Fundraising progress for Phase 1 of the project:

GUA Africa has been granted 15 acres of land in Leer, West Upper Nile, by the government of South Sudan. Our goal is to build a high quality education centre for the whole community, which is to be called the Emma Academy, as a legacy to Emma McCune who lies in rest in Leer.

The twenty year long Sudanese civil war has meant that schooling in South Sudan today mostly consists of teaching under trees. Many former child soldiers have not found their way back into education, and traditionally only 1 in 5 girls are supported to finish High School.

Back in November 2008 GUA officials agreed with the local Leer community that the Emma Academy project should be split into two phases. The first phase will see the renovation of the existing Leer primary school, which is in desperate need of repair with only two out of four classrooms currently being fit for use. The budget for Phase 1 has been set at $250,000, which includes the construction of 5 extra classrooms. 

Due to some fantastic fundraising efforts we have recently been able to replace the collapsed roof and erect a strong perimeter fence around the whole site - essential to keep out roaming livestock. While we continue to fundraise for the new classrooms, work will now continue on refurbishing and repainting the school, plus the construction of the first ever toilet blocks. Each of these improvements will make a massive difference to the welfare of the pupils attending the school.

During the recent trip made by GUA officials in April 2009 more detailed plans were also completed for Phase 2 of the Emma Academy.  This will see the development of a top quality educational academy built on the 15 acres of land given to GUA. The academy will include a secondary school – the first in the area - as well as vocational training, sports, and teacher training facilities. We hope to introduce soil stabilisation technology to the area, which will enable us to make strong, durable building blocks using the local soil and sand. As well as being environmentally friendly, this will also generate income and development opportunities for the community in the years to come.

Click on the images below to view our architect's 3D drawings of the future Emma Academy site.

To donate to this project please visit our donate page.