Term starts at Cece Primary School

Last week the second term of the year started.  For my newly established school it is the first term ever. 

Cece (pronounced ‘che-chay’) is a Madi word meaning ‘little by little’.  Cece is the name of the HIV support group at the local hospital where my friend Pascalina is a volunteer counsellor.  At a meeting of the Cece parents they agreed to call our new school Cece Primary School.  This is highly appropriate for two reasons.  Firstly the school is intended primarily for families who are part of the support group.  Secondly because we are a very small school which hopefully will be a pattern for other schools of a similar nature and spread a sustainable, grassroots-run school system organically (‘little by little’).  If this happens the huge numbers of children from the poorest families will no longer be excluded from school and attitudes of ignoring their needs will become a thing of the past.  We wish to demonstrate a more Christian model than the current one.

The poor should not be given financial burdens and barriers.  Other schools in Nimule charge fees, have strict uniform rules and other extra costs such as termly report cards, providing stationery and even stools.  If these costs are not met by the parents, the children are (to use a local expression) ‘chased away’. 

Teachers are not motivated by a vocation to teach, only by wages.  Some teachers are paid through the school fees.  Others are paid by the government.  When the government fails to pay teachers their minimal salary (which often happens), they stop teaching and look for other work elsewhere. 

Students are treated very unreasonably.  For example, pupil lateness is punished in spite of the fact that South Sudan is a ‘late’ society.  Nobody is EVER on time, anywhere, including the teachers themselves.  When I say ‘late’ I mean hours late.  They are caned for the most unjust reasons, including not understanding English.

The level of education itself is very low.  Many teachers have education only up to the level at which they are teaching.  Exam papers are extremely easy, yet most pupils fail their annual exams repeatedly so that they have to remain in the same class for years as they grow taller and taller, their disappointed parents scraping together so many extra years’ of school fees. 

Having struggled for a year and a half with teacher opposition to all my attempts to help create a better school at Cornerstone and having realised how great a need there is for a school which provides a social service rather than just a means of livelihood for the teachers, the big day arrived.

I was filled with trepidation.  What if it all went horribly wrong?  What if we were completely overwhelmed and unable to teach because of language barriers and weight of numbers?  I arrived bright and early on Monday morning, laden with exercise books, pencils and flash cards.  I put up alphabet cards on the walls with blutack and then waited.  Pascalina arrived.  Slowly children and parents trickled in.  That day we had less than twenty children with an age range of 2 - 13.  None had attended school before, so their levels were similar but their cognitive and developmental capacities very different.

As we taught, more families arrived having heard on the grapevine about Cece.  All were equally desperate for their families to have hope for the future.  As a result the lessons were constantly interrupted with registrations.  As each child was registered they had to put their hand over their head to touch their opposite ear.  This is apparently the only way to work out the age of the child as parents are illiterate and have no idea of times or seasons, let alone dates of birth.  How accurate this method is, I have no way to knowing.

In spite of the interruptions, we still managed to teach the first letter of the Jolly Phonics reading method (the letter ‘s’) and numbers up to 5 on day one. 

Days’ two to four took a similar pattern.  By the end of teaching on Thursday we had reached capacity as Pascalina and I were determined to accept no more than 30 children per class.  By Friday I had taught the older children the letter sounds ‘s’, ‘a’, ‘t’ and ‘i’ and to read and write the words ‘it’, ‘at’, ‘sit’ and ‘sat’.  They now know numbers from 1 – 15 and several songs.  Next week, when we are hopefully more settled, we will begin to cover other parts of the curriculum such as science, social studies and religious education as well, so that the children can be prepared for the state’s school exams.

As the week progressed, children arrived earlier and earlier, which I think is a very good sign.  I now arrive to find children setting out seats and welcoming me with big smiles.

Several mothers have volunteered to stay and keep order in the classes.  I have realised that they are using this as an opportunity to learn along with their children.  One mother gave me her first attempt at writing ‘sat’ and ‘sit’.  Well – why not?

Break time at CECE School

We are so grateful to Calvary Chapel for letting us use their Sunday School rooms, seats and (the icing on the cake) their lovely little playground.  It is the only playground I have seen in Nimule, so our children are really fortunate.

I had agreed to continue to teach my original Primary 4 English class at Cornerstone each day at a regular time, so I could fit it in with Cece.  In the event things did not go as planned.

On Monday I was completely shattered after my morning’s work and dreaded teaching Primary 4 in the afternoon.  However, when I returned to Cornerstone the school was completely silent and shut.  This continued all week.  Instead, I spent my afternoons helping the orphanage children individually or simply collapsing exhausted in my room.  From my personal point of view, this was good because it has given me time to toughen up and get used to Cece.  I was far less shattered on Friday than earlier in the week.

The reason for Cornerstone School’s closure is absolutely typical of the way things work in South Sudan: lack of teachers and destruction of school buildings during a very stormy night.  As there were so few teachers and not enough classrooms the children were sent home.  The headteacher is hoping more teachers will drift in next week.  There is no money to build new classrooms.  

Cornerstone is not the only school with these problems.  The major stumbling block is lack of imagination so that problems remain unsolved.  In the time I have been here I have heard far too many people leave all their problems to God without taking any action.  I am trying to show that ways can be found with prayer, but as we are God’s hands and feet, we also have to take action.  God helps those who help themselves.

After reading my previous post, two friends have kindly agreed to pay a regular amount to pay Pascalina.  We are both very grateful indeed. 

A small local charity called HUMAES (Human Access to Essentials) is very interested in helping us.  They are currently writing an official profile for the school with the intention of applying for outside support, for example, to provide a healthy mid-morning snack for the children.

Please support us with prayer and action by spreading the news of this new school.  We have had to turn children away because we had reached capacity.  Once the school is underway we would very much like to expand.  Perhaps this can, little by little, become a reality.