Henrico County event highlights plight of South Sudanese - Richmond Times Dispatch

Under the tutelage of Nyandeng Arop, a towering South Sudanese woman clad in a bright green top, 8-year-old Audrey Fleming on Sunday navigated her way around the grounds of Christ Church Episcopal in western Henrico County with a bucket of water balanced atop her head.

"It wasn't really that heavy," she said after her lesson.

Arop knows that the real buckets that South Sudanese women haul miles from lake to village — one in each hand and one balanced on their heads — aren't quite so light.

"It's a lot different," she said with a laugh, explaining the long and sometimes dangerous journey for water.

Arop was helping out at the annual fundraiser for Hope for Humanity, a Richmond-based nonprofit that provides education to the youth of South Sudan, the world's newest, and poorest, country.

This year, Hope for Humanity went beyond its annual Walk for Sudan by creating a small-scale copy of the village of Atiaba, where the group four years ago opened Hope and Resurrection Secondary School.

Henrico High School students and faculty lent a hand after recently partnering with Hope and Resurrection as a sister school.

Apart from carrying water, attendees helped build a traditional mud hut, thatch its roof, sit in a traditional classroom (also known as the shady area beneath a tree) and sampled some less-than-fancy South Sudanese cuisine — plain rice and beans.

Jennifer Ernst, co-founder and president of Hope for Humanity, said she hoped the event helped people understand the need for aid in the impoverished fledgling nation where theirs is one of very few schools with a roof.

"South Sudan has the worst secondary enrollment. We want to do something to change that," she said. "Our vision is to create future leaders in the country."

Ernst said that the group's efforts help girls in particular, noting that "culturally, it's not important for their parents to send them to school."

One of the four girls from last year's inaugural Hope and Resurrection graduating class is poised to become South Sudan's first female doctor, Ernst said.

Greg and Sharon Shashby, who learned about the effort through Christ Church Episcopal, are going on their second year sponsoring one of the students, a 24-year-old 10th-grader named Gabriel.

"It's really helped us learn more about the country and the role that a small group can play in its development," Sharon said.

Added Greg: "It's kind of a unique opportunity to make a difference in an individual's life and in a way that potentially makes a difference in the growth of a new country. That doesn't happen very often."

For her part, 8-year-old Audrey thought the best part of her experience was taking part in building a roof for a house, however tiny.

Asked if she could live in such a humble abode, she replied: "I would if I had to."