Clothes, clothes, clothes: Christmas in Nimule

I thought I would share my Christmas with you.  My first Christmas in Nimule, in 2013, was spent entirely in the Cornerstone compound apart from going to Mass as I hadn’t yet made friends outside.  I was in a huge amount of pain because of an undiagnosed broken wrist sustained the day before, so I was not in a fit state to appreciate the day properly or write much about it.  In 2014 I spent Christmas in England.  So this is the first time I am able to give you a proper taste of a South Sudanese Christmas, or at least my perspective on it.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, in the run up to Christmas everyone fixates firstly on new clothes, then on food.  Father Christmas, Christmas presents (other than clothes), cards and crackers are unknown here.  Most homes do not have electricity or televisions, so there is also no goggling at the box.

We were fortunate this year that Fulaa was able to provide enough funds for clothes and copious amounts of food for Cornerstone Children’s Home.  The shoes that I had fundraised for also arrived in the nick of time as I mentioned in my last post. 

Excitement built up in the two weeks before Christmas as the older children at Cornerstone formed a committee to oversee the arrangements for choosing and purchasing food and cooking it.  Older children were given money to buy their own new clothes in the local market, while younger children’s clothes were bought for them.  We were highly fortunate that the money was given out the week before the government devalued the South Sudanese Pound by 85%. Prices have gone through the roof since then.

Finally Christmas Day dawned.  In the morning I dressed in my new clothes, a traditional kitenge outfit made for me in the local market. My wardrobe is becoming more and more South Sudanese as my old clothes gradually disintegrate and need replacing locally.  Kitenge (the word is used for traditional wax printed African cotton and the clothes made out of it) is almost always very beautiful and having clothes made supports the local economy, so I see it as a perk as well as support for the people of Nimule.

My new kitenge

I left for church.  Mass was much delayed because the previous Mass overran by about an hour and a half.  This is normal here even on an ordinary Sunday.  I sat outside the compound watching all the beautifully dressed women and girls, many wearing kitenge like me, others, off-the-peg gauzy dresses fit for a wedding or party.  Men and boys were put in the shade, although you could see they were trying!

Mass was held in a shady compound instead of the church because of the large numbers who attend on Christmas Day.  Normally Mass is held in a tiny chapel which is far too crowded and hot.  A new, much larger, church is being built but is not complete yet.  The Mass included lots of music, both local and western carols.  There was also dancing.  I heard that when the Pope visited Africa in November he was very struck by the dancing in church, which came as a surprise to him.  Here in South Sudan, apart from during Lent and Advent, we have traditional Madi dancing by young children almost every Sunday.  It is very beautiful and really adds to the Mass. I have inserted a video of the instrumentalists tuning and warming up before Mass.

We had two priests who were not our own parish priests, although both are well known locally as they often visit, staying with the resident priests as they travel between Uganda and South Sudan.  The parish encompasses a very large area, so our ‘real’ priests were officiating in chapels elsewhere.

Children eating Christmas Dinner

After Mass I returned to the children’s home in time to give the children some small gifts and balloons before lunch was served.  The lunch was very heavy on protein (lots of chicken and beef).  For the first time in many months we had rice to eat instead of posho (a very bland large dumpling made of maize flour we usually eat twice a day).  There were large amounts of chips (every child’s favourite food).  We all had fizzy drinks.  Fruit was in short supply because of lack of availability in the market.  There was supposed to be fish as well, but funds didn't stretch quite that far.  To be honest, I was relieved about that.  Apart from those two elements, everything was as specified by the children.  The children piled their plates high.  Some ate the lot at once, while others took their plates to their rooms to consume gradually during the day.  There are no rules here about table manners, so nobody objected to this.

After lunch I was invited to visit my friend Pascalina, so I walked into town to her home.  I found her lying down after a very large lunch.  We sat and picked at homemade biscuits.  As we sat, people strolled through her open compound on their way to the road.  She invited some of them in as they passed to exchange Christmas greetings and have a few biscuits.  Gaggles of teenage youths and young boys smartly dressed in their Christmas clothes, came in as they passed by, solemnly sitting in Pascalina’s room, drinking bottled water and eating biscuits and sweets, which she had bought specially with them in mind.  As they left, they stuffed handfuls of biscuits into their pockets, leaving the dish to be replenished for the next lot of children.  Pascalina explained that this was a part of Christmas in Nimule.  Boys move from compound to compound hoping for left-over goodies. Everyone knows that they are growing and need feeding up.  How nice! 

Three Cornerstone girls on their way
back from a local football match.

More smartly dressed children.

Strutting along the road.

When I left for home, I saw many clusters of youngsters walking along the road, both boys and girls.  I also met some of the Cornerstone children, still in their Christmas clothes, just coming back from watching a local football match.  It was very clear that the main motive for all the young people was to be seen and admired. It was like a fashion parade and reminded me very much of events such as Royal Ascot.

We did not eat in the evening because we were all too full. It was a lovely, relaxed day.  We all enjoyed it immensely.

Christmas is almost here and the shoes have arrived!

As mentioned when fundraising I was looking for funds to buy shoes for two places, Cece Primary School and Cornerstone Children's Home.

Cornerstone Christmas

I distributed the shoes for Cornerstone Children’s Home immediately because the children are always around.  This was the start of their Christmas, which promises to be a good one this year. 

Last year’s Christmas there was not enough money for clothes (a vital ingredient in a South Sudanese Christmas), which left the children very subdued.  Fortunately a kind donor provided funds for food, so all was not lost.

By contrast, this year, funds from Fulaa (Cornerstone’s supporting charity) were much more ample.  Clothes have been bought, chickens destined for Christmas Dinner are strutting around the compound, there was even money left over for prizes for those children who did particularly well in their end of year exams. 

The shoes come with very handy red bags.  These will be given to the children at the start of the school year as school bags.

Foni and Mini wearing their new shoes.

Close up of the shoes.

William contemplates his newly shod feet.

Cece Primary School

The term had already ended by the time the shoes arrived so we needed to summon everyone back to school.  The children received clothes as well which we bought second hand locally.  Shoes and clothes were packed into a red bag labelled with each child’s name and given to the children in a short ceremony.  The children were ecstatic.  The Cece children have never received anything from anyone before.  I think you can see this on their faces in some of the photos.  It was a lovely occasion.

Those of you who are Catholics will know that this year is a Holy Year of Mercy in the Catholic Church.  I think your generosity falls firmly into the category of ‘Corporal Acts of Mercy: clothe the naked’.  These children have so little clothing, most in a very ragged state, and with no shoes or very cheap flip-flops which break easily.  This is a huge boost to their self-esteem. A very big thank you to all who contributed towards the shoes.  They really are much appreciated.  

Line up shot of some of the children in their new shoes.

It's Christmas!

This boy was completely speechless

Fitting the shoes.

Free-range children

This is a post to describe the activities of children in South Sudan.  I am writing it because I love the ingenuity of the children here. It is not part of the culture for parents to be involved in children's play. 

Clay modelling is very popular.  A few weeks I found several of my school children intently making clay models of various things when I arrived at school.  In the national curriculum one of the science units is on uses for soil, so I decided to skip to that unit.  The children had a lovely lesson showing off their models and we talked about the uses of clay soil for toys, making bricks and building mud huts. 

In Europe, children lead very restricted and sheltered lives by comparison.  They play with plastic toys in primary colours, not rather dubious mud from a marshy bit of land.  They rarely do anything unsupervised by adults.  They spend far too many hours glued to a computer or television screen.  They are not expected to play an important role in the family, but are only passive recipients of care.

Here it is very different.  Most children belong to large extended families in which older children wash clothes, cook, dig, clean and care for younger children.  After these chores are over, they play games with anything they can find. 

One of the plus sides to childhood in Nimule is the large number of children who can play together with very few resources.  They create very successful toys and games.  Plastic bags are used to make footballs or kites.  Mud is used to make phones, cars, aeroplanes, model animals and people.  Dusty ground is used for drawing.  Scrap metal and plastic bottle tops are used to make toy cars.  Small stones are used to juggle.

Children have developed great games involving a ball made of plastic bags and a few old bricks.  Some games are cross cultural; South Sudanese children play their own versions of hide and seek and blind man’s bluff.

They are surrounded by things that can become toys.  Then the toys are discarded and new ones created.  Who said these children are poor?  They have everything they need to stir their imaginations.

Here is a photo gallery showing a selection of such toys.  I hope you will share my admiration for the ingenuity that goes into each toy.

Homemade kite

Truck (lethal sharp edges would
not pass any safety test)

Clay mobile phone

Aeroplane (very popular toy)

Fighter jet

Cow

Propeller on plane

Selection from the pottery class

Board game

Too realistic gun

Board game

Looking forward to Christmas and the next academic year

I am teaching the children that famous traditional rhyme, ‘Christmas is a-coming and the geese are getting fat’.  This is partly to improve their halting English diction by using rhyme and partly to be ready for our Christmas celebration. 

The rhyme couldn’t be more appropriate.  It is from the point of view of a ‘poor old man’, who is begging with his hat out.  He describes the expectant atmosphere of those looking forward to feasting on fattened goose.  This is then contrasted when he asks for a penny.  When that is not possible, a ha’penny.  When that is not forthcoming, he blesses his fellow pauper.  If people had been able to put money in his hat I am sure he would have blessed them too.

As you may know from previous posts, we are giving the children much needed shoes.  I have been told that the shoes are now on their way from America.  Thank you so much, those donors who I know about and those who gave anonymously.  The shoes are still a closely guarded secret. I can’t wait to see the children’s faces when they receive them. 

Our teachers and cooks are very generously giving of themselves for a small amount of money, much less than local salaries.  This is because they also want to be able to help the school.  The amount they receive varies each month according to the exchange rate and also according to the need for other school necessities, so they live with uncertainty very patiently.  The majority of these staff have HIV, adding to their difficulties.

I visited the home of one teacher a few weeks ago when she was sick.  She lives in a small mud-built round hut which she shares with her husband and young children.  They all live in a space of no more than 8 foot diameter.  There are two beds for the whole family.  There is no electricity.  Water must be fetched from a borehole some way off.  Firewood for cooking must also be bought and carried home.  The market is miles away with no transport.  This is all ‘women’s work’ with the help of their children.  Culturally, men do no domestic duties.  Rose’s children are too young to help.  Living in this way is usual for the vast majority of people in Nimule, but in Rose’s case it is made worse by HIV.  The drugs used to treat HIV patients require good feeding.  Without food, the drugs have terrible side effects, making the patient terribly ill. 

As you can imagine, when a mother is ill, things are desperate.  Fortunately in this case neighbours pitched in to fetch water and cook for the family, but there was no money for medicine until I paid for it myself.

I have plans!  As well as the shoes for the children, I want to do something for the teachers and cooks.  I don’t want to give them something unnecessary when they have desperate, unaddressed needs and families to care for.  Instead, I want to give a Christmas bonus which they can spend as they want, whether on new clothes for Christmas, food, something essential or something special.  I am hoping some of you can give a one-off December donation for this purpose.  There are now four teachers and two cooks. 

That is one thing.  The second is that we have a new teacher called Alex.  The reason for taking him on, is that from the next academic year, we will be ready to start a Primary 2 class.  Up till now all the children have been at the same basic Primary 1 level, but clearly we must not hold back those who are ready to move to the next level.  There is an unused room in the building.  All that remained was to find another teacher and make a blackboard for the new classroom. 

Alex asked to join us. He has excellent teaching qualifications and experience.  He has been with us for a week on a trial basis and he really is good!  Definitely a ‘roll up your sleeves’ type.  He spotted a wasp nest in the rafters and burnt it down the next morning.  We explained to him the poor salary situation, but he still wants to help us.  He is a married man, although his family are currently all in a refugee camp in Uganda due to the situation in South Sudan.  He must support them somehow.  Is anyone willing to join our donors in making a monthly donation?

School exams take place shortly before Christmas.  All other schools here dismiss the children immediately afterwards, without any ceremony.  At Cece I am planning to do things a bit differently. 

The children will recite ‘Christmas is a-coming’.  Then we will have a Nativity drama.  One of the cooks has a small baby, who will be Jesus.  We will choose the other characters from among the children and have a living re-enactment of the Nativity story. 

Afterwards, the children’s shoes will be distributed and I will give the Christmas bonus to all our staff.  If your donations suffice, there will be something special to eat too.  Then the school will close until the new academic year which starts in late January.

If you are able to help with either a one-off Christmas bonus donation or a standing order to boost our income from January to pay for the new teacher we will all be deeply grateful. 

Please send donations to Santander, account name: Ms R Mallinson, account number: 48996636, sort code 09-01-28.  Mark with reference ‘CECE School’ to avoid confusion.

People here are embarrassingly grateful for all I have been able to provide with your help.  I am stopped in the street by people who grab my hand and shake it and shake it.  Without your assistance, I would not have been able to start the school.  Sixty children would be without education and the hope for the future that education brings. 

If you are not able to help, remember that the poor man still blesses, with a loud ‘If you haven’t got a ha’penny then God bless you’!  

Two years later ……

Unbelievably, at least to me, I have now been in Nimule for two years.  There have been difficult times and good times, none related to the ongoing civil war.  Life in Nimule goes on regardless and virtually untouched apart from the economic repercussions (which are harsh) and the sight of displaced people heading for the border.

I continue to teach the children both at Cornerstone Children’s Home and at Cece School. The children at the home have made great strides since the beginning of this year, when my friend Hazel came to visit.  They now have a lot of very good educational games and books which have made a huge difference. 

Cece School has just reopened after a two week holiday.  The children are at a very early stage educationally, but are attending regularly and doing their best.  They have had a very bad start in life, with extremely poor nutrition, ill and dying parents and sheer grim poverty.  They, like the majority of children in South Sudan, lack any sort of home discipline other than draconian caning.  As a result, they have no idea how to behave and constantly attack each other.  I refuse to allow caning in the school.  I am teaching the teachers to use ‘discipline’ rather than ‘punishment’.  I take the word ‘discipline’ to mean that teachers must set an example of correct behaviour and explain good behaviour to the children, as in the relationship between teacher and 'disciple'.  We talk individually to culprits and ask them to forgive each other.  I have pointed out to the teachers that constant caning results in children who constantly beat each other.  It has also resulted ultimately in civil war because there have been generations of South Sudanese who have experienced only the stick and have no idea how to reconcile. 

Children hard at work

I use stories to reinforce good behaviour.  For example, a few days ago, the children were running around at a time when they should have been lining up to wash their hands before eating their porridge.  I kept telling them to line up but they ignored me completely.  As a result a small child with a bowl of hot porridge was knocked over and the porridge burnt her arms.  I was extremely angry.  At assembly the next day I spoke to the children about the importance of obedience, first to God and then to parents and teachers.  I pointed out how a serious accident had happened because of disobedience.  Then I told them the story of Jonah and the Whale as an example of what happens when we are disobedient.  When I went into the classroom, the children were sitting in neat rows quietly waiting for me!  One day they have horns on their heads, the next day they have developed wings and haloes. 

I have organised training for myself and the other teachers by a missionary group in Uganda called Sanctuary of Grace, who specialise in training teachers for very small basic schools with a Christian ethos.  This should make a big difference.  We have been so lucky to find this group.  As it is their mission, there will be no charge other than the cost of visas to enter South Sudan.  The mutual friend who put me in touch will host them, so there will be no accommodation costs.

A big success has been the fundraising for the shoes (see my last post).  Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed.  The target was met within the deadline.  I have ordered the shoes to go to a friend’s PO Box in Adjumani in Uganda.  This is the most practical way as there is no postal system in South Sudan.  Adjumani is the nearest Ugandan town to Nimule.

Cook preparing porridge.

When I look around the local market, only the most basic flip flops made out of car tyres or the cheapest and tackiest plastic shoes are available.  The plastic shoes fall to pieces very rapidly on the rough mountain terrain of Nimule.  This is even without the rough treatment of active children.  The car tyre sandals are tougher but are not allowed in school.  The new sandals will be as good as anything you will find in a western country, specifically designed for tough third world conditions and will grow with the children. 

Christianity tells us that everything we do should be covered by love and that without love good deeds are like a clanging cymbal.  It does not seem to me to be a demonstration of love when we give our own children expensive leather shoes, carefully fitted, but give a pittance to those in most need and ask them to make do with cheap plastic shoes.  I see this attitude so many times from those who are supporting the poor of South Sudan, both locals and foreigners.  I am deeply thankful that so many people have dug deep and helped me to buy ‘the best’ as Christmas presents for the children of Cece and Cornerstone.  These children really need to feel loved.  When they receive love, they will learn to recognise it and, hopefully, learn to pass it on to others.

Here is a video of Sabina, one of our teachers, who organises the children to learn traditional songs and dances.

Having said how important it is to provide the best possible, the school itself is still at a very basic stage.  There are no desks so the children sit and work on mats on the floor.  The stove is an outdoor brick structure.  We have very limited text books (one for each subject).  The committee is keen for the children to have a school uniform.  These are all things we hope to address in the coming year, in order of priority (kitchen and text books first, followed by desks and lastly by uniform).  This may seem shocking to those used to western schools, but these conditions are not unusual here.  Some schools even lack buildings.

The achievements have been great. 

• ·         In July we worked on the newly donated compound so it is no longer a jungle, constructed latrines, cleared large amounts of rubble out of the building and made blackboards.  It was a massive effort by CECE and HUMAES.
• ·         We have four teachers, including me, who are all very committed to seeing the children succeed.  This alone makes Cece School stand out from other schools in the area. 
• ·         The teacher to pupil ratio is one teacher to fifteen children, which is unheard of here. 
• ·         We provide a truly delicious and sustaining porridge made with millet and sesame paste, which again is unusual.  Some schools provide maize porridge, which has little nutritional value, but many do not give the children anything to eat.
• ·         The two Community Based Organisations (CECE and HUMAES) who are jointly working with me for the school recently acquired electricity, a modem and a printer in their office.  This means I am now able to produce and print teaching materials, which is a great step forward.

To finish, here is some personal news.  I have made a decision to move out of Cornerstone Children’s Home but will still be visiting every Saturday and helping the children as before.  I will be living in a room owned by the Catholic Church, so it will be a very different set up at the opposite end of town.  This move will free me up to find other ways to help in Nimule while allowing me to continue to help at both Cornerstone and Cece Primary School.  At the moment I am still at Cornerstone because the previous occupant of my new room has the key and has left his belongings in the room.  I have already told the Cornerstone children that I will be moving, but will still see them often so that they can get used to the idea in advance and not feel abandoned.

Thank you all once again for your magnificent support without which Cece Primary School could not have started.  

Sandals for Christmas

I am very grateful for all the support we have received in setting up Cece School, providing running expenses and being enabled to cook a sustaining and healthy meal of thick millet porridge mixed with sesame paste each day.  All this is for children who have never had the chance to attend school before due to the inability of their families to pay the costs of sending children to school, such as school fees, uniforms, shoes and stationery.  All the children at Cece School come from families who are ‘living’ with HIV/AIDS.  For ‘living’ read ‘surviving by the skin of their teeth’.

Here in South Sudan there is a tradition that everyone should have new clothes for Christmas.  Unlike western countries where Christmas presents can take many forms, here in Nimule new clothes are the only present. There is a lot of social pressure, as this custom shows all too clearly the gap between the better-off and the extremely poor.  Those who have no new clothing on Christmas Day are blatantly poverty-stricken.  I am told that they often feel too humiliated to go to Church that day; a sad reflection when we consider that God specifically sent Jesus to live in a poor family.

Some of the Cece pupils in their usual
variety of clothing

At Cece School, some children wear their Sunday best in an effort to look ‘smart’ for school.  Others very occasionally change their clothes and wear flip-flops (known locally as slippers).  Others wear the same ragged clothes day in, day out and come to school with bare feet.

Yesterday, at the end of school there was an argument between a boy and girl which ended in the boy weeping silently.  Pascalina and I went to sort out the problem.  The girl complained that the boy had put on her slippers.  The boy in question, named Benjamin, is one of the neediest children in the school.  He is skeletally thin.  He has worn the same filthy tee-shirt and badly torn shorts since the school started in June, and comes to school barefoot.  His younger brother is in the same state.  Both their parents died of AIDS and the brothers are cared for by their grandmother who I am told is unable to even feed the boys properly, let alone clothe them.  They often resort to begging for food from their neighbours.  Educationally both brothers are at the bottom of the class, which I believe is due to the effects of starvation on their brains.  I am sure that when Benjamin tried on the girl’s flip-flops he was living a fantasy of owning a pair himself.  It was heart-breaking to witness.

Benjamin

This incident has given me the idea to give all the children at Cece School a present of sandals for Christmas.  This will fulfil a real need and also boost the children’s morale. 

There is a US based company which makes the ideal sandals.  They are practical and cost-effective as they are designed to grow with the children.    

I have created a donations page which I am hoping you can contribute to and also circulate far and wide.  I am hoping to raise $2000 which will buy sandals for all children registered at the school and also for children at Cornerstone Children’s Home, where there is also a serious need for sandals.  Last year there was not enough money to provide Christmas clothing for the Cornerstone children which caused great unhappiness.  Worse still, the children there are often sent home from school if they have no shoes which affects their education.

The sandals come in bags containing 50 or 100.  $2000 pays for 100 pairs.  As there are 60 children at Cece School, 50 pairs would not be enough.  I would therefore like to buy 100.  The additional 40 pairs of sandals would not be wasted as it is a good number for Cornerstone Children’s Home.

To donate please click on this link.  I have set a deadline for 30 September to allow time for the sandals to arrive in time for Christmas.

In an ideal world I would also like to provide uniform (I envisage a tee-shirt with the school name on it), but I think shoes are a higher priority at the moment.

This would be a wonderful Christmas present and make a lot of children very happy indeed.  As you will see from the Shoe that Grows website, it will also help the children health-wise.

Term starts at Cece Primary School

Last week the second term of the year started.  For my newly established school it is the first term ever. 

Cece (pronounced ‘che-chay’) is a Madi word meaning ‘little by little’.  Cece is the name of the HIV support group at the local hospital where my friend Pascalina is a volunteer counsellor.  At a meeting of the Cece parents they agreed to call our new school Cece Primary School.  This is highly appropriate for two reasons.  Firstly the school is intended primarily for families who are part of the support group.  Secondly because we are a very small school which hopefully will be a pattern for other schools of a similar nature and spread a sustainable, grassroots-run school system organically (‘little by little’).  If this happens the huge numbers of children from the poorest families will no longer be excluded from school and attitudes of ignoring their needs will become a thing of the past.  We wish to demonstrate a more Christian model than the current one.

The poor should not be given financial burdens and barriers.  Other schools in Nimule charge fees, have strict uniform rules and other extra costs such as termly report cards, providing stationery and even stools.  If these costs are not met by the parents, the children are (to use a local expression) ‘chased away’. 

Teachers are not motivated by a vocation to teach, only by wages.  Some teachers are paid through the school fees.  Others are paid by the government.  When the government fails to pay teachers their minimal salary (which often happens), they stop teaching and look for other work elsewhere. 

Students are treated very unreasonably.  For example, pupil lateness is punished in spite of the fact that South Sudan is a ‘late’ society.  Nobody is EVER on time, anywhere, including the teachers themselves.  When I say ‘late’ I mean hours late.  They are caned for the most unjust reasons, including not understanding English.

The level of education itself is very low.  Many teachers have education only up to the level at which they are teaching.  Exam papers are extremely easy, yet most pupils fail their annual exams repeatedly so that they have to remain in the same class for years as they grow taller and taller, their disappointed parents scraping together so many extra years’ of school fees. 

Having struggled for a year and a half with teacher opposition to all my attempts to help create a better school at Cornerstone and having realised how great a need there is for a school which provides a social service rather than just a means of livelihood for the teachers, the big day arrived.

I was filled with trepidation.  What if it all went horribly wrong?  What if we were completely overwhelmed and unable to teach because of language barriers and weight of numbers?  I arrived bright and early on Monday morning, laden with exercise books, pencils and flash cards.  I put up alphabet cards on the walls with blutack and then waited.  Pascalina arrived.  Slowly children and parents trickled in.  That day we had less than twenty children with an age range of 2 - 13.  None had attended school before, so their levels were similar but their cognitive and developmental capacities very different.

As we taught, more families arrived having heard on the grapevine about Cece.  All were equally desperate for their families to have hope for the future.  As a result the lessons were constantly interrupted with registrations.  As each child was registered they had to put their hand over their head to touch their opposite ear.  This is apparently the only way to work out the age of the child as parents are illiterate and have no idea of times or seasons, let alone dates of birth.  How accurate this method is, I have no way to knowing.

In spite of the interruptions, we still managed to teach the first letter of the Jolly Phonics reading method (the letter ‘s’) and numbers up to 5 on day one. 

Days’ two to four took a similar pattern.  By the end of teaching on Thursday we had reached capacity as Pascalina and I were determined to accept no more than 30 children per class.  By Friday I had taught the older children the letter sounds ‘s’, ‘a’, ‘t’ and ‘i’ and to read and write the words ‘it’, ‘at’, ‘sit’ and ‘sat’.  They now know numbers from 1 – 15 and several songs.  Next week, when we are hopefully more settled, we will begin to cover other parts of the curriculum such as science, social studies and religious education as well, so that the children can be prepared for the state’s school exams.

As the week progressed, children arrived earlier and earlier, which I think is a very good sign.  I now arrive to find children setting out seats and welcoming me with big smiles.

Several mothers have volunteered to stay and keep order in the classes.  I have realised that they are using this as an opportunity to learn along with their children.  One mother gave me her first attempt at writing ‘sat’ and ‘sit’.  Well – why not?

Break time at CECE School

We are so grateful to Calvary Chapel for letting us use their Sunday School rooms, seats and (the icing on the cake) their lovely little playground.  It is the only playground I have seen in Nimule, so our children are really fortunate.

I had agreed to continue to teach my original Primary 4 English class at Cornerstone each day at a regular time, so I could fit it in with Cece.  In the event things did not go as planned.

On Monday I was completely shattered after my morning’s work and dreaded teaching Primary 4 in the afternoon.  However, when I returned to Cornerstone the school was completely silent and shut.  This continued all week.  Instead, I spent my afternoons helping the orphanage children individually or simply collapsing exhausted in my room.  From my personal point of view, this was good because it has given me time to toughen up and get used to Cece.  I was far less shattered on Friday than earlier in the week.

The reason for Cornerstone School’s closure is absolutely typical of the way things work in South Sudan: lack of teachers and destruction of school buildings during a very stormy night.  As there were so few teachers and not enough classrooms the children were sent home.  The headteacher is hoping more teachers will drift in next week.  There is no money to build new classrooms.  

Cornerstone is not the only school with these problems.  The major stumbling block is lack of imagination so that problems remain unsolved.  In the time I have been here I have heard far too many people leave all their problems to God without taking any action.  I am trying to show that ways can be found with prayer, but as we are God’s hands and feet, we also have to take action.  God helps those who help themselves.

After reading my previous post, two friends have kindly agreed to pay a regular amount to pay Pascalina.  We are both very grateful indeed. 

A small local charity called HUMAES (Human Access to Essentials) is very interested in helping us.  They are currently writing an official profile for the school with the intention of applying for outside support, for example, to provide a healthy mid-morning snack for the children.

Please support us with prayer and action by spreading the news of this new school.  We have had to turn children away because we had reached capacity.  Once the school is underway we would very much like to expand.  Perhaps this can, little by little, become a reality.

A new venture

Here in Nimule, to attend school means paying school fees, wearing school uniform, socks and shoes and buying the necessary stationery.  Children who arrive incorrectly dressed or equipped are sent home, likewise if their school fees are late.  This is incredibly burdensome to families who are struggling to live.

Children miss a lot of education through their family’s poverty.  There are many children who are unable to attend school at all because of the cost.  When I first arrived, it came as a big shock to me to see this, even though I had known about it in theory.  I looked into possibilities of helping educate those most in need, who cannot afford to go to school but I was not able to carry it forward at that time. 

Sign for Pascalina's support group outside her
market stall.

Shortly after my initial efforts, I met a lady called Pascalina.  Pascalina has HIV and a physical disability which leaves her on crutches and in permanent pain.  Before the HIV diagnosis Pascalina was a school teacher, but was unable to continue due to prejudice about her illness.  With the financial assistance of a local church, she now has a small market stall where she supports herself and her family selling sweets and other goods.  However Pascalina is the type of person who wants to give, not receive.  She is a spokesperson and counsellor for an HIV support group at the hospital.  She even holds additional counselling sessions at her stall.  Her clients are all desperately poor and, like Pascalina, suffer discrimination which causes additional hardship.  In the past she has also managed to find funds for the children of those disadvantaged families to attend school but those donors have now pulled out with the excuse of the conflict in South Sudan (although how this is related is inexplicable to me).  We are not in a conflict zone.

Pascalina had told me long ago that her dream was to start a school herself for those she is trying to support.

Recently I made the decision to reduce my time at Cornerstone School, although I will continue to help as before at the children’s home.  I suggested to Pascalina that we set up a small informal school ourselves specifically for her HIV group and others with disabilities.  We would teach adult literacy as an evening class and children’s school lessons in the mornings.  She was over the moon. 

Since then everything has been falling into place.  A church called the Calvary Chapel has donated its Sunday School rooms for our use during weekdays.  As the hospital support group is called CECE or Positive Living we decided to call the school CECE Learning.  We visited the Town Council office last week to discuss registering the school.  They told us to start first and when we know how many students we have, we should let them know and officially register.  Once registered we will qualify to receive school textbooks.  They will also carry out school inspections.

By good fortune, when I came back after spending Christmas in England, I was loaded with donated books and learning materials (thank you so much Hazel, Helena and Karen).  I will be able to use the materials I have at the home both in my new classes and at the home without any difficulty, so this will not take away the original donations to the home.  It is now the end of the first term, so we plan to start teaching at the start of the second term which begins on 1^st of June. 

The other two charitable schools I know about in South Sudan are starting from the other end of the social spectrum.  They select their students on the basis of past school achievement, age and in one case, gender.  They are well funded and have purpose-built western-style buildings with all mod cons, so that the schools are like a glimpse of a more fortunate country.  Much as it is good to be improving standards here, I worry that this will increase the gap between a very small minority who have already managed to find decent education for their children previously, and the poorest, who are completely uneducated and struggle to stay alive.  To me, this is an issue of social justice.

Clearly, my school will be very small and lack a lot of things which a western school would regard as essential.  However I have experience of teaching in third world schools both in Sudan and South Sudan and have learnt to adjust to what is possible. 

From my own religious perspective, this is a ministry to the poorest and most disadvantaged people in one of the poorest countries in the world.  These people are not reached by the UN or other NGOs because they do not meet their criteria of living in displacement or refugee camps and also because this is a long term project. 

I have received some very helpful advice from a missionary here that if I make the school completely free, it will not be treated with respect and unreasonable demands will be made because of a perception that money is no object!  Many very worthwhile projects have failed here because of this perception.  He advised me to ask for a small registration fee to show commitment.  When I discussed this with Pascalina, she was in complete agreement.  She is going to hold a meeting with her clients and will discuss the registration fee.  The money will be used for necessities such as chalk and other teaching materials.

I am hoping to find someone to sponsor Pascalina’s salary.  She has not asked for money as she has a true vocation, however I know that things are very tough for her and her family.  If she is spending time teaching, that is time away from earning money on her market stall.  Rather pathetically, when I mentioned this (as tactfully as I could) to her she said, ‘even some washing powder would be a help’.

 

Your help with a salary for Pascalina would be very gratefully received.  I would like to pay her 500 South Sudanese Pounds a month, the equivalent of US$50 or £32.  If anyone can help with this new school on a monthly basis, I would be very grateful indeed.  If you are able to set up a small standing order to Ms R Mallinson, Santander account 48996636, sort code 09-01-28, with reference CECE Learning, I would be most grateful.  Any additional funds will be used for the benefit of the pupils, perhaps for providing a healthy break time snack, materials and even a salary for an additional teacher.

Unfortunately I do not have a charity, so it is not possible to increase donations by Gift Aid.  If anyone is able to help me by starting a supporting charity that would be fantastic.

Please circulate this message as widely as you can.

Bricks, Mortar and Spirit

A couple of months ago I visited Torit, the state capital of East Equatoria State.  It is also the seat of the Catholic Diocese of Torit, which includes Nimule in its area.  While there, I decided to visit the cathedral.  I was expecting to see a grand building similar to the cathedral in Kampala, which is a magnificent French Gothic building built soon after the missionaries arrived, or maybe a lovely Italian style church similar to those I saw in the north of Sudan where the Comboni Missionaries were very active.

View of the altar at Torit's cathedral

In fact the cathedral is a cracked and ruined shell.  Fragments of stained glass cling to a few high windows, but other than that it is a total wreck.  I was almost reduced to tears it was such a sad sight. 

I met the Apostolic Administrator (the head of the Diocese while they wait for a replacement for the previous Bishop).  He told me that the current cathedral is the fourth on that site.  The first was built by the Comboni Missionaries who brought Catholicism to Sudan in the 19^th century.  That building was obliterated by the Arabs and rebuilt three times during the seemingly endless war.  Each time it was destroyed by bombing again.  The Diocese is trying to find funds to replace the fourth one.  They have been told by the surveyors that the foundations are now too unstable so that the cathedral will need to be built on another site.  In the meantime the congregation sits under a very large shelter in the grounds.

Back home in Nimule, Mass is celebrated in a very shabby chapel dedicated to St Patrick.  Like the cathedral, the chapel was bombed, but not so disastrously.  It is very plain.  There is a tiny cross on the altar and one statue of the Virgin and Child.  Other than that the chapel is completely unadorned.  It is also far too small for the parish.  So much so that many people have to stay outside, listening via loudspeaker.  The chapel replaced an even smaller wooden chapel. 

The parish priest, Father John, and several predecessors have fundraised for a long time with the aim of building a bigger church.  Late last year Father John took the plunge and decided that too much time had gone by.  Even though donations were insufficient he ordered the building work to begin in January this year.  Work has been moving ahead very quickly since then. 

The construction work at St Patricks.  You can just make out
the chapel inside, dwarfed by the new church.

Fundraising continues while work progresses.  Every Sunday the congregations of each Mass compete to raise the largest amount.  There are contests at the end of each Mass between various groups, youth against elderly, men against women, supporters of various football teams etc.  In spite of all encouragement it is very hard for parishioners to find much money because the vast majority are desperately poor, struggling to eat more than one meal a day.  We are fortunate that the compound is very large and parts of it are rented out to big international organisations such as the UN, Caritas and others.  In his determination to make the best of the funds, Father John asks for the rent to be paid in dollars.  A proportion goes towards the ongoing construction work. 

The church is being built around the current chapel, so that it can make use of the old foundations.  As a result the congregation has to step over the building materials and walls to get inside.  Once the chapel is demolished we will be celebrating Mass under trees elsewhere in the compound.

Visiting clergy from Torit look with envy at the building activity.  They are even considering the possibility of moving the cathedral from Torit to Nimule to take advantage of our parish’s fundraising.  Whether this happens or not, there is a desperate need of more funds to complete the work. 

The Diocese is a very poor one even though it is rich in land.  There is a shortage of priests because a lot have been called to the Islamic north by the Archdiocese where they are ministering to the persecuted Christians.  In everything the Diocese is hampered by lack of finance.  To counteract these factors and meet the needs of the people, the Apostolic Administrator is trying to entice religious orders and congregations to come and help with pastoral work.  So far one Korean congregation has agreed to come, who intend to provide training courses.  More are desperately needed.

A previous Bishop of Torit, Bishop Paride Taban, is now a Bishop Emeritus after gaining permission from the Pope to devote himself to peace and reconciliation work between warring factions across the country.  His efforts are considerably more successful than the peace talks in Addis Ababa.  I have heard him speak several times.  Peace is his passion – he never talks about anything else.

In Nimule, as well as his excellent efforts for the new church, Father John is a qualified counsellor, trained in the US and specialising in Traumatic Stress Disorder.  He does a lot of counselling work in the local displacement camp as well as within the parish. People here struggle with terrible memories and are in huge need of his counselling.

Bishop Johnson Akio Mutek's tomb

It looks very much as though hope for the future comes through the Catholic Church which appears to be carrying out the will of a previous bishop, Johnson Akio Mutek, whose tomb is just outside the cathedral.  His ‘will’ to his flock is inscribed on his tomb.  It reads as follows:

What we need in our Diocese:

·         Courage and determination

·         Honesty and sincerity

·         Transparency and commitment

·         Sacrifice and hard work

·         Freedom from great expectation from outside resources

·         Freedom from unnecessary long sitting instead of working and reading

·         Freedom from negative thinking instead of creative and progressive pastoral development

·         Avoid segregation and stereotyping

·         Avoid nepotism and ethnicity

·         Work for unity, peace, hope and harmony to build the nation

·         Work for peace within our hearts, families, neighbours, villages and society to build the nation and the Diocese

Father John said in a speech last week that before you can help people solve their problems they need spiritual healing.  Bricks and mortar are important.  But first of all, spiritual peace.  Without that everything will continue to be destroyed, as is so clearly the case here in South Sudan.

Orphanages – a dirty word? It’s a question of perspective

A friend recently said to me that it takes about two years to adjust to South Sudanese culture.  I think this is very true.

When I first arrived at Cornerstone, I suffered severe culture shock.  I saw the poverty at the children’s home while being aware that they were funded from an American charity.  I saw the poor nutrition, poor hygiene, poor literacy levels, poorly educated adults.  I saw barriers between different types of Christian, barriers between tribes and barriers between the children’s home and the town.  I saw a very strange type of Christianity with large elements of paganism.  I found what I saw as corruption, but was actually not.  I found it hard to find anything positive.  I think if you read my early blog posts this comes across.  I can only say that I am very sorry for my harshness.

Now, after a year and a half, what do I see?  I see people (ex-refugees themselves) at Cornerstone who are doing their best against huge odds and managing amazingly successfully.  I see children who are happy in spite of their extremely difficult circumstances.  The blinkers came off last year when I realised that out of all the orphanages in the country, Cornerstone was top of the league.

There is a huge divide between the western world and South Sudan.  South Sudan has suffered almost continuous civil war since the 1960s.  An infrastructure never existed.  Education barely existed except for the privileged few.  The entire population has been displaced repeatedly.  Healthcare is minimal.  Mortality rates are shockingly high.  It is hard for westerners to appreciate the impact of all these factors when it is beyond their own experience.

The western world responds with quick fixes.  NGOs want to be involved in short term ‘projects’ in selected areas of the country.  They want to be involved in ‘humanitarian’ work.  The range of humanitarian work is again very narrow.  For example, I am finding in my search for donors that orphanages are often not classed as humanitarian work in spite of the vast problem of destitute street children.  I start to suspect that NGOs want constantly changing projects so that they can have constantly changing webpages.  If there is constant change, maybe they feel they will be able to generate more interest from the public.  If so, it certainly isn’t helpful to South Sudan.

Like me when I first arrived, I think outsiders don’t get the full picture. In western countries the words ‘orphanage’ and ‘children’s home’ are loaded with negativity.  At least in Britain, they have a reputation for coldness, neglect, child abuse and institutionalisation leading to future homelessness.  No wonder they are hated.

During my recent efforts to find funding for Cornerstone, more than one NGO employee has told me that NGOs don’t like funding children’s homes because they and their donors believe in home-care.  Yes, of course it would be wonderful if all South Sudanese children had a caring family. 

However, here in South Sudan there are problems which are not faced in western countries.  There are huge numbers of children lacking parental care for various reasons.

Life expectancy is 42 years old and maternal mortality rates are the highest in Africa.  As a result children have a high chance of being orphaned even without the dangers of civil war causing death or displacement.  Orphaned or displaced children are frequently abandoned on the streets, if they have no direct relatives to take them into their homes.  Tribal values mean that even extended family will not treat their orphaned relatives well – their own children come first, leaving the cuckoos in the nest starved and unloved.  This is the norm and nobody feels any sense of guilt about it. 

Here is a prime example of my early culture shock.  On one occasion I was attending a prayer meeting where a woman asked for prayer because she was infertile.  I immediately spoke to one of the pastors because only the week before Cornerstone had started to support a new-born baby whose mother had died.  The foster mother, even though she claimed to be a good friend of the baby's dead mother, was very reluctant to keep the baby and only agreed to keep him until he was a toddler.  Surely this desperate, infertile woman would be delighted with this answer to her prayers?  Not a bit of it.  My suggestion was greeted with shock.  Nobody would consider adopting a baby.  It is totally counter-cultural.  

All large South Sudanese towns have a problem with huge numbers of street children.  Although this isn’t the case in Nimule, which is a relatively new town, there are realistic fears that it will develop a street child problem because the town is growing. 

Another problem caused by Nimule’s expansion is the influx of witchdoctors from elsewhere in South Sudan or Uganda.  These witchdoctors practise child sacrifice on a routine basis.  Imagine the dangers faced by street children in these circumstances.

Next week a government official will be visiting Cornerstone to discuss how Cornerstone can help.  Given the state of Cornerstone’s finances at the moment, this may not be a very productive meeting.

Cornerstone is not at all like the western conception of a children’s home.  The children are happy and very sociable.  Admittedly conditions are very basic compared to a non-African children’s home.  There is no running water.  The diet is very limited.  Apart from the youngest children, the children are responsible for their own washing, mending and ironing.  They help in the kitchen.  They clean their own dormitories and sweep and maintain the compound.  On the positive side, these are essential life skills, so these children will be far more capable of looking after themselves in adulthood than their western counterparts.

When not in school or doing their chores, the children play.  They are hugely inventive compared to western children because of the complete absence of toys.  They make their own cars out of pieces of metal, clay mobile phones, balls made of old plastic bags.  Whatever they want, they seem to be able to make.  One very resourceful boy was given two pairs of rabbits by a relative.  He is totally absorbed in caring for them.  He is determined that we will all be eating rabbit soon!

Unlike any other South Sudanese children’s home, Cornerstone has managed to ensure that all children go to school.  Some go for further studies to Uganda.  It is extremely rare in Britain for a ‘looked after’ child to reach university, given the expectation that they will leave care at 18 years old.  What a feather in Cornerstone’s cap!

Also unlike a British children’s home, we have an on-site clinic, capable of treating most ailments, including typhoid and malaria.  In cases of major illness, they get hospital treatment, even going to Uganda if necessary.  Again, no other South Sudanese children’s home has the facilities to do this.

As mentioned previously Cornerstone is the best children’s home in South Sudan.  It is a safe place for very vulnerable children. Over the past year we have welcomed three children whose parents were shot in the fighting further north, two small children whose mothers died giving birth due to HIV and whose fathers are unknown and three street children.  There is nowhere else for children like this.  All these new children have settled in well, welcomed beautifully by the old hands.  They are incredibly fortunate to be here.

Please talk to NGOs about the importance of funding places such as Cornerstone.  It is easy to say, ‘We think all children should be in a home setting’, but it is an ideal too far in South Sudan at the moment. 

It is easy for NGOs to say, ‘We only fund short-term humanitarian projects’.  In what way is helping orphans and street children not humanitarian work?  Certainly it is long-term, but given the huge numbers it is VITALLY important for the future of this country.

If you are able to help Cornerstone financially, please see the link to Fulaa.