Madeleine Johnson – supporting education in South Sudan

During year-10 at Waimea College, I was given the opportunity to take part in an enrichment class, where students had the opportunity to dedicate two hours a week to a project that was a passion for them. Initially, I wanted to try something new, so I set up an account on a website design platform and started designing a website for a non-profit. When I got to the point of deciding what the non-profit’s website should support, I started by looking up countries that need help with their education systems, as I have a strong passion for education.

Three countries came up; Palestine, Ukraine, and South Sudan. I had heard about both Palestinian and Ukrainian students struggling to access education due to the ongoing wars in their countries, but I had never heard of South Sudan’s educational struggles before. After becoming curious about this, and realising how underfunded the South Sudanese education system is, I decided to bring my website to life and start fundraising.

Since 2024 we have been supported by our supporters The Nelson Clinic, generously supporting our website’s upkeep, as well as CopyArt Richmond, who supplied us with our posters. The non-profit developed from just me as a year-10 student to a group of 13 other year-13 students who I met with weekly to support the initiative. This year, as a year-12 student, I have been working with the incredible South Sudan Education Fund (SSEF) Steering Committee, made up of students, making SSEF a youth-led project. We often collaborate with local businesses to host fundraisers, such as our most recent 80s Quiz-Night, which hosted close to 100 guests.

I had the privilege of attending the Kāmahi Trust’s Innovate for a Better World event earlier this year, where I met the Kāmahi Trust’s inspiring team who I had the pleasure talking to about SSEF. We were generously given a grant by the Kāmahi Trust to support SSEF’s expansion to other schools, which is planned to introduce new SSEF Committees from other schools in early 2027. This funding represents an exciting step forward for SSEF, allowing students from other schools to take ownership of fundraising and advocacy for education in South Sudan within their own communities. I am incredibly grateful to the Kāmahi Trust for believing in SSEF and helping us turn our vision of a student-led initiative into a reality.

I also had the pleasure to be mentored by Rebecca Mason from the Kāmahi Trust, which gave me a new perspective on my future goals and ambitions, as well as a better sense of awareness. Rebecca also gave me insight on how to approach expansion for the SSEF in the future, and provided me with guidance on introducing new committees to the initiative with resource kits. In our first mentoring session, we discussed my habits that I was unaware of and I answered some interesting questions that I had never asked myself before, which gave me clarity on reflecting on myself as a person. During our second mentoring session, we explored my future goals, separating my potential pathways into different categories, allowing me to look at my potential future from a different perspective that I had never thought of before.

The entire SSEF Steering Committee and I are incredibly grateful for the Kāmahi Trust’s support of the SSEF, and admire how dedicated the trust is to inspiring and empowering youth in the Nelson / Tasman region.

– Madeleine Johnson