Atem Atem builds a school
Donation protected
A LITTLE HISTORY AND A REQUEST FOR HELP
ATEM ATEM #23 North Adelaide Premier League Men
Atem comes from Jonglei State in South Sudan. As part of the humanitarian effort, at a very young age, he and his family were moved to a refugee camp in Kenya, because the United Nations just couldn’t get to his village to provide aid, due to a lack of passable roads.
From that refugee camp, Atem was sponsored by family and arrived in Sydney in 2003 as an 11 year old, having limited schooling and never having spoken English. He stayed in Sydney for several years, getting involved in basketball only because his Physical Education teacher at school suggested he was too tall for soccer, and he took to the indoor game like a duck takes to water!! Before too long he was offered a scholarship at Illawarra Sport High School, where he continued to improve, then had a couple of stints in the US, the second of which was at Northern Oklahoma College for 12 months. He returned to live with family in Brisbane, but an opportunity as a Development Player with the 36ers introduced him to Adelaide. He then (luckily for us) spent time playing in the Western Australia League where he met North Adelaide Premier League player Luke Pike and in one of those “sliding door moments” was recommended by Pikey as a replacement for the Rockets after several retirements. Quite a journey for a young man to get to this point, but he has a massive future ahead of him.
Anyhow, Atem’s father still lives in Sudan and in conversations between them, such is their outlook on life, they have decided they want to help renovate the local school, to enable the village kids to go there all year round. Currently they can only attend in summer as it floods badly in winter making it inaccessible. This will entail the building of a few walls in the area, one or two besser blocks high, to keep the water out. They would also like to provide on-site bathrooms if enough funds can be found.
On top of that they would also like to provide the kids with some basic school equipment like books, pencils, a blackboard, chalk, etc. etc. Advice is that this sort of equipment is best sourced in Kenya and not sent directly from here, as it can never be guaranteed to arrive.
Despite the isolation of the village, the good news is they have plenty of people who are willing to teach the kids for free, qualified teachers, but they cannot do much if there is no school or equipment available. The object is of course to give the kids every chance at a future through education, despite the obvious obstacles they face.
In the perfect world, with help they are hopeful of keeping the kids at the school more than the current couple of hours a day (in summer only), by also providing a meal, given most arrive unfed.
Atem advises that many of the schools in this part of the world are privately owned and therefore they cost money to attend, which takes them out of reach to most financially and also physically as they tend to be around the bigger towns.
On behalf of Atem, his father and the entire village, we thank you in advance for your support and will keep you advised as things develop.
ATEM ATEM #23 North Adelaide Premier League Men
Atem comes from Jonglei State in South Sudan. As part of the humanitarian effort, at a very young age, he and his family were moved to a refugee camp in Kenya, because the United Nations just couldn’t get to his village to provide aid, due to a lack of passable roads.
From that refugee camp, Atem was sponsored by family and arrived in Sydney in 2003 as an 11 year old, having limited schooling and never having spoken English. He stayed in Sydney for several years, getting involved in basketball only because his Physical Education teacher at school suggested he was too tall for soccer, and he took to the indoor game like a duck takes to water!! Before too long he was offered a scholarship at Illawarra Sport High School, where he continued to improve, then had a couple of stints in the US, the second of which was at Northern Oklahoma College for 12 months. He returned to live with family in Brisbane, but an opportunity as a Development Player with the 36ers introduced him to Adelaide. He then (luckily for us) spent time playing in the Western Australia League where he met North Adelaide Premier League player Luke Pike and in one of those “sliding door moments” was recommended by Pikey as a replacement for the Rockets after several retirements. Quite a journey for a young man to get to this point, but he has a massive future ahead of him.
Anyhow, Atem’s father still lives in Sudan and in conversations between them, such is their outlook on life, they have decided they want to help renovate the local school, to enable the village kids to go there all year round. Currently they can only attend in summer as it floods badly in winter making it inaccessible. This will entail the building of a few walls in the area, one or two besser blocks high, to keep the water out. They would also like to provide on-site bathrooms if enough funds can be found.
On top of that they would also like to provide the kids with some basic school equipment like books, pencils, a blackboard, chalk, etc. etc. Advice is that this sort of equipment is best sourced in Kenya and not sent directly from here, as it can never be guaranteed to arrive.
Despite the isolation of the village, the good news is they have plenty of people who are willing to teach the kids for free, qualified teachers, but they cannot do much if there is no school or equipment available. The object is of course to give the kids every chance at a future through education, despite the obvious obstacles they face.
In the perfect world, with help they are hopeful of keeping the kids at the school more than the current couple of hours a day (in summer only), by also providing a meal, given most arrive unfed.
Atem advises that many of the schools in this part of the world are privately owned and therefore they cost money to attend, which takes them out of reach to most financially and also physically as they tend to be around the bigger towns.
On behalf of Atem, his father and the entire village, we thank you in advance for your support and will keep you advised as things develop.
Organizer
Barbara Rowe
Organizer
Joslin SA