About Save the Saveable

The Save the Saveable schools were founded by Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako of Khartoum, who in 1986 responsed to the influx of tens of thousands of destitute people into Khartoum.

They were fleeing civil war in the south, and had left their entire lives behind. Living in refugee camps in the desert surrounding the capital, they lacked even basic sanitation, let alone schools for their children.

The Cardinal's concern was that if the children were to be enrolled at government schools, the heavy emphasis on Islam and the discrimination against other religious groups would inevitably mean the Christian youth would lose their faith.

So he founded Save the Saveable, the project "dearest to his heart".  

Keeping the Faith alive in Sudan’s Schools

Thanks to the Save the Saveable schools programme in north Sudan, 20,000 Christian children can dare to dream of a brighter future.

These are the only schools in the region that provide full time Christian education, teaching the Catechism.

The Save the Saveable programme is helping to keep the Faith alive in Islamist north Sudan. Christianity is not allowed to be taught in government schools.

Most of the Christian children are from displacement camps around the capital, Khartoum, where people fled in their millions during years of civil war. The conflict only came to an uneasy peace in 2005.

Christians children are often excluded from state schools because of their faith and their social background. Save the Saveable schools provide the only affordable education for them.

And for girls in particular, who are often excluded from government schools,  the Save the Saveable programme represents their only hope of an education – and a brighter future.

Your help is a lifeline to Christian schoolchildren in Sudan

The bishops in Sudan rely on £500,000 per year from Aid to the Church in Need in order to help keep the Save the Saveable schools open.

Funding from most aid agencies has dried up beacuse of the schools’ faith-based curriculum. 

There are currently 200 Save the Saveable schools in Sudan, including 54 primary schools and 131 nursery schools. There are around 1,200 teachers, including 200 dedicated to religious education.

Many children are from vulnerable families, particularly single parent families. Education is the key to giving them the chance of a future which will help them to escape poverty and confirm them in their faith.

Some of the schools also provide breakfast for the children – vital in a country where child poverty is rife.

Only with your support can Aid to the Church in Need maintain its long-term commitment to these children.