By Emmy Strijbis

Twenty little pairs of eyes grow bigger and brighter with delight and surprise all around me. The crammed little room in the old building of the Center of Hope where I teach English is full of Sudanese refugee children about to receive their new school bags and supplies.

As a teacher coming from Holland, the classroom conditions and lack of school materials of these children comes as a stark contrast to the teaching environment I am accustomed to back home.

In Holland any lesson I have prepared appears after just a few clicks on the IWB. Each of my students has his or her own desk and chair, and these are comfortably spaced from each other. The children also have their own writing supplies, and a recess time when they can play outdoors and get exercise. As a teacher I have enough room in front of the class to walk around as I teach. I could go on for a while.

Here at the Center of Hope I must hand-write lesson plans and there is only a small white board and one (bad) marker available. I need to provide something hard and flat for the students to write on, because there are no desks. The children sit crammed together on broken chairs, and lack adequate pencils or pens; even learning to write the letter 'a' is difficult. I barely have room to take one step and must watch out that I do not accidentally tread on any little feet.

No wonder these children were so delighted to receive a bag full of important school necessities! The conditions they were used to is not a suitable learning environment. At the Center of Hope, we also provided them with lunch, something they cannot enjoy every day. I am thankful that from now on these children and their teachers can utilize the school materials for a better future education.

Providing educational training for refugee children and salaries for their teachers are not the only ways that Hope for MENA (Middle East and North Africa) seeks to help and empower the Sudanese community. As refugees many families live in poverty and suffer appalling conditions. Hope for MENA  is providing on the ground support for those who are sick, hungry, wounded and looking for hope, along with developing programs to empower women and children at risk. 

Recently I took food and clothing packages to some families’ homes where I saw the poverty the children live in. There is little room, little or no furniture, and hardly any food. One mother I visited sat with a baby on her lap on the only bed in the rundown apartment. Her other children sat around her on the dirty floor as she told us how she had to flee the war in Sudan. She lost her arm in a traffic accident and also suffers from permanent leg problems. She is unable to get a job to support her children. A hopeless situation. When we asked her how we can pray for her, she surprised us all when she said, "Thank God for what He gives and that He sent you to us."

Indeed, we want to thank God that He is using Hope for MENA to meet the needs of the Sudanese community suffering from poverty. Please consider helping the Center of Hope carry on its work through your prayers and financial support.