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.

A new venture

Here in Nimule, to attend school means paying school fees, wearing school uniform, socks and shoes and buying the necessary stationery.  Children who arrive incorrectly dressed or equipped are sent home, likewise if their school fees are late.  This is incredibly burdensome to families who are struggling to live.

Children miss a lot of education through their family’s poverty.  There are many children who are unable to attend school at all because of the cost.  When I first arrived, it came as a big shock to me to see this, even though I had known about it in theory.  I looked into possibilities of helping educate those most in need, who cannot afford to go to school but I was not able to carry it forward at that time. 

Sign for Pascalina's support group outside her
market stall.

Shortly after my initial efforts, I met a lady called Pascalina.  Pascalina has HIV and a physical disability which leaves her on crutches and in permanent pain.  Before the HIV diagnosis Pascalina was a school teacher, but was unable to continue due to prejudice about her illness.  With the financial assistance of a local church, she now has a small market stall where she supports herself and her family selling sweets and other goods.  However Pascalina is the type of person who wants to give, not receive.  She is a spokesperson and counsellor for an HIV support group at the hospital.  She even holds additional counselling sessions at her stall.  Her clients are all desperately poor and, like Pascalina, suffer discrimination which causes additional hardship.  In the past she has also managed to find funds for the children of those disadvantaged families to attend school but those donors have now pulled out with the excuse of the conflict in South Sudan (although how this is related is inexplicable to me).  We are not in a conflict zone.

Pascalina had told me long ago that her dream was to start a school herself for those she is trying to support.

Recently I made the decision to reduce my time at Cornerstone School, although I will continue to help as before at the children’s home.  I suggested to Pascalina that we set up a small informal school ourselves specifically for her HIV group and others with disabilities.  We would teach adult literacy as an evening class and children’s school lessons in the mornings.  She was over the moon. 

Since then everything has been falling into place.  A church called the Calvary Chapel has donated its Sunday School rooms for our use during weekdays.  As the hospital support group is called CECE or Positive Living we decided to call the school CECE Learning.  We visited the Town Council office last week to discuss registering the school.  They told us to start first and when we know how many students we have, we should let them know and officially register.  Once registered we will qualify to receive school textbooks.  They will also carry out school inspections.

By good fortune, when I came back after spending Christmas in England, I was loaded with donated books and learning materials (thank you so much Hazel, Helena and Karen).  I will be able to use the materials I have at the home both in my new classes and at the home without any difficulty, so this will not take away the original donations to the home.  It is now the end of the first term, so we plan to start teaching at the start of the second term which begins on 1^st of June. 

The other two charitable schools I know about in South Sudan are starting from the other end of the social spectrum.  They select their students on the basis of past school achievement, age and in one case, gender.  They are well funded and have purpose-built western-style buildings with all mod cons, so that the schools are like a glimpse of a more fortunate country.  Much as it is good to be improving standards here, I worry that this will increase the gap between a very small minority who have already managed to find decent education for their children previously, and the poorest, who are completely uneducated and struggle to stay alive.  To me, this is an issue of social justice.

Clearly, my school will be very small and lack a lot of things which a western school would regard as essential.  However I have experience of teaching in third world schools both in Sudan and South Sudan and have learnt to adjust to what is possible. 

From my own religious perspective, this is a ministry to the poorest and most disadvantaged people in one of the poorest countries in the world.  These people are not reached by the UN or other NGOs because they do not meet their criteria of living in displacement or refugee camps and also because this is a long term project. 

I have received some very helpful advice from a missionary here that if I make the school completely free, it will not be treated with respect and unreasonable demands will be made because of a perception that money is no object!  Many very worthwhile projects have failed here because of this perception.  He advised me to ask for a small registration fee to show commitment.  When I discussed this with Pascalina, she was in complete agreement.  She is going to hold a meeting with her clients and will discuss the registration fee.  The money will be used for necessities such as chalk and other teaching materials.

I am hoping to find someone to sponsor Pascalina’s salary.  She has not asked for money as she has a true vocation, however I know that things are very tough for her and her family.  If she is spending time teaching, that is time away from earning money on her market stall.  Rather pathetically, when I mentioned this (as tactfully as I could) to her she said, ‘even some washing powder would be a help’.

 

Your help with a salary for Pascalina would be very gratefully received.  I would like to pay her 500 South Sudanese Pounds a month, the equivalent of US$50 or £32.  If anyone can help with this new school on a monthly basis, I would be very grateful indeed.  If you are able to set up a small standing order to Ms R Mallinson, Santander account 48996636, sort code 09-01-28, with reference CECE Learning, I would be most grateful.  Any additional funds will be used for the benefit of the pupils, perhaps for providing a healthy break time snack, materials and even a salary for an additional teacher.

Unfortunately I do not have a charity, so it is not possible to increase donations by Gift Aid.  If anyone is able to help me by starting a supporting charity that would be fantastic.

Please circulate this message as widely as you can.

Bricks, Mortar and Spirit

A couple of months ago I visited Torit, the state capital of East Equatoria State.  It is also the seat of the Catholic Diocese of Torit, which includes Nimule in its area.  While there, I decided to visit the cathedral.  I was expecting to see a grand building similar to the cathedral in Kampala, which is a magnificent French Gothic building built soon after the missionaries arrived, or maybe a lovely Italian style church similar to those I saw in the north of Sudan where the Comboni Missionaries were very active.

View of the altar at Torit's cathedral

In fact the cathedral is a cracked and ruined shell.  Fragments of stained glass cling to a few high windows, but other than that it is a total wreck.  I was almost reduced to tears it was such a sad sight. 

I met the Apostolic Administrator (the head of the Diocese while they wait for a replacement for the previous Bishop).  He told me that the current cathedral is the fourth on that site.  The first was built by the Comboni Missionaries who brought Catholicism to Sudan in the 19^th century.  That building was obliterated by the Arabs and rebuilt three times during the seemingly endless war.  Each time it was destroyed by bombing again.  The Diocese is trying to find funds to replace the fourth one.  They have been told by the surveyors that the foundations are now too unstable so that the cathedral will need to be built on another site.  In the meantime the congregation sits under a very large shelter in the grounds.

Back home in Nimule, Mass is celebrated in a very shabby chapel dedicated to St Patrick.  Like the cathedral, the chapel was bombed, but not so disastrously.  It is very plain.  There is a tiny cross on the altar and one statue of the Virgin and Child.  Other than that the chapel is completely unadorned.  It is also far too small for the parish.  So much so that many people have to stay outside, listening via loudspeaker.  The chapel replaced an even smaller wooden chapel. 

The parish priest, Father John, and several predecessors have fundraised for a long time with the aim of building a bigger church.  Late last year Father John took the plunge and decided that too much time had gone by.  Even though donations were insufficient he ordered the building work to begin in January this year.  Work has been moving ahead very quickly since then. 

The construction work at St Patricks.  You can just make out
the chapel inside, dwarfed by the new church.

Fundraising continues while work progresses.  Every Sunday the congregations of each Mass compete to raise the largest amount.  There are contests at the end of each Mass between various groups, youth against elderly, men against women, supporters of various football teams etc.  In spite of all encouragement it is very hard for parishioners to find much money because the vast majority are desperately poor, struggling to eat more than one meal a day.  We are fortunate that the compound is very large and parts of it are rented out to big international organisations such as the UN, Caritas and others.  In his determination to make the best of the funds, Father John asks for the rent to be paid in dollars.  A proportion goes towards the ongoing construction work. 

The church is being built around the current chapel, so that it can make use of the old foundations.  As a result the congregation has to step over the building materials and walls to get inside.  Once the chapel is demolished we will be celebrating Mass under trees elsewhere in the compound.

Visiting clergy from Torit look with envy at the building activity.  They are even considering the possibility of moving the cathedral from Torit to Nimule to take advantage of our parish’s fundraising.  Whether this happens or not, there is a desperate need of more funds to complete the work. 

The Diocese is a very poor one even though it is rich in land.  There is a shortage of priests because a lot have been called to the Islamic north by the Archdiocese where they are ministering to the persecuted Christians.  In everything the Diocese is hampered by lack of finance.  To counteract these factors and meet the needs of the people, the Apostolic Administrator is trying to entice religious orders and congregations to come and help with pastoral work.  So far one Korean congregation has agreed to come, who intend to provide training courses.  More are desperately needed.

A previous Bishop of Torit, Bishop Paride Taban, is now a Bishop Emeritus after gaining permission from the Pope to devote himself to peace and reconciliation work between warring factions across the country.  His efforts are considerably more successful than the peace talks in Addis Ababa.  I have heard him speak several times.  Peace is his passion – he never talks about anything else.

In Nimule, as well as his excellent efforts for the new church, Father John is a qualified counsellor, trained in the US and specialising in Traumatic Stress Disorder.  He does a lot of counselling work in the local displacement camp as well as within the parish. People here struggle with terrible memories and are in huge need of his counselling.

Bishop Johnson Akio Mutek's tomb

It looks very much as though hope for the future comes through the Catholic Church which appears to be carrying out the will of a previous bishop, Johnson Akio Mutek, whose tomb is just outside the cathedral.  His ‘will’ to his flock is inscribed on his tomb.  It reads as follows:

What we need in our Diocese:

·         Courage and determination

·         Honesty and sincerity

·         Transparency and commitment

·         Sacrifice and hard work

·         Freedom from great expectation from outside resources

·         Freedom from unnecessary long sitting instead of working and reading

·         Freedom from negative thinking instead of creative and progressive pastoral development

·         Avoid segregation and stereotyping

·         Avoid nepotism and ethnicity

·         Work for unity, peace, hope and harmony to build the nation

·         Work for peace within our hearts, families, neighbours, villages and society to build the nation and the Diocese

Father John said in a speech last week that before you can help people solve their problems they need spiritual healing.  Bricks and mortar are important.  But first of all, spiritual peace.  Without that everything will continue to be destroyed, as is so clearly the case here in South Sudan.

Orphanages – a dirty word? It’s a question of perspective

A friend recently said to me that it takes about two years to adjust to South Sudanese culture.  I think this is very true.

When I first arrived at Cornerstone, I suffered severe culture shock.  I saw the poverty at the children’s home while being aware that they were funded from an American charity.  I saw the poor nutrition, poor hygiene, poor literacy levels, poorly educated adults.  I saw barriers between different types of Christian, barriers between tribes and barriers between the children’s home and the town.  I saw a very strange type of Christianity with large elements of paganism.  I found what I saw as corruption, but was actually not.  I found it hard to find anything positive.  I think if you read my early blog posts this comes across.  I can only say that I am very sorry for my harshness.

Now, after a year and a half, what do I see?  I see people (ex-refugees themselves) at Cornerstone who are doing their best against huge odds and managing amazingly successfully.  I see children who are happy in spite of their extremely difficult circumstances.  The blinkers came off last year when I realised that out of all the orphanages in the country, Cornerstone was top of the league.

There is a huge divide between the western world and South Sudan.  South Sudan has suffered almost continuous civil war since the 1960s.  An infrastructure never existed.  Education barely existed except for the privileged few.  The entire population has been displaced repeatedly.  Healthcare is minimal.  Mortality rates are shockingly high.  It is hard for westerners to appreciate the impact of all these factors when it is beyond their own experience.

The western world responds with quick fixes.  NGOs want to be involved in short term ‘projects’ in selected areas of the country.  They want to be involved in ‘humanitarian’ work.  The range of humanitarian work is again very narrow.  For example, I am finding in my search for donors that orphanages are often not classed as humanitarian work in spite of the vast problem of destitute street children.  I start to suspect that NGOs want constantly changing projects so that they can have constantly changing webpages.  If there is constant change, maybe they feel they will be able to generate more interest from the public.  If so, it certainly isn’t helpful to South Sudan.

Like me when I first arrived, I think outsiders don’t get the full picture. In western countries the words ‘orphanage’ and ‘children’s home’ are loaded with negativity.  At least in Britain, they have a reputation for coldness, neglect, child abuse and institutionalisation leading to future homelessness.  No wonder they are hated.

During my recent efforts to find funding for Cornerstone, more than one NGO employee has told me that NGOs don’t like funding children’s homes because they and their donors believe in home-care.  Yes, of course it would be wonderful if all South Sudanese children had a caring family. 

However, here in South Sudan there are problems which are not faced in western countries.  There are huge numbers of children lacking parental care for various reasons.

Life expectancy is 42 years old and maternal mortality rates are the highest in Africa.  As a result children have a high chance of being orphaned even without the dangers of civil war causing death or displacement.  Orphaned or displaced children are frequently abandoned on the streets, if they have no direct relatives to take them into their homes.  Tribal values mean that even extended family will not treat their orphaned relatives well – their own children come first, leaving the cuckoos in the nest starved and unloved.  This is the norm and nobody feels any sense of guilt about it. 

Here is a prime example of my early culture shock.  On one occasion I was attending a prayer meeting where a woman asked for prayer because she was infertile.  I immediately spoke to one of the pastors because only the week before Cornerstone had started to support a new-born baby whose mother had died.  The foster mother, even though she claimed to be a good friend of the baby's dead mother, was very reluctant to keep the baby and only agreed to keep him until he was a toddler.  Surely this desperate, infertile woman would be delighted with this answer to her prayers?  Not a bit of it.  My suggestion was greeted with shock.  Nobody would consider adopting a baby.  It is totally counter-cultural.  

All large South Sudanese towns have a problem with huge numbers of street children.  Although this isn’t the case in Nimule, which is a relatively new town, there are realistic fears that it will develop a street child problem because the town is growing. 

Another problem caused by Nimule’s expansion is the influx of witchdoctors from elsewhere in South Sudan or Uganda.  These witchdoctors practise child sacrifice on a routine basis.  Imagine the dangers faced by street children in these circumstances.

Next week a government official will be visiting Cornerstone to discuss how Cornerstone can help.  Given the state of Cornerstone’s finances at the moment, this may not be a very productive meeting.

Cornerstone is not at all like the western conception of a children’s home.  The children are happy and very sociable.  Admittedly conditions are very basic compared to a non-African children’s home.  There is no running water.  The diet is very limited.  Apart from the youngest children, the children are responsible for their own washing, mending and ironing.  They help in the kitchen.  They clean their own dormitories and sweep and maintain the compound.  On the positive side, these are essential life skills, so these children will be far more capable of looking after themselves in adulthood than their western counterparts.

When not in school or doing their chores, the children play.  They are hugely inventive compared to western children because of the complete absence of toys.  They make their own cars out of pieces of metal, clay mobile phones, balls made of old plastic bags.  Whatever they want, they seem to be able to make.  One very resourceful boy was given two pairs of rabbits by a relative.  He is totally absorbed in caring for them.  He is determined that we will all be eating rabbit soon!

Unlike any other South Sudanese children’s home, Cornerstone has managed to ensure that all children go to school.  Some go for further studies to Uganda.  It is extremely rare in Britain for a ‘looked after’ child to reach university, given the expectation that they will leave care at 18 years old.  What a feather in Cornerstone’s cap!

Also unlike a British children’s home, we have an on-site clinic, capable of treating most ailments, including typhoid and malaria.  In cases of major illness, they get hospital treatment, even going to Uganda if necessary.  Again, no other South Sudanese children’s home has the facilities to do this.

As mentioned previously Cornerstone is the best children’s home in South Sudan.  It is a safe place for very vulnerable children. Over the past year we have welcomed three children whose parents were shot in the fighting further north, two small children whose mothers died giving birth due to HIV and whose fathers are unknown and three street children.  There is nowhere else for children like this.  All these new children have settled in well, welcomed beautifully by the old hands.  They are incredibly fortunate to be here.

Please talk to NGOs about the importance of funding places such as Cornerstone.  It is easy to say, ‘We think all children should be in a home setting’, but it is an ideal too far in South Sudan at the moment. 

It is easy for NGOs to say, ‘We only fund short-term humanitarian projects’.  In what way is helping orphans and street children not humanitarian work?  Certainly it is long-term, but given the huge numbers it is VITALLY important for the future of this country.

If you are able to help Cornerstone financially, please see the link to Fulaa.

What would I do without my friends?

I have been bowled over.

Last year I put up a blog post about the difficulties of our on-site clinic.  My son and daughter-in-law responded by paying for a solar medical fridge to be sent to us.  It is due to arrive in a few days’ time.  It will make a huge difference to the staff’s ability to provide medicines which cannot be accessed in Nimule due to lack of electricity and refrigeration.  We will be able to protect our children’s health far better in future.

Late last year a friend of mine in England suggested that she come back to Nimule with me after my trip home for Christmas.  This came completely out of the blue.  Hazel is a retired teacher who is devoting her retirement to helping raise teaching standards in various African countries. 

She immediately set about collecting materials from her local schools.  By the time I arrived in London she had amassed a huge number of books, jigsaw puzzles, building blocks, posters and other teaching materials.  My daughter Helena, similarly produced a lot of children’s books.

There was far too much to carry as luggage, both from the point of view of the baggage allowance and also because travel through Uganda to South Sudan is not easy.  I had donations from a U.S. supporter and also from my daughter which combined to provide the right amount to be able to send the heaviest items by post.  As there is no post at all in South Sudan, a missionary friend agreed that we could make use of her family’s P.O. Box address in Uganda.  Once the boxes arrive they will bring them to South Sudan by jeep.

Hazel and I travelled back to Nimule together.  Hazel immediately started rounding up the children (literally as they are not at all disciplined) and teaching them in small groups.  I don’t know how she kept it up, but she did.  Living conditions here are a shock to those not used to them and can be very draining.  In spite of obstacles of climate and difficult children Hazel did wonders.  Some children who I have never persuaded to study finally spent one-to-one time, or small group time, learning basic literacy and numeracy through games.  At the end of Hazel’s stay, several children, including some very reluctant learners, were really sad to see her go.  I have promised to keep them in touch using my email address.  The children felt very encouraged.

Then, as you know from recent posts, we had bad news from Fulaa about cuts to funding.  I hate looking for funds!  It is not something I get any pleasure from.  Some of my friends have listened to my embarrassing pleas and responded incredibly generously.  Thank you so much for listening to me.

Since last week several of you have responded in different ways, all very valuably.  One friend has donated $2,000 to Fulaa.  Another has provided funds for exercise books and pens for all those attending school.  Another is holding a meeting at his church to look at sponsoring one of the older students as a group.  The costs for further education in Uganda are huge compared to any other part of the Cornerstone budget.

My journey last week to Torit and Juba was not fruitless.  A man I met on my travels is going to spread the word in Australia at the NGO that employs him.  I heard back from the director of a very large NGO which I had visited asking for details of our accounts.  That seems to me to be a very hopeful sign.  If they agree to help us, we will be in a much more secure position.

Thank you to all friends who have helped in your different ways.  The children are feeling deeply insecure, but I now have tangible offers of help that I can remind them about. 

Please continue to support Cornerstone either through donations via Fulaa, by spreading the word about our predicament, or in any other way that occurs to you.  If you have contact with any churches or charities that would take an interest on a long term basis, please pass my details on to them.

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.

Christmas at Cornerstone

I was present at Cornerstone for Christmas 2013.  In the morning we all went to church, with the children smartly dressed in new clothes bought for them by the pastor.  Later in the day they had a very large meal of many dishes.  Afterwards one of the children described the sensation of feeling full to me, which for him was a total novelty.  He thought he was ill.  Nobody was capable of eating in the evening.

In the run-up to Christmas 2014 we were told that there was no additional funding available for a Christmas celebration.  This caused great disappointment to the children as Christmas is the highpoint of their year.  One of our new children,  who had not yet experienced Christmas at Cornerstone and is still grieving for his recently murdered parents, was particularly downhearted.

A very kind supporter from the US contacted me out of the blue to ask if there was anything needed at Cornerstone at the moment.  I told her that the main need was for money for a Christmas celebration.  She immediately responded that she would send $500 for that purpose.  She also sent another $500 for me to use in England to buy things for the children.  What a wonderful gift to our children!

We had a family meeting shortly before I left in which the children were consulted about what food they would like to have.  They came up with a long list.

I phoned on Christmas Day and spoke to several children, who all sounded very, very happy.  They had a wonderful time.  Here are some of their comments, almost entirely food-related as their hearts are firmly in their stomachs!

Stuffed children Christmas 2013 (sorry I have no pictures from this year,
but at least this gives a flavour).

“We had food and soda.”  (Soda is the word used here for any fizzy drink.)

“It was very nice.  The food and everything.”

“We had chicken and soup, cake and Irish potatoes.”

“Rice, chicken and chips, soda, biscuits, cake….”

“It was good.  There was fruit.”

“It was very nice.  I ate sweets, eggs, chapattis, milk, chicken….”

“It was very nice.  We prayed and sang.  It was a very good day.  Everyone was very excited.”

“It was very good.  Everyone was in a good mood and there was no fighting.

“It was good.  Everything was good.”

The first child I asked when I returned was the little boy who had been so despondent beforehand.  A wide grin swept his face and he said it was a lovely Christmas.  The highlight was “soda”. 

We all want to say a deeply felt thank you to Karen Morgan for her wonderful Christmas gift which meant so much to all our children and to all the staff who really wanted to provide a lovely Christmas for them.