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.