Est. 2018
Live in Juba

Every kid
deserves
a desk.

We fund primary and secondary education for refugee children across six partner schools in South Sudan and Uganda. No salaries. No overhead. Just tuition, uniforms, books, and meals.

A classroom of students in red uniforms at one of our partner schools
Improving lives through education
Volunteer-run since 2018
Six partner schools
99% to the children
Improving lives through education
Volunteer-run since 2018
Six partner schools
99% to the children
0
Supported last year
0
Partner schools
~0%
Operating overhead
Est. 2018
Volunteer-run
01
Why we exist

Our founder
walked it first.

Gabriel Nyok, founder
Gabriel Akim NyokFounder & Chairman

Gabriel was born in 1983 near the Nile. Being born in a clinic was rare enough back then that his middle name Akim — "doctor" in Dinka — came from it. He was two when civil war reached his village.

Red Cross volunteers carried him out of South Sudan to a UNHCR camp in northern Kenya, where he grew up with his brother as an orphan. He was one of the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan, over 20,000 children separated from their families by the war.

In 2006, the U.S. government brought him to California. He worked, went to school, and became a citizen. In 2011 he went back to visit the camps and saw children living the same life he had, and started sending a few of them to school out of his own paycheck.

Helping Hands for South Sudan is that same effort, formalized. Gabriel still doesn't take a salary. The board is all-volunteer. Gabriel walks the schools and personally confirms head counts before tuition is paid.

Read the full story →
02

Six partner
schools.

Two in South Sudan. Four in Uganda, where many South Sudanese refugee families have settled. Every one of them serves children who would otherwise have no access to school.

Map of Africa highlighting South Sudan and Uganda
Juba Integrated Primary
South Sudan
Juba Integrated Primary
Juba Integrated High
South Sudan
Juba Integrated High
Broader Vision School
Uganda
Broader Vision School
Gulu Primary
Uganda
Gulu Primary
Gulu Central High
Uganda
Gulu Central High
St. Gracious Secondary
Uganda
St. Gracious Secondary
Children at a partner school in Juba

The founder
was a Lost Boy
himself.

This year's focus

More girls
in school.

When a family in South Sudan can only send one kid to school, they almost always choose the boy. As a result, girls are the most under-educated group in the country. We're flipping that — sending more girls than boys this year.

"Educate a man, you educate an individual.
Educate a woman, you educate a nation."

African proverb
Five girls in Broader Vision School green and checkered uniforms
A girl in Juba Integrated High blue uniform smiling
03
The 1,500

Faces, not
a number.

A snapshot of recent days at our partner schools. Real kids, real classrooms.

...and hundreds more like them. ✦

04
In their words

From the
community.

Comments and notes from former students and South Sudanese community members on our Facebook page.

A huge THANK YOU to Helping Hands South Sudan. Your support is changing lives and shaping the future of South Sudanese youth through education.
Mayen Aguto Agot
Many thanks to Helping Hands for educating thousands of students across East Africa and South Sudan. Your support has transformed many lives, and our nation's future is bright.
Achuony Atem Akuak
It healed most of the refugee children who had no access to education. Now they stand firm and proud of the education they have acquired.
Jooh Riak Alier-Aguek
Nelson Mandela quote: It is not beyond our power to create a world in which all children have access to good education.
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Pick a number

$500 sends a child
to school for a year.

Or pick something smaller. Every line is a real cost a real student is facing.

  • $15
    Exam fee
  • $35
    School uniform
  • $45
    A year of books
  • $100
    Meals
Donate now →

501(c)(3) · EIN 82-5215402 · Tax-deductible · ~1% overhead