Kids in Kodok in Upper Nile’s Fashoda County have reason to rejoice: The United Nations Mission in South Sudan has just handed given them a fully renovated version of their previously war-torn school. Next step: teachers.

“Now that the school is fit for use, we will ask the state government in Malakal to provide staff to teach the pupils who are studying here,” said Joseph Aban, Fashoda’s County Commissioner.

The school renovation, one of the peacekeeping mission’s Quick Impact Project, has taken the better part of a year to be completed by the National Relief and Development Corps, the implementing partner.

“We were supposed to finish earlier, but it was difficult to get all the needed material here from Sudan in a timely manner because of the remote location of the community,” said its representative James Okony.

Enos Chuma, a Protection, Transition and Reintegration Officer serving with the UN peacekeeping mission, acknowledged the vital support of the community of Kodok in getting the job done – for the benefit of its many children.

“Education is a powerful tool. As peacekeepers, we understand that young people will need a lot of knowledge to make this country prosper, and without a functioning school that won’t happen,” he said.

Most of the renovated facilities were partially or completely destroyed during the civil war that broke out in December 2013. Only after the signing of a revitalized peace agreement in September 2018 did normal life in the area gradually resume, not least thanks to numerous internally displaced persons returning to their former homes.