Schwartz to share NGO work in Sudan

The Everett Jewish Life Center at Chautauqua will feature an additional speaker in its Brown Bag series for Week Eight. Judy Schwartz will speak on “Building Minds in Sudan” at 12:15 p.m. today. She will describe her experiences with Building Minds In Sudan, a non-governmental organization dedicated to helping educate children in war-torn South Sudan.

The organization was founded several years ago to help educate the thousands of children who were driven out of Sudan by a bloody civil war that ended in 2005 when South Sudan declared its independence. The organization is based in a suburb of Rochester, N.Y., where some of the refugees settled and where they came in contact with Rochester social-activist Judy Schwartz.

The organization’s mission is to restore hope by building primary schools that will serve as central hubs to regain a sense of community and by providing gender equity though educating girls.