Fostering hope in displacement: JWL partners with Comboni Missionaries in Sudan and Egypt

When the war broke out in Khartoum (Sudan) on 15 April 2023, igniting a conflict that would force around 13 million men, women and children to flee their homes and become internally displaced persons or refugees, it also transformed the lives of 87% of university students, whose higher education journey was put on hold as universities were forced to close.

In search of safety from raging battles, many settled in Port Sudan. Comboni College of Science and Technology (CCST) established a new campus and shifted its activities to the port city, on the shores of the Red Sea, some 800km away from Khartoum. In November of the same year, after receiving approval from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Sudan, the College resumed its academic programmes combining online teaching (with the lecturers and students scattered across the country and beyond) with in-person activities, serving both local community and displaced learners. Students who sat for the Secondary School Leaving Certificate prior to the war sought to enrol in CCST programmes, but lacked the necessary level of English language skills.

Jesuit Worldwide Learning’s (JWL) Global English Language (GEL) programme was the perfect fit. It brings a comprehensive, hiqh-quality approach to language learning, and serves as a stepping stone to access higher education, as well as greater professional opportunities. It follows the Cambridge English Unlimited curriculum from level A1 to C1, as well as the Cambridge Unlock intemediate level, for those who wish to pursue more intensive academic studies.

The collaboration between JWL and CCST made it possible for the first GEL  students to begin classes in early 2025. Since then, 33 have enrolled in the GEL programme. Among them is Jaraanabi. He was undertaking his undergraduate studies in Nursing in Zalingei when he had to flee the city and, after an arduous journey, made it to Port Sudan, with hopes that he may continue his studies with CCST:  

“At the beginning I was afraid of studying a university programme in [the] English language. But at the same time this was an opportunity for me to build my own future and to see some light ahead after these months of terrible war. With the lessons, I am now losing that fear and I feel I can look ahead.”

The sense of relative normalcy achieved in Port Sudan was once again shattered, when drone attacks began in early May 2025.

New requests for opportunities to continue their education came in from students who now find themselves displaced in the far reaches of the country, as well as in South Sudan and Egypt. Cairo hosts thousands of young refugees from Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, and many struggle to integrate the Egyptian university system.

JWL, CCST and St Bakhita Centre for Languages and Computer Studies (Cairo) are working together to establish a GEL learning centre in the Egyptian capital to support these learners in their goal of resuming their studies, despite the throes of displacement. Even in the midst of conflict, these youths’ steadfast belief in and call for education provides a beacon of hope for peace.