Manute Bol Turalei School

"The key to peace is education."  Manute Bol

View the video: Manute Bol Explains Turalei School Project 7:46 min.
(Filmed by John Nunnally, edited by Kevin Rice)

Much has been said and written about Manute Bol and most of the focus has been on his fabulous nine-year career as the tallest person to ever play in the NBA.  But there is a much deeper side to the seven-foot seven native of Sudan.  Although he and his family now reside in Olathe, Kansas, he still calls the village of Turalei in Southern Sudan his home.

Manute often travels back to Sudan and spends much time promoting peace, especially in Darfur, and helping friends and family as much as he can.

An un-educated young man when he came to the US to attend school and play basketball in 1983, Manute has since come to place a high value on education.  He knows that one of the important keys to peace in Sudan is education for its children and learning English.

During his trip to his village in January and February 2008, he made a promise to the people that he would help raise funds to build a school in the village.  There are over 300 students and 20 teachers in the school near his neighborhood, but no schoolhouse.  They teach and learn under a tree and when it rains, as it often does during the rainy season that lasts from May through October, there is no school. 

In January 2009, Manute delivered two compressed earth block presses to Turalei, and brought a team of Ugandan trainers to teach the brick making technique.  The villagers are making bricks, and Manute is raising the funds for construction to begin in April to build three or more classrooms.  Manute's school will be a sign of reconciliation for all Sudan, as it will welcome both Darfurian and Southern Sudanese children.  Preliminary costs to build the school are $135,000. 

Why Sudan?

South Sudan is the most underdeveloped region of the world today.  Ravaged by prolonged civil wars, Sudan has the largest internally displaced population in the world, mostly from Southern Sudan.  The last two decades of war killed 2.5 million people and displaced almost 5 million.  The current war in the western region of Darfur has killed 200,000 and displaced another 2 million.  Eighty-five percent of the population in South Sudan is illiterate.  Only about 7 percent of teachers in the south have any professional training, and it is not uncommon to visit a school where the teachers themselves have only completed grade four.  Some 1.5 million children that should be in school are not due to lack of schools.

Three generations of Southern Sudanese didn't have an opportunity for a proper education.  Fewer than 1 percent of girls complete primary school.  The majority of schools that do exist consist of a chalkboard under a tree.  Few materials are available.  Returning refugees have not learned the traditions to carry on their livelihoods, as they have not been passed on to generations due to displacement.

Unless urgent measures are taken to breath life into the education sector, their future is bleak.  The most single valuable thing we may be able to give to the people of South Sudan is education.  There is little infrastructure in South Sudan, and the region is literally starting from nothing.

Here is Your Opportunity to Partner with Manute to Build a School in his Home Village
of Turalei, Sudan!

How You Can Help

Host a fundraising reception or other event and invite Manute to speak.
Set up your own fundraising page at www.firstgiving.com/sudansun and email it to others (see www.firstgiving.com/nancy4peace for a sample), or create your own fundraiser.  If you would like to help with an email fundraising campaign using a page already set up, you can use this link:  http://www.firstgiving.com/manutebolsudanschool to email your friends, family and co-workers.
Be an advocate for Sudan and share about Manute's school.
Make a tax-deductible donation online now (click the link below).
Join a mission team to Sudan or volunteer to teach short term.

To get involved, make an online donation now, or call project coordinator Joe DiCostanzo at (913) 362-5466, email  jrdeld@gmail.com  or call the Sudan Sunrise office at (913) 599-0800, email info@sudansunrise.org.

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