Rocking for a reason
Concert benefits girls' education in Sudan

Katie Colleran | staff editor

Living in the United States, it might be hard to imagine a life where education is not readily available. In Sudan, 90 percent of women are illiterate, only 1 percent of girls finish primary school, and a girl has a higher chance of dying in childbirth than earning her high school diploma, says professor Adrie Kusserow, whose class is working to bring change to Sudan.

The class hosted a benefit concert on Nov. 30, raising $300.  All of the proceeds will go toward a secondary school for girls in southern Sudan, the first being opened by the New Sudan Education Initiative (NESEI).

Raising money, helping girls

Held in McCarthy Recital Hall, the concert featured three bands of St. Michael’s students, including Carlson, In Memory of Pluto and the Rhythm Section. The St. Michael’s West African drumming group also performed, and a film produced by NESEI employee, Lauren Servin was shown.

In Memory of Pluto was one of the groups hat performed at the concert. Ashley Forgione, photo

This concert was one of a series of fund-raisers the class has coordinated since the beginning of the semester, senior Ali Fogel says.

“We’ve done bake sales and a letter-writing campaign,” she says. “So far, we’ve raised about $5,000, enough to send 11 girls to school for the year.”

One of the reasons Sudan is so far behind the rest of the war in education is because of the war that has been fought there for so long, Kusserow says.

“Sudan’s wars have displaced about 5,000 people,” she says. “It has been a devastatingly brutal war, forever. Finally there’s enough peace to get refugees back to the South.”

It takes $450 to sponsor a girl at the school. The $300 raised at
the concert will be put toward the amount already collected.

“Tonight, we’ll be lucky to get enough to send one girl,” Kusserow says. “It’s mainly about celebrating all that we have raised so far.”

NESEI focuses on education

NESEI, a nonprofit co-founded by Kusserow’s husband, Robert Lair, hopes to build 20 schools in Sudan.

Kusserow’s class always has to do some form of service-learning and this year’s class decided to help NESEI. The girls who the money supports will be attending the first NESEI school, which is one for health sciences, Kusserow says.

“It’s the first year we [NESEI] got a World Bank grant to build a school, and it’s the first year NESEI has organized enough money to have a Girls Rising Campaign,” she says. “So we’re excited, it’s coming together.”

The goal of the Girls Rising campaign is to raise enough money to send 1,000 girls to the NESEI school. With the help of Kusserow’s class, the organization already has students.

Kusserow's class raised about $300 by sponsoring Rock for Sudan. Ashely Forgione, photo

“It’s just good because with the war going on in Sudan right now, we can’t really fix the war itself and the violence that’s going on there,” Fogel says. “But, we’ve taken a different approach and started with education. Some people would think differently, think you have to start somewhere else, but education kind of springs everything.” 

Scary statistics

Throughout the night, students and community members came and went, enjoying the music or stopping to purchase a NESEI doll. Senior Shaleen Crowley was one of the concert attendees.

“Women just don’t have the same opportunity as men in a lot of developing countries, including Sudan,” Crowley says.
“This is definitely a cause that I want to support.”