Dialogue Across Borders

Silvia Gore is the director of Innovation Academy Learning Center which was founded in 2016 in South Sudan but due to the civil war in South Sudan, the school moved to Cairo in September 2017. They teach the Sudanese curriculum and are recognized by the South-Sudanese Embassy and by Sudanese schools in Egypt. Silvia Gore read the transcript, approved the text, and agreed with placement in Dialogue Across Borders.

Alfred Nadu is a refugee from South Sudan with a blue card. He is the leader of Great Equatoria, an NGO established in 2002 that provides various forms of assistance to the refugee community in Egypt. They sometimes also assist migrants coming to Egypt. They mainly offer the community four types of services:

1) Psychosocial Services, this in terms of medical grants, emergency assistance, and cash. We have a specific place in Maadi doing that. 2) Legal Services. Refugees have a lot of legal issues that are related to protection, the UNHCR, and the renewal of their refugee cards that are needed to make sure that they are protected.

3) Educational Services which started in 2021 and

4) Socio-Cultural services, including cultural and social events.

Alfred Nadu confirmed receiving the text of this interview and was informed that the purpose was placement in Dialogue Across Borders. He wrote, “Alright, I will go through it and see if there is something to edit.” This turned out not to be the case.

Fr. Claude of the Roman Catholic St. Joseph Church in Zamalek introduced Júlia Arenós Karsten to Answer Boutros and James Natalie, director and principal of the Sakakini school for refugees. They told Júlia how their school is functioning. The school was founded in 1989 by Comboni missionary Father Cosimo. Fr. Cosimo and Cornelis Hulsman were befriended and this made Fr. Cosimo agree to a full-scale research into clashes between Sudanese refugees and Egyptians around his center in 2001. James Natalie was a teacher at the time. Today he serves as principal. Fr. Cosimo returned to Italy for reasons of age. Answer Boutros and James Natalie did not respond to the draft interview text Júlia had made, trusting she had done a good job.

Júlia Arenós Karsten interviewed Albino of the Wadi el-Nil Learning Center for refugees about how he runs his learning center that follows the Sudanese and South Sudanese curricula. They teach both in English and in Arabic. It is remarkable that they hardly teach Sudanese or South students. They primarily teach Eritreans and Ethiopians. Students whose parents are not able to pay the school fees are expelled from this learning center. Júlia Arenós Karsten shared this text with Albino. He did not respond, apparently not having the time to read an interview transcript. Since he had sufficient time to respond we decided to place this text in Dialogue Across Borders.

John Manassie (25) is a refugee from South Sudan who was able to study Communication at Cairo University. He has his blue card. John has obvious entrepreneurial skills and became the responsible person for the Nile Modern School Academy for refugees in Cairo. The learning center was created in 2019. John is an example of what refugees are able to do when they are able to obtain a good education. The Nile Academy entirely depends on the funds obtained from school fees. They prepare students for the Sudanese exams. John explained how his school is run. He approved of the text in this document.

Father Claude is a Comboni missionary from Chad who lives in Cairo. He is since December 2020 the parish priest of the St.Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Zamalek, Cairo. The church established years ago a learning center for Eritrean refugees. He was earlier serving in Sakakini refugee school for Arabic-speaking Sudanese refugees. Fr. Claude spoke about refugee education at both the St. Joseph learning center for Eritrean refugees and the Sakakini school for Sudanese refugees. It is hard work with fully insufficient support to offer the refugees the education they deserve. Father Claude had no objection to placing this text in Dialogue Across Borders.

Chris Rupke is a Canadian citizen who came after his pension to Egypt to serve with his wife in church ministry. They saw the need for refugee education and are now serving African Hope without being paid. Africa Hope depends to a large extent on Christian donors and wants their school to be teaching Christian values. Júlia Arenós Karsten interviewed him about his experiences at the Africa Hope Learning center for refugees. Chris Rupke agreed to this text and placement in Dialogue Across Borders.

This interview took place at the Falaky Book store in Garden City. Izz did not want to give her full name due to confidential matters but agreed to an informal interview with Júlia Arenós Karsten for the sake of her research. Izz spoke about her work at StARS and how they dealt with education during the Covid-19 pandemic. She agreed to the placement of Júlia’s text in Dialogue Across Borders. This interview is informal because it was not recorded. Júlia summarized her words in her own words.

Envy Baptist is a teacher who became the secretary of the Cultural and Educational Attache Department at the South Sudanese Embassy in Cairo. His role is to support around 8.500 South-Sudanese students at Egyptian universities, refugees, and non-refugees. The Egyptian government provides every year 250 scholarships for undergraduate students and 50 scholarships for a Master’s degree or Ph.D. There are also scholarships provided by the (South Sudanese?) Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There is also a type of scholarship launched at the time of President Mubarak which provides that all South-Sudanese pay only 10% of the international university fee, so instead of paying 6.000 US dollars per year for a study, they just pay 600 US dollars per year. The South Sudanese Embassy recognized 27 learning centers for refugees. Recognition depends to a large extent on the building where they are teaching. Envy Baptist confirmed reception of the transcript of this interview and did not further respond, making us presume that he agreed to the text produced.

Amira Salima, Educational Officer at Catholic Relief Services explained the role of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in supporting refugee education in Egypt. They provide limited financial support to families who send their children to school up till the age of 21. They also provide extracurricular activity as life skills activities or activities to adapt to the host community. She also spoke about the community schools and the various problems they are experiencing. Amira Salima has seen the transcript and approved this for publication in Dialogue Across Borders.