SOUTHERN SUDAN – 21 years of civil war. Two million deaths, four million people displaced. Today schools are destroyed and even studying under trees is only available to a few; 75 percent of children do not have access to any kind of education in Southern Sudan.

75 percent. An entire generation; several generations. And out of the 25 percent that do go to school at all, only three percent finish primary school, according to UNICEF.

Southern Sudan has some of the lowest rates of education enrollment and completion in the world. And though the war ended in 2005, recovering from it is far from over. Nearly every person in Southern Sudan has been affected by war; from the loss of family members or the destruction of property or the psycho-social impact of watching violence win, over and over, nothing has been left untouched.

But what if this all could change? Imagine that the 84 percent of girls who can’t read, could. Imagine that one textbook didn’t have to be shared between three or more students. Imagine.

What if, instead of having the lowest rate of primary education completion in the world, Southern Sudan had one of the highest?

In the Upper Nile area, FH has enabled 1,800 children to go to school, trained 100 teachers, built five primary schools and even offered lunch to students during the school day so they can be attentive enough to learn, so they don’t fall asleep at their desks from under nutrition.

But we are not stopping there. Parents and grandparents should be able to learn too. Through local churches adults who couldn’t read or write have been given the opportunity to learn how. Women and people with disabilities – the individuals who are usually pushed to the fringes of society, are now leading the way. People are learning, and things are changing.

As the Sudanese rebuild what has been destroyed with the impossible set against them, what is impossible, we are seeing, isn’t.