Two South Sudan students from a former UN Protection of Civilian camp studying to be midwives thanks to a two-year scholarship from AFRECS.
by Steven Miles
AFRECS has been committed to supporting youth education among South Sudanese internal refugees since 2016 when it was the founding financial partner in establishing a school for up to 500 primary school children in the UN Protection of Civilians (POC) Camp No. 3 near Juba. The POCs were created when ethnic violence three years earlier caused tens of thousands of people, including many unaccompanied children, to flee their villages to the relative safety of refugee camps.
AFRECS’ current educational focus is on providing scholarships to secondary students (many of whom graduated from the primary school AFRECS helped found). In addition, AFRECS is creating post-secondary school educational opportunities by providing scholarships for two students to attend four-year degrees in theology or law from The Episcopal University and for two students to attend two-year certificate programs in Midwifery.
The midwifery students are Nyethak Yap and Nyakhan Majiok. They are currently performing clinical studies in midwifery at a large hospital six days a week. The young women are from Bentiu Diocese but live in a former POC, necessitating that they each take three different buses each direction just to get to the hospital each morning and return again each evening. Both young women plan to use their midwifery training when completed in the POCs to help their fellow residents, who now include not only South Sudanese refugees but increasingly also refugees fleeing violence from the north.
AFRECS relies on its long-term partner, Christ Mission Continuous Ministry (CMCM), headed by ECSS Bishop John Gatteck, to help supervise the scholarship program. CMCM is a non-governmental organization focused on youth education originally founded in 2001 by South Sudan refugees in Kenya.
We look forward to introducing our readers to the scholarship students attending The Episcopal University and the secondary schools in future E-Blast issues.
Bishop John Gattek and some scholarship recipients after briefing midwifery and secondary school students in group photo in 2026.
Steven Miles is a retired energy lawyer with experience in Saudi Arabia and a member of the Board of AFRECS.