St. Michael's students aid Africa
Students raise money for young girls in Sudan

Molly Barrett | staff writer

Adrie Kusserow, professor and chair of the sociology/anthropology department, along with her Social Inequalities class has raised $4,500 to send girls in Sudan to secondary school.

Finding a way to help

Seniors Ali Fogel and Judd Wellington hold up flyer for a fundraiser at the end of the month. Larry Frisoli, photo

Kusserow requires her Social Inequalities and Refugees class to get involved in a community project every semester, she says.

In January 2006 she started the New Sudan Education Initiative (NESEI) along with her husband Robert Lair, an adjunct professor at St. Michael’s and other Sudan refugees in the area. Their goal is to build 20 schools in Sudan, she says. The first will be an all-girls health science school in Yei, South Sudan. It will open in May 2008 and will probably have 10 or 11 students, she says.

Kusserrow’s Social Inequalities class voted to work with NESEI, Kusserow says.

“I’ve been really touched by the class and how they’ve been involved with the
fund-raising,” she says, “It’s really their energy and initiative.”

Senior Ali Fogel is in Kusserow’s class and is involved with fund-raising.

The class is teaching her about inequalities between humans throughout the
world, Fogel says.

A percentage of the class grade is based on the community service they do,
Fogel says. This includes organizing benefit concerts, speakers, or for one student, going to work. One of her classmates works at Old Navy, she says. Old Navy has a program to match $1,000 that employees raise for nonprofits, Fogel says.

The course introduced Fogel to NESEI and has opened her eyes to the possibility of interning with the organization after graduation, she says. Although she enjoys the class and raising money, it is sometimes difficult to explain to others why they always need to ask for money, she says.

“It shouldn’t all be about money, but that’s how you get things done,” Fogel says. “When people understand what’s going on, they want to get involved and figure out ways to help.” 

NESEI

NESEI’S community outreach director Maggie Colacchio has been involved with the program since her junior year of college. She interned with NESEI the summer before her senior year at St. Michael’s, and eventually began working full-time for the organization. Colacchio is now mostly involved with fund-raising. The current campaign is called “Girls Rising.” It raises scholarship money for girls in Sudan to attend school for a year. One year of education costs $450 per girl.

“There is essentially no access to secondary education, and we are providing students with that chance to education and to help the country rebuild after war,” Colacchio says.

Providing an opportunity for education gives people an incentive to move back and rebuild after living in refugee camps, Colacchio says. It may be natural to take education for granted here, but in Sudan, one may meet a 30-year- old who never finished second grade.

“Makes you feel motivated to feel something and make a difference,” she says.

The opportunities to work with Sudanese refugees in Vermont help her to recognize that bringing education is necessary to rebuild Sudan, she says.

According to the NESEI Web site, only 1 percent of girls finish primary school, and close to 90 percent of all women are illiterate in Southern Sudan. Orphans, returning refugees, former child soldiers and girls will have access to reduced fees and scholarships, according to the Web site. Donations collected from students give girls in Sudan the chance to attend these schools to create their own future.

A flyer made by Wellington for a concert to benefit NESEI. Larry Frisoli, photo

The most important thing for students to do, besides supporting the organization through donations, is to be aware of the situation and what we’re doing, Colacchio says.

What’s next?

Senior Peter “Judd” Wellington also takes Kusserow’s course.

He enjoys the class because it teaches students about stuff that happens in the world that no one really knows about, he says.


The students and Kusserow work together to come up with ideas to raise money, he says. Their efforts include writing letters to family and friends to ask for donations and placing collection jars around the cafés and at the bookstore, he says.

“I’m pretty impressed with how much money we’ve raised,” Wellington says, “It’s pretty good, I wasn’t expecting to raise so much.”

The class is planning is a Rock for Sudan concert on Nov. 30 in the McCarthy Arts Center to raise money for scholarships. Although the concert is free, donations will be accepted.

Three St. Michael’s bands, The Rhythm Section, In Memory of Pluto, and Carlson, as well as the African drumming ensemble from St. Michael’s, are scheduled to perform. The class hopes to make it a GOT S.K.I.L.L.S. event, in order to bring in more people, Fogel says.

In addition to advertising the event on the St. Michael’s campus, the class plans to advertise at the University of Vermont and down town Burlington to bring in as many outsiders as possible, she says.

The most rewarding part of the class for Wellington knowing that with every $450 they raise, a girl in Sudan gets to go to school, he says.