Working on a school for all seasons
Oprah Winfrey isn’t the only person to build a school in Africa.
While he was deployed in the Sudan in 2006 for OP SAFARI, Lt(N) Jamie Stewart renovated an eight-room schoolhouse that would allow local children to attend school throughout the rainy season.
“I was a United Nations Military Observer with UNMIS, the United Nations Mission in Sudan,” stated Lt(N) Stewart, adding that he was there from March 23 to September 24, 2006 with OP SAFARI, the 32-person Canadian contingent in UNMIS.
“I was in the Nuba Mountains, in a team site called Dilling in the province of South Kordofan.” The mountains are approximately 100 KM east of Darfur, he added.
At that time, Lt(N) Stewart was the only Canadian among the 17 United Nations Military Observers (UNMOs) assigned to patrol that area. “Most of the job is verifying and monitoring the peace agreement. However, we would also go into the outlying villages and ask what their needs were and if there were any problems. It was pretty standard; lack of medicine, lack of food, lack of water.”
On one trip outside Dilling, the UNMOs noticed a school and when Lt(N) Stewart inquired about it, he learned that the school was open during the dry season from March to June but during the rainy season, it closed because the school wasn’t weatherproof.
“It seemed to me that was a long time where they couldn’t instruct the kids, so I asked them what their needs were. What is the main thing you need here? And it was shelter and supplies,” stated Lt(N) Stewart.
Using his own money, Lt(N) Stewart bought materials including wood from palm trees and metal roofs to make the school more durable. “They are waterproof, wind proof and very sturdy.” He enclosed all the classrooms and started building several others “so when I left there were eight classrooms that were weatherproof.” He estimated that it probably cost about $400 to $600 to put up each classroom.
When he was in Khartoum, other Canadian UNMOs who had heard of his project would give him cash contributions. “They’d slip me $50.”
Supplies for the school came through the generosity of people at home in Halifax. In an email to some friends, Lt(N) Stewart offhandedly mentioned that school supplies were tough to purchase in the Sudan. “So they started boxing up school supplies for me. Pens, paper, protractors, any kind of school supplies. Books and English language supplies.”
The children were curious, intelligent and often gifted, stated Lt(N) Stewart. “They were very talented at drawing. You could give them paper and a pencil, point to anything and they could draw it.”
Lt(N) Stewart received other donations including cooking equipment such as pots and pans used to cook lunch for the children who stayed at the school all day.
The students, who ranged in age from four to 15, were eager to learn, according to Lt(N) Stewart. “The kids were like sponges for picking up information. So I’d go there once a week and teach English, do whatever I could.” During the World Cup, he bought soccer balls so the kids could play.
Before Lt(N) Stewart left, the students arranged a farewell ceremony for him. By that time there were approximately 187 students in the school.
There has not been a Canadian in the UNMIS at Dilling since he left but Lt(N) Stewart hopes that when the next Canadian deploys there, he can continue his connection with the school.
“There are a lot of volunteers, people here who picked up on it. I was getting a box a week. They’d take it to the MFRC and it would get to me a few weeks later.”
The donors included friends and colleagues but Lt(N) Stewart stated the biggest contributor was a group of employees at the Scotia Bank Call Centre in Duke Tower. “They were amazing. They flooded me with duotangs and workbooks and English books.”
Almost every Canadian who has deployed with OP SAFARI has found a project to work on, according to Lt(N) Stewart. “If you pick one project, you yourself can make a difference. It was good. It allowed me to make a difference, to leave something there.”
Sudan is the largest country in Africa and has gone through a lengthy civil war, leaving little infrastructure for its people. School provides hope for the children, said Lt(N) Stewart. “I know myself that education is key to the future. That’s what I used to preach to them, that they have to learn. Stay in school as long as you can because you will be the builders of your country. It seemed to get through.”
Currently Lt(N) Stewart is a Watch Officer at Regional Joint Operations Centre Atlantic. He hopes to return to the Sudan, possibly on his leave.
