Pagak school and library – South Sudan

WWEP activity: School design

WWEP was delighted to have produced a report on school designs which are adaptable for construction in South Sudan for Emmanuel Jal, former child soldier, refugee and now international musician. Emmanuel is aiming to build a 3-classroom school and library to continue his work on peace-building through education in conflict affected South Sudan.

See Emmanuel’s music video shot in Kakuma refugee camp where we are building schools, training teachers and providing psychosocial support here

Emmanuel Jal was born into the life of a child solider on an unknown date in the early 1980s in the war-torn region of Southern Sudan. Through unbelievable struggles, Emmanuel managed to survive and go on to emerge as a recording artist, achieving worldwide acclaim for his unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his personal experiences. His 2009 TED Global talk has achieved tens of thousands of YouTube hits. In 2008 a full-length documentary on his life was released. The film, “Warchild,” won 12 prestigious film festival awards worldwide.

Jal has been awarded the Calgary Peace Prize, the Humanitarian Award from the Hunt Institute, The Dresden Peace Prize, The Mattie Stepanek Peacemaker Prize and has been honored by Ban Ki Moon at the UN for his peace efforts in South Sudan.

We are very happy to be working along side Emmanuel to achieve his vision of peace and community cohesion for South Sudan.

Our plan consists of designs which are based upon tested designs used by Plan International and UNICEF. These designs are selected due to their low-cost, use of locally sourced materials, and relatively simple build plan.

We are delighted to have been part of this process and to work with such a motivated and inspirational person.