Precarious times 2

In my post ‘Precarious Times’ I talked about the cuts being made at Cornerstone Children's Home.  Two days ago there was a meeting of the nearest relatives of about twenty of the older children.  They were asked to take the children into their homes on a permanent basis.  The relatives were incredibly grateful to Cornerstone for all the time the children have spent here.  They spoke of how important it had been to them that these children have been fed, clothed, educated and given spiritual guidance for so long.  They pointed out how healthy the children look.  I heard no recriminations or animosity towards Cornerstone, just very humble gratitude and prayers of thanks for God’s goodness to the children in the past and acceptance of God’s will.

The deadline for the children to leave is April, which is when the most drastic cuts in funding will begin.  It is necessary because staffing will be reduced, the food budget will be cut and school fee payments will also be reduced so that only primary and secondary up to Senior 4 will be covered.

This has happened because of reductions in donations and child sponsorship to Fulaa.  As mentioned in my previous blog post, some of these kids are mid-way through training courses or university degrees.  Fulaa is asking individual sponsors to help their sponsored children, but this may not be possible.

At the meeting there was a lot of discussion of the type of life the children will now lead.  The children raised concerns which spoke loudly of their fears and insecurity.  ‘Will we have to carry our cases on our heads, or will there be transport?’  ‘Can we take our mattresses with us?  We are not used to sleeping on papyrus mats.’  Staff have promised to visit if possible and given an open invitation for former residents to visit as often as they like as ‘we are all one family’.  In spite of this reassurance, there are practical problems as many of them will be in very remote and inaccessible places, far from schools or medical help.

Some of the children who will be leaving are still at primary school level even though they are now teenagers.  Funding will be provided for those below Senior 4, but will be subject to progress at school and moral behaviour (i.e. no teenage pregnancies). 

The parents talked about the hard work the children will have to do.  At Cornerstone, children have always done a lot of chores, such as cleaning, cooking, sweeping, cutting the grass during the rainy season, fetching water and minding the babies of staff members.  To a western eye this can seem like real hardship and injustice.  I was shocked and critical when I first arrived and it took some time for me to see the wisdom of it.  After the chores are done, there is still a lot of time for children to play together and study.  One very positive aspect of Cornerstone is that the children are not institutionalised in the way that children from children’s homes can be in western countries.  

Once they move to their new homes the children will all be doing heavy manual labour, without the many hands that make light work that they have been used to.  They will be learning new life skills, such as hoeing fields and building and thatching mud huts.  This will make all the aspirations of Cornerstone for a fulfilling career and future leadership for the country seem like a fantasy.  This morning one of the boys told me how sad he feels that he will not be able to go beyond Senior 4.  He had so many dreams for the future.

It is not too late for these children.  If we can find fresh sources of funding the children can remain. 

I have been travelling around Eastern Equatoria, to Torit and Juba in search of potential help from NGOs who are here already.  It is has been hot, uncomfortable travel, and I am very uncertain of gaining help.

One bright spot in my travels was completely accidental.  Travelling on public transport to Juba, I talked with a fellow passenger, a South Sudanese refugee now living in Australia.  He works for an NGO there who asked him to travel back to report on how their money was being used.  He was very interested to hear about Cornerstone and knows of two unaccompanied children currently in a refugee camp across the Ugandan border who would benefit from our help.  Maybe, just maybe, his NGO will support us.  I see hope in the fact that the NGO employs, and takes seriously, members of the diaspora.  As the South Sudanese diaspora are generally passionate about seeing peace and prosperity in their birth country, they are very important ambassadors.  They should give the organisation which employs them more understanding of cultural differences and motivate them to help more than was evident in these massive and very impersonal NGOs.

Please circulate this post to anyone who might be able to help.  Donations through Fulaa can be made through this link.