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Paper short abstract

Since the outbreak of the war in April, 2023 1.5 million Sudanese refugees have fled to Egypt. This multi-sited, 4-year ethnography investigates faith-based refugee community schools as interventions to the educational barriers and refugees face in exile, often keeping bright futures out of reach.

Paper long abstract

Since the war broke out in April, 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over 15 million Sudanese citizens have been forcibly displaced constituting the largest humanitarian crises worldwide. Of the nearly 3 million Sudanese citizens who have fled the country, 1.5 million have sought international protection in Egypt. These are added to the hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees who have resettled in Egypt since the 1950s. Sudanese refugees have struggled with accessing public education since their arrival to Egypt. Problematic government policies and racial prejudice against African refugees have effectively barred Sudanese students from national schools. Since the late 1970s, faith-based institutions have intervened to fill the gap in education for refugees by establishing their own “refugee community schools,” are typically staffed by refugee teachers, staff, and administration, shielding students from the rampant racist discrimination and harassment that they face in Egyptian national schools. This paper draws on four years of ethnographic data—including interviews with teachers, staff, and administrators; focus groups with students, and daily observations of classrooms—conducted at two refugee community schools in Cairo, one established in 1995 and serving 312 students, and the other established in 2024 in response to the influx of refugees fleeing the war, and currently serving 83 students. Findings suggest that trauma-informed pedagogies centered in care facilitate student enhanced academic engagement, better social integration, and emotional regulation. Students report gratitude towards their school for allowing them to once again hope for a better future.