“It’s been decades of conflict. People have been suffering and they’re just longing for peace.”

South Sudan is the earth’s newest nation, having seceded from Sudan in 2011. It’s been a troubled early start for the country, though, with frequent unrest and a breakdown of basic services. People are poor and exhausted – South Sudan ranks almost at the bottom of all 189 countries on the human development index – but they all want a more secure future for their children.

One hopeful sign of progress came when the national education bureau decreed that it was now compulsory for schools to teach IT skills as part of the curriculum. When our NGO partners in South Sudan heard this, though, they could only laugh ruefully.

“Almost no schools have computer facilities for students!” they told us. “Most teachers don’t know how to use a computer, and students are all learning computer skills by copying notes from a blackboard.”

Almost no households in the surrounding community are connected to electricity, let alone the internet. So, the day that computers from our recent shipment were brought to a school was a momentous one. Before students could begin learning how to use them, the teachers themselves had to ‘go to school’!

“When we were moving the CPUs and monitors to the staff room, the teachers had no idea what they were,” wrote staff.

The teachers had seen NGO staff using laptops in their work, but hadn’t seen a desktop computer before. “Many teachers were touching a real computer for the first time. You can imagine how excited they are!” they said. They are making quick progress and already using the computers to type exam papers and other teaching materials. “We’re going to set up desktop computers in a computer lab when solar panels are in place for power supply, so that our students can learn ICT subjects with real computers,” they wrote.

This shipment included a wide variety of other goods for the school and for the students themselves, who lack some of the most basic essentials, such as menstrual care products for girls. A donation of bright yellow raincoats was a surprising hit, too! “Students and staff alike have been missing school or community projects because of heavy rain. Umbrellas can be bought, but they’re very expensive.” Now, with raincoats from the shipment they can participate and contribute regardless of weather.

What a privilege to be able to share so much with those who have so little. We know that even in the midst of the intense challenges facing South Sudan, our partners there will be doing all they can to invest in the nation’s youth for a better future.

Abdul is a 42-year-old father of five and he lives in a Syrian war zone. For his particular family, though, it’s not bombs or bullets that make their lives most difficult. It’s the poverty and deeper devastation that come, year upon year, because of a broken economy and devastated infrastructure.

Abdul earns a small income from farming, but it’s barely enough to keep them alive. The family lives in tents made of old sheets and fabric. “The land around them is very muddy,” wrote Crossroads’ partners, when they visited Abdul. “They can’t take shelter from the winter and cold, because the tent fills with water and mud when it rains… The sheets they made the tents from are torn and get damaged when strong wind blows.”

As a father, Abdul grieves that he can’t give his children even the basic necessities of life, let alone toys to play with or things they need for school. His adult sister lives with the family, too, and has disabilities that mean she should be using adult diapers and taking medication. They can’t afford these things either, though. As a family, they represent just one of many thousands of families living in destitution, wrought by Syria’s ongoing war.

When Crossroads’ shipment to Syria arrived in Abdul’s region, local staff visited his town with boxes of warm clothing, sleeping bags, toys and other goods from the shipment. A range of those went to Abdul’s family (the first toys they’ve ever had) along with more than 6,000 other children in the rural areas. Schools were supported too. The photos these partners shared with us are shocking: collapsed, bullet-ridden buildings and traumatised people. The photos of Abdul and his family, though, show smiles of true joy, as they hold up treasured new possessions.

This was our third in a series of shipments to Syria, helping people displaced by war. With the world-wide problems of Covid, it was a battle to get to loading day. This one was delayed still further when the destination port in Syria was bombed in an air raid. The situation brought to mind an African proverb: “When the elephants dance, the grass gets trampled.” When powerful entities fight and kill for so many years, the ones who suffer are the people at the grass roots, like Abdul’s family.