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