Africa ELI News
Articles of Interest
Amid crisis, South Sudan’s education chief sets out an ambitious agenda
Africa ELI Newsletters and Blog Posts
Prestigious Award Given to Africa ELI Co-Executive Director
It was an exciting day when Zaharah recently received word that she was being awarded a Mandela Washington Fellowship. This fellowship is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative, which empowers young people through academic coursework, leadership...
Next-level Leadership Steps Up
The Africa ELI Board of Directors is pleased to announce the promotions of Mr. Alemi Charles and Ms. Zaharah Namanda to the positions of Co-Directors, effective July 1, 2019. They have demonstrated a caring commitment to the young people we serve, and have proven time...
Twenty One Days in May
Our Holiday Retreat is a 3-week residential gathering of the Africa ELI secondary students occurring between school terms. The purpose of the retreat is to ensure that girls receive adequate time to review the previous term’s lessons; provide them with career...
Creating a Gender Balanced World
Africa ELI recently attended a dinner sponsored by the African Women and Girls Organization (AWGO) in Kampala, Uganda. The dinner was a red-carpet event launching a series of public forums on women's issues organized by AWGO. It was attended by 150 community members...
Springing Forward
2019 is a significant year for Africa ELI. May 19th of this year begins our second decade of providing South Sudanese girls with access to secondary education. 2019 is also significant because it marks our third full year of operations in Uganda since the extraction...
The Opportunity of a First Day of School
The following was written by Tami Carsillo, Africa ELI Board President, during her recent trip to Uganda. We can all remember the excitement and nervousness of the first day of a new school year. We made sure we had the proper uniform or clothing. We carefully...
SDG 4: Quality Education
The fourth of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” This objective is the heartbeat of Africa ELI. Providing access to education for the girls of South Sudan...
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
“Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages,” is Goal #3 of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Global targets have been set to reduce diseases and preventable deaths; improve maternal health; increase access to...
Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Development
Let’s talk about the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also called the Global Goals. Broadly speaking, the SDGs are ambitious but achievable, universal goals set by the United Nation's member states in 2015. The premise is that every country can...
Africa ELI Staff Talk about the Work of Educating Girls
What does it take to raise bright, confident girls? How does Africa ELI manage to support young female refugees who have fled armed conflict in South Sudan? Who listens and responds to the girls when they want to talk outside of the classroom about topics important to...
Africa ELI Featured at AGS
The Atlanta Girls School recently featured Africa ELI during a school assembly. We appreciate their interest in learning about girls education in South Sudan and for choosing to support our students! Please check out their follow-up article and the video they put...
A New Partnership
It is not unusual for girls in East Africa to miss school because of difficulty managing their monthly period. Menstruation may last for three to five days, and since girls often stay home during their period, it is common for them to miss as many as 36 days of school...
The Week in Pictures – April 28th, 2018
Each student is required to have lesson notes for every subject taught at school. When Africa ELI students fled from conflict in South Sudan to the safety of Uganda, most of their school notebooks were left behind. Knowing how important these subject notes are for our...
Keep the Fire Burning
At the school where Africa ELI students are enrolled this year, in a quiet, grassy spot beneath a tall and deeply rooted tree, there is a fire pit. A small flame, carefully stoked by women throughout the day, burns continuously. A school administrator described the...
An Ambitious Agenda
A frequently asked question during Africa ELI presentations is, “What will the South Sudanese students do after high school?” Anita responds by explaining that they will do the same things as girls in the U.S. Some will attend college. Others will seek employment....
Tastes Like Chicken
Visitation Day is an important monthly event for boarding school students. Teachers and school administrators meet with the students’ parents or guardians to review the academic performance and activities of individual students. A school bursar provides an accounting...
Get Good News Here
To shine a light on some positive news from South Sudan, we have curated content this week to share with you. It’s easy to find negative news about sub-Saharan Africa, especially South Sudan. However, if you search beyond the headlines, there are people and stories...
The Week in Pictures – March 11th, 2018
An orientation was held for new students at school this past week. Pictured above is Africa ELI Assistant Monitoring and Program Officer, Zaharah Namanda, arriving on campus to attend the orientation with our sponsored students. Topics discussed included academic...