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.
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| Some of the Cece pupils in their usual variety of clothing |
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.
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| Benjamin |
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.
