ESL

About 2,000 Darfuris are now enrolled in refugee-organized English classes in three refugee camps in eastern Chad, nearly double the number from a year ago. The classes have grown dramatically, from an initial 400, since we started supporting the refugees with Headway ESL textbooks from Oxford University Press. See video from the classes below and learn about our plans to expand this highly successful program.

Watch videos below. To help demonstrate the impact our donors are having, and to show what is really happening in education in the refugee camps in eastern Chad, we sent a Flip camcorder and memory stick to our field partner CORD. The many videos that came back far exceed our expectations, and we'll be sharing them gradually over the next several weeks.

If you donated to provide English textbooks for refugee-organized English classes in eastern Chad, or if you are considering supporting the English classes, here is a photo you should see. Taken in May 2009, it shows several hundred of the English students from Bredjing Refugee Camp. These are some of the Darfuris we are directly helping.

Our recent shipment of 1,750 pairs of reading glasses to Darfur refugee camps and villages in eastern Chad also included a variety of solar lights and bilingual English/Arabic and French/Arabic dictionaries – all tools needed to support reading. Below are photos showing the arrival of this aid and some of the Darfuris who will play a critical role in integrating it into the camps' educational system. For a detailed discussion of the ongoing field testing of the solar lights, with videos, click here.

The University of Toronto English Language Program has generously donated 149 books, 236 audio cassettes, and 105 video cassettes for use in our Iraq project! The material includes English for International Business, TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication), the MOSAIC and QUEST series, and other resources to aid students and teachers with reading, writing, listening, and pronunciation.

Book Wish shipments of 1,750 pairs of reading glasses, 75 English<->Arabic dictionaries, and a few French<->Arabic dictionaries are in Chad and en route to the refugee camps and villages. They have been in the country for months, but have been delayed for logistical reasons. Full details will be reported once they have arrived and we have photos.

Exciting news about the success of English classes for Darfur refugees in Bredjing Refugee Camp, eastern Chad! The English teachers, themselves refugees, have reached an important milestone thanks to the Headway curriculum we supplied, which has now been used for about eight months. Everyone who contributed should take pride in this accomplishment. From Anne Goddard of CORD, Education Program Manager in Bredjing:

If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, this is a great opportunity to hear firsthand about aid work in Darfur refugee camps, especially educational and reading-related aid that can help rebuild lives.

On Monday, January 12, 2009, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM, at the Library of Congress, our partner CORD's CEO, Brian Wakley, will be speaking about "WAGING PEACE: building new life after conflict for the victims of Darfur."

On Nov. 11, Dhi Qar University in Nasiriyah, Iraq received our first shipment of English language learning material at an event organized by our partner in Iraq, the Michael Scott Mater Foundation, with support from the 402nd Army Field Support Brigade. Dhi Qar University Chancellor Dr. Ali Ismael Obeidi Al Snafi attended with other faculty members, including the director of Dhi Qar's "American Corner" library, and representatives of the Cultural Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad were also present.