Goochland couple's charitable work brings hope to Sudan

By: Jeremy Slayton | Times-Dispatch
Published: April 27, 2009

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WALK FOR SUDAN
When: Sunday. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m. The walk begins at 2 p.m.

Where: Deep Run High School, 4801 Twin Hickory Road in Glen Allen.

Event: Team groups are encouraged. Prizes will be awarded to the most creative team.

Goal: This year's event goal is to raise $35,000. Proceeds go directly to support the Hope and Resurrection Secondary School in the southern Sudan village of Atiaba.

The charitable work a Goochland County couple does in central Virginia is being felt on the other side of the world.

Darryl and Jennifer Ernst have spent the past 10 years helping the Sudanese -- first assisting southern Sudan refugees as they resettled in the Richmond area and then raising money to build a secondary school in southern Sudan through the nonprofit organization they formed, Hope for Humanity.

"This is what gets me excited. This is what gets me up in the morning. It's just incredible to be able to do something that will have an incredible impact in other people's lives," Jennifer Ernst said.

The couple formed Hope for Humanity in 2004 with Maker Marial, one of Sudan's "Lost Boys." The organization's biggest fundraiser is the yearly Walk for Sudan. The sixth annual event will take place Sunday at Deep Run High School in Glen Allen.

What started out as fundraising for scholarships for Sudanese became a mission to build a school. By 2007, construction began on Hope and Resurrection Secondary School in the village of Atiaba, in southern Sudan.

It is the 22nd school to be built in southern Sudan, Jennifer Ernst said.

The school held its first session in May 2008, serving 64 students ranging in age from 15 to 37. Ten subjects from Christian education and agriculture to English and math are taught at the school.

Education is a key need for the southern Sudanese after years of civil war and violence.

"The people of southern Sudan have been denied an education due to 39 years of conflict between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south," Marial said. "Consequently, the vast majority of southern Sudanese have been left without education."

The school's two buildings -- built for $265,000 -- are accompanied by a dormitory where the teachers sleep.

Darryl Ernst said the vision for the school includes building additional dormitories for the students and creating a boarding school. As it is now, many of the students walk or ride bikes two or three hours one way just to get to the school.

That dedication "shows they really want an education," said Mike Bily, who is on Hope for Humanity's board of directors. "It's a really good cause. We all want to see it work."

With the classrooms in place, Hope for Humanity turns its attention to operating the school. Darryl Ernst said it takes about $100,000 a year. The money raised at Sunday's event goes toward such things as textbooks and the school's food program.

The education the Sudanese are receiving has long-range effects that will benefit the entire culture. Marial said since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement has been in place, the southern Sudanese are finding it difficult to run a successful government because of the limited education.

"They know the only solution is to educate their children," said the native of southern Sudan. "This next generation will develop the country and find themselves empowered to stand up to their brothers in the north who have been trying to take over the south."

Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or jslayton@timesdispatch.com.