring lasting peace in the country.
Archbishop Daniel Bul Deng of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan has said giving education to young people will bring lasting peace in the country.
The Archbishop said this while opening a girls’ boarding school in Ibba, Western Equitoria State (WES), where he spoke about his passion for education and how he had helped start many schools in Renk when he served there as the diocesan bishop.
He termed the development of the school as “Peace Development”, development that brings long-term peace to the nation. The Archbishop is also the chairman of the national Committee for National Healing, Peace and Reconciliation.
“Young children must be developed and educated, these girls here will become future leaders of the country and bring lasting peace,” he said.
While addressing the more than 1,000 people who gathered to witness the opening of Ibba Girls Boarding School, the primate spoke about the Christian values of peace, forgiveness, unity, and reconciliation.
He commended the people of the state for remaining peaceful in the wake of turmoil in other parts of the country, and said that the whole nation needed to hear the message from WES, a message of love, peace, and unity. He asked the Governor to extend a hand of help to the greater Upper Nile region, to help the country live in peace.
Ibba girls’ school was the brainchild of the county commissioner, Ms. Bridget Nagomoro, a native of the area. Ms. Nagomoro informed the gathering of how her vision to open a girl’s boarding school started. She grew up in the bush on the very land that the school had been built along with her two sisters and brother.
Traditionally, only the son in the family would be sent to school but her father was determined that his daughters would be educated. Ms. Nagomoro recalled how hard it was growing up as a woman and the troubles she faced in school. She added that she did not want girls to experience the same hardships and that is why she set out to start the school.
The Archbishop dedicated the school and said that future leaders will grow and thrive there. After the dedication prayer, the Archbishop, the Governor and the Ibba County commissioner went from building to building cutting ribbons, and blessed all the facilities (classrooms, dormitory, kitchen, medical ward, staff housing) and the school grounds.
In his speech, the governor of WES, Joseph Bakosoro, stressed the importance of acquiring education and the need to protect and keep girls in school.
“Education is the light, education is life, education is food, and education is better for your future,” he emphasized.
The state minister for education and speaker of the state assembly both gave brief speeches and stated how proud they were to have the school in WES. Also present was the school’s board of trustees’ chair, Prof. John Benington.
During the occasion, Archbishop Deng was accompanied by Bishop Wilson Kamani of Ibba and Bishop Justin Badi of Maridi.
The school lies on 73 acres of land, donated by Ms. Nagomoro and the local paramount chief. Currently, there are 41 students and the school plans to expand each year. Next year the primary 4 students will advance to primary 5 and a new class of 40 will come in, adding 40 students each year. With this forecast, the secondary school will start in a couple of years and the enrolment is expected to grow until there is a full nursery, primary and secondary school.
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