Blog Post One

Michelle Chiantera, Chief Marketing Officer at Corel previously at Cisco published on Ciscos Blogs

One of my passions in and out of my corporate life is giving back, with the aim of changing a young life. I have championed a non-profit group for several years called Building Minds in South Sudan.
The mission of this organization is to enhance the lives of villagers in South Sudan, creating community through education, microfinancing, and agriculture.
The organization was initiated by cousins Sebastian Maroundit and Mathon Noi, who were forced to leave their village in South Sudan as children due to war. Educated in Ethiopia and Kenya, then resettling in the U.S., they returned to their village in 2007 to find the school destroyed – and children being taught under a large tree. Since that visit, they have been passionately committed to rebuild hope in their village by giving children the opportunity to realize their full potential through education, providing gender equality through the education of girls, capitalizing on agriculture and women entrepreneurs to generate income, and partnering with the government to fuel South Sudan’s economy.
In the last year of the global pandemic, BMISS has been challenged to keep momentum going to strive towards the goals. But despite their obstacles, the team adapted and found ways to connect – more than ever.
The continuing drive to promote Education
Building schools in remote villages and improving quality education through teacher training with cooperation from the Twic State Government is one of the main missions of BMISS. And while remote education has been a struggle for so many across the globe, through the support of BMISS, educational institutions in South Sudan continued to thrive. To illustrate, the Bill Cook High School has enrollment across 9th and 10th grades of 140 students as of March, and an additional grade will be added per year until there are four grades. To continue the momentum in the students’ learning, the Bill Cook Foundation will fund salaries for two teachers for three years.
To further foster this continuous drive for education, a $2500 Presbytery of Genesee Valley Community Grant sponsored five high school students in 2020.
Despite the schools being closed due to COVID-19, the Majok Keen Primary School for Girls now has enrollment of 813, while at the Ajong Primary School, 959 boys and girls attend when the schools are operational. Years ago, these schools did not even exist.
And finally, raising funds to build the King and Laima Beck Girls High School is a major fundraising goal for BMISS. We are so encouraged that the school sign is up, and land is ready for construction!
Supporting our Communities
Another goal of the BMISS initiative is to foster growth in entrepreneurs by offering microfinance grants primarily for women to build their businesses.
BMISS provided resourcing for a program called Beck Garden Plots, where nineteen women with garden plots are growing and selling crops to create a sustainable food source. A second area of almost 20 plots has been purchased and readied for growing. This initiative provides women the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive in their day to day lives, while feeding the community.
While businesses have been negatively affected by COVID-19, the Laima Microfinance Project continued to help various breweries and restaurants stay afloat.
Through the Ambassador Program, we completed eleven virtual presentations to schools, churches, and Rotary Clubs, to continue to build awareness and encourage the need for funding.

Building our Presence
The work that BMISS supports will help change lives forever Our organization needed to amplify our cause and cast a much wider net to help us grow. I have joined the board as Chair of Sponsorships, and will be leading an initiative, along with three interns, to expand the social media presence. We are reinventing our brand presence with a new, bold mission statement, creation of a new logo, launch of a newsletter in May, and revamp of our website.
And our growing presence is being felt. In the last year, 14 individuals gave more than $500 each, and eight organizations gifted at least $1000 each.
While we build awareness and amplify the need for funding, our 2021 goal is to build a “bricks and mortar” building in the country, to expand our organization with a small but mighty team.
I am so proud to grow alongside an altruistic organization that helps students realize their full human potential and development.
For more information on Building Minds in South Sudan, please visit our website.