Peter’s Story

Headmaster, South Sudan.

To reach Thoanom, a very small village on the far side of the swamps from Ganyiel, teachers need to travel by canoe, taking around 30 minutes and costing around 20 South Sudanese pounds (more than US$1). Peter, the school’s headmaster, takes the canoe early each morning in order to be on time to open the gates of the school. Other teachers need to walk from much further distances. “Some spend nearly two hours” he admits. This is, in his opinion, the reason why there are very few female teachers in the school. “Officially we have only four women teaching the students, but even they don’t come regularly because of the many challenges”. 

Peter is proud of his school because the number of girls has increased exponentially over the past five years.

“It’s a big success for our community. Nowadays, nearly half of all 948 students in the school are girls. The support from organisations such as Windle Trust International has been crucial to make this success happen. I am sure that things are changing within the community, because some years back, girls used to get married at very early ages, but this is becoming less frequent.