Last weekend, the Vietnamese peacekeeping force at the UNISFA mission in Abyei (a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan) together with representatives of the Minister of Education and Construction Nyinkwany Aguer Bol surveyed the school system in the Abyei area.

This area has about 10 large and small schools; the school with the smallest number of students is nearly 200, 20km from the center of Abyei, the road is extremely difficult to travel. The largest school has nearly 3,000 students, gathered from 7 different schools at one training center.

Colonel Nguyen Viet Hung, Commander of the Vietnamese UN peacekeeping force at the UNISFA mission, Abyei, and Minister of Education and Construction Nyinkwany Aguer Bol inspected schools.

The number of teachers at schools is relatively limited, most of them are volunteer teachers from other African countries who come to support teaching because local teachers are few, have low professional qualifications, and are uneven.

In addition, schools also have poor facilities, lacking classrooms, cafeterias, and toilets. Many schools have a large number of students, but the number of classrooms is only about 15, resulting in each class having 100-150 students.

Previously, the Vietnam Engineering Team had many activities such as building classrooms, teachers' rooms, canteens, drilling wells, building clean water supply pipes, building roads, making tables and chairs, donating notebooks, pens, etc. to a number of schools, so when they came to survey, the students were very happy to welcome the working group.

At the end of the survey trip, the Vietnamese delegation had a working session with the Ministry of Education and Construction to study plans to renovate and improve educational infrastructure and facilities.

A class of up to a hundred students in Abyei.

Since this is an activity beyond the mission's mandate, the availability of materials and ensuring security and safety during construction are top priorities, requiring the assistance of local authorities.

Captain Phung The Khanh, Civilian Military Coordinator of the 2nd Engineering Team, said that in addition to professional activities, the Vietnam Engineering Team always identifies supporting people as a regular and long-term task.

On the morning of September 16, the Vietnamese peacekeeping force continued to visit the kindergarten at Abyei Church. This is a place to teach and care for more than 200 orphans, most of whom are preschool age. On this occasion, the team organized a cartoon screening and gave candy to the children.

Female Vietnamese Engineer soldier takes children to watch cartoons.

The Vietnamese male blue beret soldiers arrived early, bringing equipment such as televisions, computers, and players to set up a "cinema" right on the school grounds. The Vietnamese female soldiers set up tables and chairs and guided the children to watch the movie. One Vietnamese female soldier stood up and guided the children to sing an English song.

Dozens of students were excited and curious when they were taken care of by Vietnamese soldiers and watched cartoons.

The Principal of Catherine Kindergarten expressed her gratitude for what the Vietnamese soldiers had done for Abyei and the school. The children had not watched television for a long time or ever, and this was a great opportunity for them to have moments of discovering new things. At the end of the screening, the Principal said that an extracurricular class would be organized for the children to draw the impressive things in this screening.

Many children are disadvantaged because they have not watched TV for a long time.

Vietnamese soldiers give candy to children.

The Vietnamese peacekeeping force at the UNISFA mission in Abyei has overcome difficulties, challenges, cultural differences, customs and languages ​​to successfully perform assigned tasks, while creating many good impressions and images in the hearts of international friends in general and the people of Abyei region in particular.

Abyei is a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan. In 2011, the two countries signed an agreement pledging to withdraw troops from the demilitarized zone in Abyei and establish a joint mechanism to resolve the issue. However, so far, the two countries have not made much substantive progress. UNISFA was established in 2011 under Resolution 1990 of the United Nations Security Council with the mission of protecting civilians and promoting demilitarization in Abyei.

Photo, video: Hai Yen - soldier of Engineering Team No. 2, Vietnam peacekeeping force

Vietnamnet.vn