You will have seen from the news the terrible events here in South Sudan. My last post was on the same subject. The town has seen a mass exodus even though there has been not one single gunshot. As I have seen on several occasions in the time I've been here, this is the usual pattern. The refugee camps in Uganda are filling up purely on the basis of events elsewhere and alarmist rumours. Tragically the cycle of moving to and from refugee camps continues across generations.
The churches and local officials are trying to talk people into staying. In my view they are completely right. Everyone has planted their subsistence crops; these crops will now go to waste while their planters live on foreign aid. Children are wrenched out of school and will learn camp culture rather than a normal social culture.
But what, I hear you ask, has happened to Cece Primary School? At first I worried that the school would have to close due to lack of numbers, like almost every other school in the country. Then I had a sudden, and very miraculous, inspiration to open the doors of the school to any primary-stage children still in Nimule. The numbers attending were right down to six children last week. Since I announced the open-door policy the numbers are starting to rise. Yesterday and today we had fifteen children, a third of whom are new faces. As word gets around I expect the numbers to increase. This is our contribution to the effort of stabilising the local situation. Inevitably some of our teachers have left for the camp, but with small numbers this does not matter too much. We also lost both cooks. We are about to employ a replacement, as feeding the children is, literally, vital. I am so relieved that we are able to continue and perform a real public service now that other schools are closed.
Charles Anyanzo, the Director of HUMAES, my local partner organisation, has also had a very good idea. Like me, he is very concerned about the persistent refugee mentality which, combined with the political situation, completely stops any progress in the country. He is considering the possibility of HUMAES going into the camps to educate the people on a range of issues; adult education, health, sanitation, conflict resolution and peace-building, to name but a few areas. For this we would need the permission of the UN and the Ugandan government. The overall aim would be to heighten awareness of 'nationhood' and to break the refugee mentality so that South Sudan can stabilise.
At the moment we are at the brainstorming stage. If anyone can think of ways to achieve these aims in practical terms, please let me know.
The churches and local officials are trying to talk people into staying. In my view they are completely right. Everyone has planted their subsistence crops; these crops will now go to waste while their planters live on foreign aid. Children are wrenched out of school and will learn camp culture rather than a normal social culture.
But what, I hear you ask, has happened to Cece Primary School? At first I worried that the school would have to close due to lack of numbers, like almost every other school in the country. Then I had a sudden, and very miraculous, inspiration to open the doors of the school to any primary-stage children still in Nimule. The numbers attending were right down to six children last week. Since I announced the open-door policy the numbers are starting to rise. Yesterday and today we had fifteen children, a third of whom are new faces. As word gets around I expect the numbers to increase. This is our contribution to the effort of stabilising the local situation. Inevitably some of our teachers have left for the camp, but with small numbers this does not matter too much. We also lost both cooks. We are about to employ a replacement, as feeding the children is, literally, vital. I am so relieved that we are able to continue and perform a real public service now that other schools are closed.
Charles Anyanzo, the Director of HUMAES, my local partner organisation, has also had a very good idea. Like me, he is very concerned about the persistent refugee mentality which, combined with the political situation, completely stops any progress in the country. He is considering the possibility of HUMAES going into the camps to educate the people on a range of issues; adult education, health, sanitation, conflict resolution and peace-building, to name but a few areas. For this we would need the permission of the UN and the Ugandan government. The overall aim would be to heighten awareness of 'nationhood' and to break the refugee mentality so that South Sudan can stabilise.
At the moment we are at the brainstorming stage. If anyone can think of ways to achieve these aims in practical terms, please let me know.
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