Girls’ Education: A Road Less Traveled

In 2003, Achol Cyier Rehan walked hut-to-hut announcing her plans to start a school for girls in her home village of Akon. As mother to three young daughters, Achol dreamed of a proper education for all the village’s daughters. With only 1 female for every 5 male students, many villagers scoffed at the relevance of educating girls. Among the earliest believers, however, was the Madut family. When the school opened in April 2003, 11 year-old Kerlina was among its 90 first-graders. In July 2003, Achol asked us to support the school and today, the Kunyuk School is bustling with 500 students, grades 1-8, housed in a permanent campus constructed by My Sister’s Keeper. Achol, once considered a foolish dreamer, is now known as a visionary pioneer. In 2007, she became her county’s first female commissioner. Today, she is Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in Warrap State. She boasts, however, that her signature accomplishment is the Kunyuk School for Girls.

Last year, Kerlina defied another set of odds—she completed primary school. Along the way, she encountered some of the same doubters who mocked Achol. They advised Kerlina to marry, drop out of school, and take her place in the home. In fact, that is just what 70 of her original classmates did. Kerlina, however, maintained her conviction that education is a key to a better life. She could not forget the difficulties of the civil war. “Everything was destroyed; our houses burned; we lost our cattle and goats. During the day, we were running to find a safe place. At night, we had to sleep in the bush.” Determined to reverse the deprivation exacerbated by decades of war, Kerlina studied hard. In fact, she did so well on her placement exams that she won a scholarship to a boarding high school in South Sudan. Today, she has high hopes to become like Achol and work in the government, and she knows that education is the best pathway to lead her there.

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Brilliant Investments for Bright Futures

My Sister’s Keeper is taking a tip from two smart economists. In a 1994 article, Investing in All the People: Educating Women in Developing Countries, Larry Summers, then Chief Economist at the World Bank, observed, “When one takes into account all its benefits, educating girls yields a higher rate of return than any other investment available in the developing world.” Robert Zoellick, current World Bank President, agrees. Speaking at the Bank’s global Open Forum on Gender in September 2011, Zoellick declared, “Investing in girls is smart. It is central to boosting development, breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty, and allowing girls, and then women—50 percent of the world’s population—to lead better, fairer and more productive lives.”

We’ve identified 500 great investment opportunities—all students at the Kunyuk School for Girls in rural Akon! How about you? $100 will provide a full scholarship to cover tuition, uniform, and school supplies for a needy girl and $1,300 will allow one teacher to participate in our upcoming teacher’s training. Give a smart gift and get an exponential yield!

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