Four years ago, in July 2011, South Sudan celebrated its first Independence Day. It meant the end of a 22 year civil war with the Arab-north. But four years later, the struggle for freedom continues. For about a year and a half a civil war within South Sudan, launched by political strife, has killed thousands of people, displaced hundreds of thousands, and left the economy in disarray. And while news broadcasts around the world show few signs of hope at the moment, members of the Rochester South Sudanese community say hope does exist. And they add that local efforts supporting the world’s youngest nation are needed now more than ever.
On this edition of Need to Know, we look at the current state of one of those efforts – the Ajong Primary School built by Rochester’s Building Minds in South Sudan. We also learn about new projects in the works for the nonprofit.