Group 26 LEARNING WITH LORETO (Posted 17 Mar 2026 14:56) – MSA LIVE 26

Group 26 / LEARNING WITH LORETO

Brygida F

07/02/26 Sethika and Aidira had the pleasure of meeting a friend from North Sudan over coffee to discuss the cultural, political, and historical context of South Sudan. This is what they had to say: Her name is Walaa, she is North Sudanese, grew up in Saudi Arabia, and feels deeply for
the people in South Sudan. We learned about:
The civil war between North and South Sudan and how the latter became independent
How South Sudanese are victims of classism. She told a personal anecdote about a
relative adopting a little girl from South Sudan and how
How South Sudan is agriculturally rich and full of natural resources, but they remain a poor
country
Their dire economic state
How South Sudanese may move to North Sudan for better career prospects and still live in
poor conditions.
How the older generation of South Sudanese may bear resentment towards North Sudan
and how this perpetuates the social divide.
The way children are not encouraged to go to school and to start working from a very young
age.
After the discussion, we supplemented these takeaways with real statistics to support our
research. We also plan to watch the film Goodbye Julia, as per her recommendation, to aid
our understanding of systemic racism against South Sudan and the events leading up to
their independence in 2011. It was interesting to learn about the cultural differences as
well as movements like SPLM and conflicts between two different ethnic groups.
Reflection: We were engaging in more than just research. It felt like a cultural exchange as
we also identified shared struggles with our own cultures (Cambodia and Kazakhstan). This
prompted us to reflect on how we can utilize our education to heal our respective
countries, even throwing out little ideas about how we can do so.
Because our site is in Aweil, Sudan, we’re mostly limited to desktop research which I
anticipate may make us feel somewhat far removed from the project. However, having this
face-to-face interaction helped us feel closer to the project, to really feel for the
beneficiaries of Loreto College.

Posted 17 Mar 2026 14:56

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