All together, 1609 students have attended NRC’s English courses this year. The majority of the students, 894, were women. The course is a six months long, intermediate English course for Arabic pattern speakers Hamida is one of the students who graduated in November.
"I have an education from the University in Khartoum, where I studied French language at the faculty of arts", she tells.
After that Hamida worked as a translator between Arabic and French. In 2012 she moved to the capital Juba in South Sudan. Even though she knows languages, her knowledge in English was limited and she has not had possibilities of working after having arrived in Juba. She thinks having the certificate from NRC’s English course will make it easier for her to get a job.
Hamida wants to be a teacher but has not got training for that yet. She will present her documents now to the Ministry of Education and hope she will be able to get a position She says the education has been very valuable for her.
"The six months have been enough to gain intermediate level because she had some knowledge before. For the real beginners it is difficult though", she says.
She talks of the library at the centre, as very important but not always accessible.
"It was always full but I borrowed books and took home and read."
NRC is ending the English training program this year.
"It has been a successful program and hopefully it can be continued by the Ministry of Education", says Ulrika Blom, NRC South Sudan’s Country Director.
"The program has made it possible for many people who were Arabic pattern speakers to work in schools and other places where there was a need. The need of more teachers is still large in South Sudan and a lot of effort is needed to improve this."
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