Going to the Sudan

Last July, three weeks before we were due to board the plane for South Korea to teach English in the public schools, we were told that we had not been accepted after all despite being told by our agent that there was no problem at all.  When the email arrived saying “I am sorry for my impatient action” by way of an apology for leading us up the garden path I just couldn’t help but laugh.  We had rented out both our houses and prepared ourselves for a year away from home and had had an early Christmas dinner for the family (22 people) in July in the garden, with a Christmas tree, decorations, “Secret Santa”, crackers and carols; not forgetting a lovely traditional Christmas dinner.

We were a bit stunned to say the least but we researched alternatives, China, Taiwan and then applied for the Republic of Georgia (which incidentally was Martin’s first choice originally).  Conscious of not having had a plan B for South Korea, I decided to make sure we had one if Georgia didn’t work out and this is how I found out about the Sudan Volunteer Program (SVP). 

We exchanged a few emails with David Wolton and then met up in London for a cup of coffee and a look at some photos.  The problem was that they already their quota of volunteers but at that time were going through the process of confirming that everyone was actually going and so it was a bit of a waiting game.  The charity worked closely with the universities in Sudan and placed volunteers to teach university students English.  What we loved about it was the immediacy of the process; we had a chat and then signed up.  How this contrasted with the rigor of the South Korean EPIK program where we had to DHL a dozen documents at a significant cost and under immense time pressure.  This seemed so civilised!  And so the plan B became our plan A and it was a matter of waiting to see which one came through first.  When Georgia came through first Sudan was put on the back burner as a future plan.  Deep down I thought maybe we would never end up going there but as it turns out we will be spending a year there starting in September.

We didn’t know what we would be doing for the academic year 2012 to 2013.  It was February 2012 when we started to seriously think about what we wanted to do and then we weren’t really sure.  One option was to do another semester in Georgia and then travel around for 9 months, maybe get some volunteering work en-route, maybe India.  A young American woman in our Georgian cohort had met the love of her life in Tbilisi, a Nigerian student, and was planning a summer wedding in Nigeria.  “Why don’t we go to the wedding and then find a project for the summer?” we discussed and then we could go straight to the Sudan from there as it was so close!  So that was the seed but we didn’t have a firm plan.  Then a couple of weeks later, I was discussing our options with another TLGer and she told me about a volunteering opportunity in Ethiopia.  She had been there herself and said that we would love it and they would love us.  It was a school run by an English woman and her Ethiopian husband for poor children.  More research and emails and we were accepted to teach summer school at the English Alive Academy, in Nazret, just outside Addis Ababa; and so we applied to go to the Sudan for September, straight from Ethiopia.  (See separate blog for Ethiopia)  As it turned out our friends have decided to marry in the USA.

SVP have now introduced another program, working in secondary schools and they asked if we would like to be part of this new venture to which we agreed.  Our experience s in Georgia have made us (well me really) realise that I definitely do not want to be stuck in a very rural area without easy access to amenities and so we requested Khartoum as our base.

We just found out that we are part of a team of 6 teachers who will work in secondary schools in Khartoum.  We will each be teaching in 2 schools (single sex) the oldest classes, aged 15 to 16.  Apparently, first year university students are aged 16 to 19 so this is really pre-entry.  We are very excited about this and very happy about how the next year is looking.