Educated Refugee Foundation

-We have chosen to collaborate with Jesuit Refugee Service because their beliefs regarding the importance of education for refugees closely match our own.

First, Educated Refugee Foundation will work with JRS to provide funds for a teacher scholarship in the African country of Chad, where many refugees have gone to escape the violence and genocide in Sudan. JRS has provided means for many refugees to attend a teacher college within the country of Chad, and given them an opportunity to obtain a teaching certificate. The student then has the option to either work as a teacher within Chad, or return to the refugee camps to teach. This gives the children there the possibility for a quality education under the supervision of a certified teacher. The men, women, and children fleeing Sudan come with little or no personal belongings, and little hope for a brighter future. By helping to sustain a tertiary education program we believe that we will not only impart hope to individuals and families, but also enhance entire communities.

Our secondary purpose is to increase the number of young children attending beginning school in refugee camps in Chad. We will do this by allocating funds to a program JRS has established. This program works with families, and specifically mothers, to build a second shelter to the side of the family’s existing shelter where a beginning school will be held. Up to thirty 3-6 year olds will attend this school where a mother will instruct them in the beginning principles of education. An additional benefit to this is that the shelter is provided with a kitchen unit where the family will offer these young children a full meal once a day. Giving children the opportunity to begin school at a young age lays a foundation for the ideas of the value of education and the importance of attending school.