Thieves in Nimule

I have mentioned my own first experience of a burglary here in Nimule in a previous post.  Since the situation broke out in July, thieving has exploded.  This is because so many people have left for the refugee camps leaving their homes and vegetable gardens unattended and vulnerable.  Previously thieves operated under cover of dark, but they are becoming bolder and are increasingly targeting more isolated homes even in the daytime.

As mentioned I have had one successful break-in, which I wrote about previously.  Since then I have had two more unsuccessful ones.  The HUMAES office next to my room has also been targeted unsuccessfully.

Originally I had just one padlock, on the outside of my door.  Now there are two, one inside and the other outside.  The locks were originally fairly heavy duty but standard ones.  Now they are becoming more high-tech. 

In the second attempt, the outside lock was successfully removed by the burglars.  Before tackling the inside lock, they shone a light through the door hatch.  That light woke me so that I shouted out.  Luckily this caused them to run away without attempting the inside lock.

During the latest attempt, the burglars used a master key which broke in the outside lock, so that they could not get any further.  It equally stopped me from being able to unlock the door.  We had to ask someone with a saw to break the lock.  The inside lock was undamaged as they were unable to access it. 

I now have a lock with an alarm, which is on the inside, as I suspect that it is possible to break it (one of the same type was broken on the HUMAES office door).  On the outside is the most difficult and expensive lock so far.  It is a struggle even for the rightful key-holder to open, let alone someone trying to break it.

How has all this affected me?  I find that the first night after a burglary attempt, I wake with every night time noise with palpitations. This calms down with prayer.  I am still determined to stay, so I have had to find means of coping.  For example I find it helps to joke about the need to budget for a new padlock every few weeks as a regular expenditure.

I also pray for the thieves as well as for myself and all who suffer from lack of security even of their own bedrooms.  One thing that has become more evident through my meditations on the thieves is their hopelessness.  I am positive that a root cause of their behaviour is lack of education.  With education come prospects.  South Sudan has an illiteracy rate of around 85%.  This is due to lack of money for school fees, children being orphaned and sometimes left as street children, begging for food, and constant disruption of education due to war. 

Many international NGOs focus on education for girls to the exclusion of boys.  I would point out that if it were as simple as a neglect of girls’ education, the statistics would be around 50%, not 85%.  Boys are particularly at risk of becoming street children and then child soldiers.  Girls are more likely to be married off early.

I have met many young men who are virtually feral due to lack of a family life, lack of the discipline of education, resulting illiteracy and trauma from being forced to be children soldiers where they witnessed and participated in serious atrocities.  They spend their lives drinking, taking drugs, fighting and are almost certainly the same people who are breaking into homes, killing the residents and stealing everything not chained down.

I know teenage boys at severe risk of such a wasted and ruined life.  Surely we must be fair to both boys and girls.  Cece Primary School takes children from the bottom of society, regardless of age or gender.  Although the older children are particularly difficult to education, in the name of social justice we must do our best.

Please can I ask for your help to make our plans a reality.  A small monthly donation will help a lot with our day to day running costs of staff wages, feeding, pencils etc. Larger lump sums will go towards construction costs for our new school buildings.  Please email me on rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk so I can send you the Gift Aid form.  This applies whether or not you are a UK tax-payer.  You will need to set up a standing order to the Sean Devereux account, whose details are on the Gift Aid form. 

Please circulate this post as widely as possible.  I have set up a Facebook page for the school.  It can be found by searching for @nimule on Facebook.  I try to keep it updated regularly, but this is dependent on internet access, which is sketchy and expensive in Nimule.