Term now underway

The school term is now well underway.  We were inundated with families arriving desperate for school places at the beginning of term.  This is understandable as Cece is the only non-fee paying school in Nimule.  The need is bottomless.  Coupled with this, we are short of teachers because two teachers have had to leave for Uganda for various domestic reasons. 

The local education office has stipulated that all primary teachers must be qualified or have reached Senior 4 level (equivalent of GCSE level).  This is sensible, but not easy to achieve due to the generally poor standard of education in South Sudan.  A major challenge is that some international NGOs have been enticing qualified teachers from Nimule to teach in refugee camps across the border in Uganda at greatly enhanced rates of pay.  This has left all schools, not just ours, very short staffed.

We have managed to recruit one replacement teacher.  The new teacher, Peace, and one of our original teachers, Sabina, were both trained by the Jesuit Refugee Service who were active in Nimule in the 1990s.  When the JRS is mentioned, people’s faces light up with memories of how they helped provide skills and training at a time when the locals were being terrorised by Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Arab aerial bombardment.  Sabina and Peace were officially trained in teaching adult literacy, but their training was so thorough that they can teach anybody, young or old.

I have been delighted to find how well the majority of my class from last year have retained their previous lessons and are speaking and understanding increasing amounts of English.  They are also starting to read.  However quite a few of last year’s intake left for the refugee camps due to food shortages over the holiday period and we have a lot of new faces who have replaced them. 

Of those who have officially reached P2 level in other schools, all are actually at beginner level with no oral, written or number skills at all.  They can recognise the alphabet but cannot read.  Such is the level of teaching in most schools here, fees not withstanding.  However the majority have never attended school before and are in P1.

In the new P2 class one new boy stands out, literally, as he is the tallest in the class.  He is around fifteen years old, with some spoken English.  He suffers from epilepsy, untreated because of lack of money.  Before the money ran out he was in P2 in another school, but was unable to sit his exams due to epileptic fits, which I am sure were due to exam nerves.  In spite of his spoken English he cannot read or write at all.  Last week he mastered writing his name.  He was overjoyed, to the point of staying behind after school to write his name again and again on the blackboard with a wide smile on his face.  It is children like him who so urgently need to catch up on an education and have a chance in life.  I have taken some very quick training from a local nurse in what to do if he has a fit and have passed on that training to the other teachers too.   

We are now feeding 90 children at break time.  Our new teacher Peace commented on how disciplined the children are.  Apparently in her previous school, there was always a scrum as the children all tried to be first for the porridge.  The teachers did not involve themselves at all in organising the children.  At Cece, we make the children line up to say grace and then wash their hands in order of size, smallest first.  Then they join a second queue to be served porridge by the eldest children.  Children who push in are sent to the back of the line.  Then they all sit down to eat together.  Peace was very impressed.  She could see immediately how important this queuing system is for orphaned children who have very little adult guidance or discipline in their lives, so that they can develop into civilised members of society.

At lunch time we all go home.  After lunch and a siesta during the heat of the day, I go to the Cece office where we (myself together with HUMAES and Cece staff) are busily planning for the future of the school.  We are trying to secure funding for the construction of a new school on land donated by a local village community.  We are hoping to do all the building work during this academic year, ready for 2017.  If all goes according to plan there will be a small Primary 3 class next year.  Also, as I have seen in this year’s desperation for registration at the school, the demand for Primary 1 is so big that it would be a huge benefit to have an additional P1 class.  All this will not be possible in our current building due to lack of space.

In the meantime there are still ongoing school expenses which must be met, such as staff wages, food and maintenance of the current building.  We have had problems since December due to a shortage of dollars in the bank and increased sanctions against South Sudan.  The South Sudanese Pound has been devalued by 85% causing hyper-inflation.  As a result the bank exchange rate for South Sudanese Pounds is extremely poor and it is important to receive money in a stable currency, the dollar. 

We have just opened a dollar account across the border in Uganda, so we can avoid all these problems.  I am hoping that an added benefit will be the ability to fundraise more directly through supporters in various countries, rather than relying solely on friends in the UK.

If you are outside the UK and want to support Cece Primary School, the account details are as follows:

Uganda: Equity Bank, Adjumani, Uganda.  Account name: Anyanzo Charles Jacob.  Account number: 1019100855333.  SWIFT code: EQBLUGKA. 

It was not possible to open the account in the name of the school, so it is in the name of the chairman of HUMAES, who makes regular trips to Uganda.  I know this looks very unprofessional, but please bear in mind that the school is at the start of its existence, and we are gradually feeling our way towards a more professional future.  I totally trust Charles!

The SWIFT fee is a set one, so it makes sense for donors to get together and send their donations in one transaction.  For donors in the UK please continue to use the old UK account for the same reason.

UK: Santander, account name: Ms R Mallinson, account number: 48996636, sort code 09-01-28.

On a personal note, I have moved away from Cornerstone.  After a couple of weeks temporarily staying at an American mission centre, I am now living with my Cece School co-founder and friend Pascalina and her family in the centre of Nimule.  This marks a new phase in my time in South Sudan, so it seems appropriate to me to start a new blog.  Here is the link to the new blog.