Chicken and New Clothes for Christmas

I want to share my lovely South Sudanese Christmas.  All is not doom and gloom here. 

Every year it’s the same.  Clothes are the big thing at Christmas in Nimule.  Food also, but clothes reign supreme.  Unfortunately, due to my plastered arm I was unable to compete.  I wore the best of my kitenges (African print dresses) which would fit over my arm.  The dress I had intended to wear was made for me by a girl whose tailoring classes I paid for.  I know she was disappointed that I couldn’t wear it.  As soon as the plaster comes off, I will post a photo on Facebook.

Cooking the chicken

My day started with Mass.  As I was leaving for church I saw Concy, who is a member of Cece Primary School and lives with us, cooking our Christmas dinner – a chicken which had been squawking in our compound the day before.  Chicken is a major luxury here.  It costs half a teacher’s monthly salary, so we only eat it on high days and holidays here.  However, I am luckier than most.  I usually manage to eat chicken when I visit Uganda.

The church was packed with at least a thousand people all dressed to the nines.  By way of celebration the priest had decided to perform forty-five baptisms.  He didn’t cut any corners with the sermon and the choir was unstoppable too.  The Mass was therefore nearly four hours long.  That’s the way everyone likes it here - the longer the better, particularly on a special occasion such as Christmas.  I have to admit that I find it trying, but hey, I am in a minority of one.

After Mass I walked back home.  Pascalina was finishing the cooking.  In addition to chicken, there was goat meat.  In celebration of Christmas, there were no vegetables.  This is in complete contrast to our normal diet in which we rarely see meat. 

Pascalina’s grandchildren were visiting from Moyo, a small town in Uganda.  They had brought with them a large quantity of rice harvested from their own smallholding.  This is the very first time I have ever eaten rice grown by people I know.  I found that rather exciting.  It may be pure imagination, but it seemed particularly delicious to me.

A

Children eat together

fter eating, the large herd of Pascalina’s grandchildren and great-nieces and nephews played happily all afternoon, before a second round of eating the remaining food.  Two days later, as I write, they are still playing.  Although they are all related, they live far from each other.  Some have never met before, but you would never know it.

We adults sat on the veranda facing the road and watched the world go by.  This has become my favourite part of Christmas.  Children and teenagers divide themselves by age and sex and parade up and down wearing their swanky new clothes.  The teenagers are hilarious.  This year they are all wearing identical black stretch jeans, covered in white patterns and sometimes adorned with handkerchiefs which they tie around their knees to complete the effect.  One young man stood out, dressed in bright yellow from head to foot, and I mean ‘from head’ – he was wearing a bright yellow wig!  I think they all thought they were looking ‘cool’.  I love teenagers.

Children pose in their new clothes

A lot of the younger children came up to us to say ‘Happy Christmas’.  They were given handfuls of sweets.  On past Christmases, Pascalina has handed out homemade shortbread, but this year she wasn’t up to it.  Her health has been poor and baking without a real oven is a major struggle.

Late in the afternoon we heard drums and Dinka singing.  One of the Dinka churches came through the town in procession, led by people dressed as Joseph and Mary, with Jesus in Mary’s arms.  The major festivals of Christmas and Easter are always marked in this way by the Dinka community.  The procession was a reminder of the tribal divisions in South Sudan.  Some churches segregate themselves.  Many of the local Madi community are deeply suspicious of the Dinka, justifiably when it comes to the many atrocities perpetrated by the Dinka army.  However, the Dinka residents of Nimule are mainly women and children who have fled genocide in their own tribal areas.  The feelings aroused remind me of the Northern Irish Catholic distrust of the Orangemen parades in Belfast.  Thankfully, those are becoming history.  Hopefully the same will be the case here too, in the not too distant future.

I hope you also had an enjoyable and restful Christmas and that 2020 will be a good year.

End of the school year

We wish all our supporters a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

My trip to England is now over and I have been back in South Sudan for a few months.  I apologise for the silence since then.  I have been overwhelmed with work and even now am struggling with a broken arm.

I want to remind readers that South Sudan is one of the very poorest countries in the world.  In addition to poverty, the level of ignorance is extreme and there are constant upheavals due to war.  Many things taken for granted even in other developing countries are unknown here.  I have lived in South Sudan for six years and have therefore acclimatized and now take a lot of these problems for granted.  For this reason I have seldom written about them.  My omission has been highlighted by a recent visitor.  South Sudan really is bottom of all the league tables, whether in poverty, education, morality, health, sanitation, livelihood – you name it.

Our children are from very neglectful and often abusive families.  Theirs is not a Disney-style, rose-tinted glasses type of poverty.  It is full on.  Behaviour is a huge problem, copied from the behaviour all around them, even from their families.  There are no social services to step in.  The police are untrained, corrupt and are as violent as everyone else.  They often confuse traditional and statutory law.

Even the teachers, who are all South Sudanese, are often a problem because their own life experiences are the same as those of the rest of society. 

Time management is a big challenge as people here lack the concept of time, apart from the obvious rising and setting of the sun. If it is a cloudy day everyone is late.

We work on what we can, but it is a slow process and often resisted.  For example, when children fight we listen to their reasons for fighting, warn them not to repeat, ask them to forgive each other, then if the matter is still not resolved, we send for their parents.  As often as not, the parents then accuse us of not beating their children.  Some have removed their children from the school for that reason.

We have several pieces of good news.

A small charity in the UK called Pencils for All has provided us with a playground consisting of swings, a roundabout, see-saw and slide.  Due to the situation here it has had to be surrounded by a fence which looks more suited to a prison.  Metal is very much coveted, and so the playground has to be well protected if it is to remain ours.  It is lovely for the children to have this play area.  They are so excited.  Watching them is very uplifting.  There are very few playgrounds in Nimule, so this the first time for many of them to experience one.  The same charity has also provided much needed learning aids and stationery.  They have been so generous and we are all deeply grateful.

The girls football team

Our school took part in its first football match against another school.  We did not have football kits and had to borrow from another school, who charged us for the privilege.  Pencils for All has donated money to buy two sets of football kits for future use.  Our girls’ team won the match 1:0 and the boys drew 0:0, so we are off to a good start in our football career.

The final exam results showed that 67% of children passed.    We have now closed for the end of year holidays and start again with a new Primary 6 class in February. 

Please can I ask for regular donations through Opportunity through Education.   We are in great need of a boost in our regular income as we need to employ new teachers next year to cater for an increase in the number of classes as we will have our first Primary 6 class.  We also need to feed the children. 

We also urgently need to start building work on a new block of classrooms for 2021.  I know this seems very early, but building work is costly and we need to start fund-raising now.

I am happy to send gift aid forms to anyone interested.  My email address is rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk.  It is also now possible to make donations online through Virgin Money Giving.  Please be aware that it is necessary to put ‘Cece Primary School’ in the comments box, as Opportunity through Education also collects funds for other causes.  Virgin Giving charges a hefty admin fee on large donations, so please send direct to Opportunity through Education if you are considering sending over £1,000.

Journey back to England

The end of term school exams are over and school has closed for the holidays.  I am now on the move on my way back to England.  My journey has been busy and eventful. 

Shortly before leaving Nimule, a girl from the orphanage where I previously volunteered came to visit me.  Her name is Concy.  She has an artificial leg which, while I was at the orphanage, needed to be reviewed by the Red Cross in Juba every six months, in case she had grown and needed a new leg, or in case any repairs or adjustments were necessary.  Since then the orphanage has moved to Uganda and I no longer had the chance to help in that way.  She is now 19 years old and at a boarding secondary school in Uganda.  During the school holidays she stays with an older brother in Nimule. 

When she visited me, she said that her leg was no longer fitting properly and that she thought she needed a new leg.  It was three years since her leg was last reviewed.  My heart sank.  I was about to start my journey through Uganda and did not have time to take her to Juba, which is in the opposite direction.  More importantly, the road to Juba is currently insecure as there has been recent fighting along the road.  Vehicles have been attacked and civilians murdered.  I did not know what to do.  Fortunately, a visiting bishop gave me the answer.  He told me that there is an NGO called AVSI in Gulu (a town I was intending to pass through in any case) who make artificial limbs.  I found their contact details and made an appointment for Concy.  So Concy travelled with me to Gulu on the first leg of my journey.

We went to the orthopaedic department run by AVSI where her leg was checked.  It turned out that only minor repair and adjustment was needed, but that she did not need a new leg.  The repair was done while we waited, so Concy was able to travel back to Nimule the very next day.

From left to right, Betty, Margaret and Concy
in Gulu

While in Gulu, Concy had the opportunity to have a reunion with two former fellow orphans, Betty and Margaret, from the same orphanage, which was very nice for them all.  I also bought a quantity of beads and beadwork materials for her as she is very keen on traditional African beadwork.  This will give her the ability to sell her handicrafts and make a bit of money to help her over the school holidays while staying with her brother, who is unemployed.  It is also a step towards adult life and learning to support herself.

Also while in Gulu, I paid the school fees and other expenses for Margaret, who is at boarding school in Gulu, on behalf of an American sponsor.  It is good to stay in contact with the orphans who I stayed with for the first two years of my time in South Sudan.  I grew to know them well and care very much about them.  Many do not have supportive families to help them when they leave the orphanage, and having spent their childhood in an institution can find it very hard to adjust to a more normal life.  This has been the case with both Concy and Margaret and quite a few others who have come to me for help.  I am not alone in this endeavour.  Another former volunteer lives in Gulu and has also assisted ex-orphans in the same way, including Betty, who is in the photo.  Betty is now a qualified tailor working in Gulu.

From Gulu I took a long distance bus to Budaderi, near Mbale to see the deaf children and repeat the process of paying next term’s school fees and other expenses.  I stayed with a local family this time, rather than in a hotel as I have done previously.  It was a very good experience.  The children are all doing well.  The two new children, Paul and Lillian, who joined the other children last term are now fluent sign language users and have moved up into higher classes.  Both have changed out of all recognition, purely because they now smile and look so happy.  It has made such a difference to all these children’s lives to be able to have a means of communication.  Lillian used to be very short-tempered and hit out at people in her frustration.  This has completely stopped now that she can express herself. 

Most of the children (John was out at his
work placement).  The lady is the head of the
Hearing Impaired Unit.

When I arrived four of the children (John, Paul, Lillian and Alice) were away at a state-organized sports event for disabled children from schools across the district.  They returned several days later having won football, volleyball and netball trophies for the school.  John, who I mentioned in my last post about the deaf children, is at the deaf secondary school in Mbale doing a shoemaking course, was supposed to have a work placement at a shoemaking business over the holidays.  There was no advance notice of this, so I was very fortunate to find a small business making handmade leather sandals locally.  The shoemaker was willing to let him come, so he was able to get at least a short amount of work experience.  As I was leaving, the shoemaker told me that he was very pleased with John’s work.  Altogether I spent over a week organizing the children’s various requirements.

From Mbale I crossed the border to Kenya.  This is my very first visit to Kenya.  I took a public minibus to visit a religious sister, who used to be part of a community in Nimule and became a very good friend of mine while she was there.  The community left South Sudan two years ago and the members were posted to various other communities around Uganda and Kenya.  My friend has repeatedly invited me to visit, but this is the first time I have had time.  It is a similar distance to an international airport from Mbale, whether I travelled to Entebbe or Nairobi, so it made sense to visit while travelling back to England.  However, the journey was much lengthier than anticipated as I took a stopping minibus by mistake instead of an express one.  Altogether my journey that day lasted from 6 am to 10 pm.  I was completely shattered by the time I arrived at Gilgil, where my friend’s community is based.  I was quite ill with exhaustion.

I am staying in a lovely guestroom where I have been able to recover from my exhaustion, before my much shorter journey to Nairobi to catch a plane to England.  This is the first proper rest I have had for a very long time and is much needed.  Once in England I will be looking for financial help for the school in Nimule and, hopefully, for people who might be interested in volunteering to come and assist me in my work.  There are very many children in very great need, and this is becoming more than enough for one person.  

A twelve year old ambassador for our school

A twelve year old girl called Janet was taken ill with malaria on Friday while at school.  Patrick our headteacher took her to the local health facility, where she was admitted and put on a drip because of dehydration.  After a two night stay she was discharged early on Sunday.

She bounced back as though nothing had happened and was one of the traditional dance team at both Sunday Masses.  After the second Mass she came up to me saying that she had had nothing to eat except for some biscuits, which I had bought her the previous evening and was really hungry.  I don't know how she managed to keep her energy levels up at all for all that dancing.  

Like many other pupils, she has a very difficult home situation and cannot rely on being fed at home.  The drugs for malaria are very strong and should not be taken without food.  I invited her to come back with me so I could find her something to eat.

On our way, Janet talked non-stop about the importance of education.  I could not believe my ears.  This same girl has a very low attention span and is definitely a slow learner in the classroom, but here she was eagerly telling me her plans to go on to secondary school and get a good job in future, in English!  I will hold her to it!

We passed a group of boys of roughly her age, who were crowded around the door of a bar, trying to watch the television.  Janet told me that these boys pick up empty plastic bottles and take them several miles to a recycling place across the border in Uganda to make a very small amount of money so they can eat.  She said she had tried to persuade them to go to Cece Primary School, but they did not understand the importance of going to school.  Although they knew that Cece Primary School is the only school they could attend (because we don’t charge school fees) they do not come because they have heard that our school only provides porridge to eat.  Janet told them that the other schools had nothing to eat at all, but that education is more important than food.  Talk about commitment!

It was great to have that bit of time with this one child, instead of always facing a large class where there is no opportunity for individual conversations.  If Janet, who as I say is not a high achiever, feels so strongly about getting an education, what about all the others?  I felt much encouraged.

Porridge is served as children line up to wash their hands.

The World Food Program and Plan International are supposed to provide food for all the schools in the Nimule area, but have stopped doing so without any explanation.  This term they provided food for less than a week at the beginning of term and then nothing further.  As described in my conversation with Janet, feeding is essential due to our children’s home situations, which are very poor.  We also have some children in the school with HIV, for whom regular feeding is a matter of life or death.  HIV drugs are dangerous if taken on an empty stomach and become ineffective against HIV.  Currently the porridge we provide is coming out of the budget for construction as an emergency measure.  This has impacted on our construction work, which is also very important.

Please can I ask for regular donations through Opportunity through Education for feeding purposes?  I am happy to send gift aid forms to anyone interested.  My email address is rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk.  

The Refugee Mentality

I thought I would give you a bit of the background against which Cece Primary School operates.

Here in Nimule, it is impossible to find anybody who has not been a refugee at some point in their lives.  First the war for independence from the Arab north of Sudan, and then the current civil war have caused massive instability due to the conflicts themselves.  There has been almost ceaseless war for many years.  People have been displaced from their homes repeatedly over all this time.  They have had to go back to square one each time, starting afresh with no possessions, with missing or dead family members and ever increasing numbers of orphans.

As a result of so many episodes of displacement and the resulting refugee status, traditions of self-reliance have been almost entirely destroyed.  It is accepted that the United Nations, World Food Program and all the many other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) will shelter, feed, clothe and care for everyone over long periods of time.  Generations of children in South Sudan have grown up seeing this is a normal way of life.  A society of beggars and thieves has been created.

I became particularly aware of this phenomenon in June 2016, when conflict came close to Nimule for the first time since I arrived in the country.  At the first hint of trouble elsewhere, people left for the camps like flocks of birds, and yet Nimule did not suffer at all.  I have remained here without incident for almost six years.

At the same time, many young, uneducated men and soldiers took advantage of so many empty homes to loot and carry off the possessions of those who had left.  They also looted their smallholdings (locally called ‘gardens’) of all their subsistence crops.  

It did not take long for many of these people to return, clutching ‘goodie bags’ of UN-issued equipment such as solar torches, blankets, mosquito nets and other things intended for those who were going to stay in the refugee camps.  They also came with large sacks of food.  All of the returnees were officially registered as refugees living in the refugee camps.  Each family had been allocated a plot of land in the camp for their own use, including land for cultivation.  They all left relatives behind to keep that plot of land going. 

They came back to find their homes broken into and all their belongings missing.  Their gardens were also destroyed, leaving people reliant on the UN issued food at least until the next harvest.  Many decided not to go back to farming and instead remain completely idle, waiting for the next handout.  For those with plots far out of the town, there was reason for this initially; people working in solitary locations have suffered rape, press-ganging into one or other of the rival armies and sometimes also been murdered.  However, this has now ceased.

Since 2016 a routine has developed.  Relatives living in the camps contact their Nimule-based family members whenever there is to be a census of the refugee population, so they can rush to the camps to be included in the official statistics and make sure they do not miss out on all the perks of being a refugee.  Whenever there is to be a distribution of ‘rations’ there is a similar exodus.  People then come back triumphantly loaded with food stuffs.  The whole economy of the town relies on the smuggling of food from the camps.  To give just one example, local restaurants and street vendors use the UN-issued maize flour to make chapattis and other bread products, supposedly making extra profit because of the freely issued flour.  That is the theory.  In fact they have to pay exorbitant taxi fares to and from distant refugee camps, which cancels out that profit.  Given the complete lack of education of the vast majority of people, this is not realized.

Children from Cece Primary School as well as all the other schools in Nimule are affected by this refugee culture.  They are often removed from school to take part in UN head-counts and to have their photos and fingerprints taken by the UN as though they were truly resident in the refugee camps.  This disrupts their education and teaches the children that it is right to lie to the authorities.  In some cases parents keep their children out of school for weeks working hard at various manual jobs in order to find the transport fares to make these trips.

The UN and other humanitarian agencies have created a great dependency on outside help, when people really need to learn to use their own initiative to make a living.  In my day-to-day life I am constantly stopped in the street by people who assume that because my skin is white I am there to give them hand-outs, particularly of drink and cigarettes, which are not provided by the UN.  And yet, there is no reason for their inability to care for themselves apart from the ingrained refugee mentality.

The same mentality causes people to see everything they are given as ‘throw-away’.  The solar lamps handed out in 2016 are no longer to be seen because they have been treated very roughly and were broken very quickly.  Mosquito nets are used as fishing nets because people have too many due to the large number of NGOs who give them out.  And yet the local fishermen traditionally make their own nets.

The UN creates the illusion that life is impossible in South Sudan and that the refugee camps are essential to save lives.  This is not the case, clearly, as so many people are abusing the system and living their daily lives in South Sudan.  Instead the UN is encouraging dependency and making it hard for people to learn to stand on their own two feet.

I was brought up in London at a time when there was a sustained IRA bombing campaign across public transport networks and tourist areas.  It went on for years.  To get to school each day I had to use that same transport and pass many targeted places.  When I talked to my parents about my worries, they told me that when they were my age, it was the Second World War.  The Government promoted a campaign with the motto, “Keep calm and carry on”.  They said I needed to do the same.  No running away.  When you run away you are giving up.  Whether it is the Nazis, the IRA or the civil war in South Sudan I believe the same principle applies.

If the South Sudanese people were to join hands and refuse to be moved, I believe that the war here would die out remarkably quickly.  People could then receive outside help that actually builds them up, with living skills, rather than remaining perpetual victims.  That is the purpose of Cece Primary School and also our partner organization Humans Must Access Essentials (HUMAES).  We are trying to build the resilience of the Nimule community and particularly of the children of the very poorest and most marginalized families.

Santukay leaves education

In 2017, a twelve year old girl called Santukay joined our school.  She comes from a tribe called the Lotuku, displaced from their own area by the war.  When originally registered, according to her aunt both parents were missing.  However, the story changed each year.  This year we were told that one parent is dead. 

Santukay (head circled) with some fellow pupils.

When she first joined our school Santukay had a bright and bubbly personality.  She had never attended school before.  Over her first year at school she learnt to read and write for the first time and made very swift progress.  I will always remember a day when I asked her class about their dreams for the future.  Most wanted to be pilots or the next president.  Santukay shouted out with her usual enthusiasm, “I want to be a manager!”  It seemed to me a very sensible choice.  Every break time, she was busy organizing the other children to learn tribal dancing and teaching them very well, demonstrating her natural organizational ability.  I thought, “She will go far.”

Last year, Santukay quietened down and ceased to participate in class as before.  Her school work was not so good any more.  She was often late for school.  This year, the same pattern continued.  She told us that her aunt gave her a lot of work to do before school.  Others told me that she is made to work solidly from morning to night while not at school, cooking, fetching water, selling things in the market… the list was endless.

Santukay has not returned to school this term.  Two weeks into the term, one of our teachers informed me that Santukay’s aunt beat her very badly during the holidays.  Santukay packed her belongings and ran away to Juba (the capital city of South Sudan) to look for another relative to live with.  She is now working in a dobbi (local laundry).  

Santukay's aunt was requesting me to try to get Santukay to come back.   At the same time blaming the school for Santukay's running away.  According to her it is because we have no corporal punishment at the school.  I should mention that Santukay has never given anyone cause to want to beat her at school.  I gave a resounding “No, I will not help the aunt to get her slave back again.”  Santukay is a strong-looking girl who is tall for her age.  I am sure that the plan of the aunt is ultimately to marry her off to get a good bride price.

There is no happy solution at least in the short term.  If Santukay comes back she will be back to the former slave labour and beatings, with the prospect of being married to somebody against her will.  If she stays in Juba, she will have no chance to continue her education as there is no one to support her and there are no free schools there.  Juba is not a safe place.  As it is the seat of government, there is often fighting on the streets between different government factions. 

What I hope is that if she can revive her drooping spirit, she will look for adult education opportunities in Juba and then be able to build on the two years of schooling she received with Cece Primary School.   There are NGOs who run free adult education programmes.  She is a very bright girl. This is possible.  On the other hand, she could end up a prostitute on the streets of Juba, with all her dreams of becoming a manager smashed.

This story is one which is common to many orphaned girls in South Sudan.  The girls are seen as workhorses, with the potential to bring in a substantial bride-price.  Nothing else. 

In one way Santukay has been lucky.  Without a school which would accept her without school fees, she would never have had any education at all.  Her small amount of education may help her yet.  People who can read and write are far and few between here.

This year, we have quite a few older girls, who are suffering in identical home situations.  One girl was married from school last year.  Most have had no previous education.  Even those who have been to school before, have been very poorly taught in huge classes in a refugee camp (sometimes 1,000 to a class!) and never learnt to read or write.

Those of you who pray, please pray for our orphaned girls and especially for Sandukay.

Paul and Lillian join the deaf contingent

Dear friends,

Our children, with one extra child who could not
be left out at the far left.  From left at the back:
 Paul, Aluma, John and Alau.  In front: Alice,
Lillian  and Assumpta

I have just returned from taking two new children to the hearing impairment unit in Budaderi, near Mbale.  Their names are Lillian and Paul.  Both are 13 years old and were attending Cece Primary School previously.  Both are profoundly deaf with no speech, due to meningitis.

Paul lost his hearing through meningitis at the age of 5.  His first experience of school was last year at the age of 12.  At first he was making good progress, so there seemed no reason to uproot him.  However, this year he is struggling in the next class up.  Paul enjoys football very much.  Paul’s father is old, suffers from leprosy and is unable to work, so Paul and his siblings spend their time out of school polishing shoes for a living.

Lillian joined our school this year but has been making no progress, clearly due to a complete lack of communication.  She comes to life at break-time, when she joins in with the skipping games.  Her father is dead and her mother has serious mental problems, so she is cared for by another of the father’s wives (polygamy is the norm here).  The family were displaced by serious fighting in their area in 2016 and fled to one of the refugee camps.  It was there that Lillian contracted meningitis.  She was very close to death for some time.  Once she had started to recover, the family decided that they would be far better off leaving the refugee camp and moving to Nimule. 

Both families are delighted that their children now have a chance of learning sign language and gaining a good education at a special school for deaf children.  This is something which would not be possible in South Sudan.

Assumpta and Lillian

The children have very different characters.  On our long journey to Budaderi, we stayed in a hotel overnight.  Lillian, in spite of her lack of speech was visibly excited at the prospect of sleeping in a real bed, rather than on a mat on the floor.  She leapt onto the bed as soon as we entered the room with a large grin on her face.  Paul gave the impression that everything was quite normal, which I am sure it was not.  Once we arrived, I bought all their school requirements, such as mattresses, bedding, a metal box to keep their belongings, school shoes, toiletries etc.  Lillian’s eyes were on stalks.  Paul kept his man-of-the-world pose to perfection.

For their first night at school, they went to their respective dormitories.  Paul met Aluma.  Lillian met Assumpta and Alice.  Assumpta and Lillian have immediately made friends, as can be seen from the photo.  Paul, I think, is still assessing the situation, but seems quite happy in his calm way.  Next week term will start, but they are both already picking up some Ugandan Sign Language from the other children and staff at the school.

During the school holidays Alau, who is at a secondary school for the deaf joins the younger children as his school closes completely for the holidays.  This time, he came with another South Sudanese boy called John, who is sponsored by a friend of mine.  John is attending the technical school attached to the secondary school, because his educational level is not high enough for the academic curriculum, due to attending a normal primary school in South Sudan, where he struggled due to his deafness.  He is now learning sign language for the first time at 17 years old and is picking it up remarkably quickly.

The secondary school has a new policy that all their pupils have to have medical tests for Hepatitis B, TB, typhoid, malaria and STDs.  They also have to have dental checks and ear tests.  I took them to the hospital in Mbale and we spent a very long day going around the various departments. 

When John’s ears were checked, he was found to have a severe infection in both ears.  His ears were cleaned and he was prescribed antibiotics.  He immediately started to hear in one ear!  It seems that there are holes in both ear drums, but one is worse than the other.  The doctor said that the ear with less damage may heal completely.  As his ears are still not completely right, the doctor is delaying testing his hearing.  I wait with bated breath!  As soon as he started hearing, John started making experimental noises, but is still unable to control the type of sounds coming out of his mouth.  If he ever had any language, he has long since forgotten it.  When I informed the headteacher, she said that they will be able to help him learn to speak. 

In Alau’s case he was found to have a very small amount of hearing, and ‘may benefit from hearing aids’ according to the report.  I told the headteacher this news too.  She said that they are expecting a hearing aid assessment at the school this July.  Next time I see these boys, maybe they will both be hearing and speaking.  What a fantastic school!

As Paul and Lillian had never had formal hearing checks they were also tested, but have turned out to be completely deaf, which means that hearing aids will not help them.

Alau, Assumpta, Alice and Aluma continue to do well.  Seeing how John’s educational choices have been limited by the lack of specialist primary education in South Sudan, brings it home to me just how important it is that these children get the chance to learn in an environment where they can communicate.  Thank you so much to those who have sponsored them.

Please can I ask for sponsors for Paul, Lillian, Alau, Aluma and Alice?  I struggled to pay for all their requirements.  This was because originally I had expected Paul and Lillian to remain in Nimule for this year at least.  It was the lack of progress that caused me to bring things forward.  I did not want them to be bored to death in the classroom when they still had two more terms to go before the end of the school year.  The medical tests also made a bit of a dent in the available funds.

The initial starting costs for Paul and Lillian are around £480 each.  This includes buying school uniform, bedding and a metal box for all their possessions.  From then on the termly costs will be about £90 per term.  Making a total for this year (in which there is only one more term) of £570.  Next year will be around £270 each child for the whole year. 

Please let me know if you are able to help by email so that I can send a gift aid form for Opportunity Through Education, our supporting charity.  Rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk . 

Recognition at last!

Term is now well underway and teaching is going well.  Our four new teachers are excellent and a real asset to the school.  Hopefully they will remain with us and help the stability of teaching.  We are now starting to prepare the children for their first end of term exams of the year.

In early March I went on a trip to Torit (the state capital) to witness the installation our new Catholic bishop.  The diocese has been without a bishop for several years, so this was a major event.  I was lucky enough to get a chance to speak to him personally.  Bishop Stephen was very interested to hear about the school and is going to put us forward to become a diocesan school.  This will hopefully help our school’s development, as the diocese will then be able to point any interested investors or other support in our direction. 

Following my trip to Torit, I continued northwards to Juba, the national capital, to update my official documentation.  I am now the proud owner of a resident’s permit and will no longer have to pay for expensive visas!  Who knows, maybe I will end up with dual nationality! 

While in Juba I met the local MP for Nimule, who was visiting the owner of the home where I always stay while in Juba.  He was much interested to hear about the school and very keen to promote it right up to central government level.  He told me that he would be travelling to Nimule later the same week and would very much like to visit the school while there.  He suggested visiting us on the Friday.  The children rehearsed the National Anthem, but all in vain – he was too busy with meetings and did not come.  School closed for the weekend and I went back home, resigned to the fact that it was not to be.  Then, at around four in the evening he phoned me from his hotel and asked if he could come ‘now’.  I rushed to the hotel, calling Patrick our headteacher as I went.  We arrived to find a bank of journalists and cameras surrounding him.  We went to the school as a large group.  The school was filmed although the children were missing and Patrick and I were interviewed about the history of the school. 

We told the journalists that the school grew out of an idea from Pascalina Idreangwa, who was the founder of a local support group for people living with HIV/AIDS called Cece.  Pascalina had been very conscious that none of the support group members were able to send their children to school.  Many of the children were healthy themselves, but their family’s HIV status caused stigma, inability to work, orphan-hood and sheer poverty, which made it impossible to pay school fees.  All the other schools in Nimule charge school fees plus numerous extra expenses.  When I first arrived in Nimule in 2013, Pascalina buttonholed me in the hope that I could help provide sponsorship.  At that time I was volunteering in a local orphanage and school and it was not possible for me to do anything.  We finally founded Cece Primary School in June 2015, with help from another local community organization called HUMAES (Humans Must Access Essentials), which works to bring the local people out of poverty in various different ways.  We all continue to work together.

When we told this history to the journalists they were very keen to meet and interview Pascalina.  We rushed back to the centre of town and found her cooking in her small restaurant.  She gave a very animated interview.  While she was speaking I ran to the nearest home where I knew some of our pupils lived, and asked the children to put on their uniforms and come to our office as fast as possible.  Word spread and about 20 children came.  The children spoke to the journalists really well, in English, as well as reciting a poem we had composed as a class exercise a few months earlier.  I was very proud of their completely off-the-cuff effort.  The poem is one about peace.

We are all one colour, give us peace.
We are all one colour, give us love.
No more fighting, no more war,
No more tribalism.
Children of Africa, the future of Africa,
Do – Not – Kill – Us!

It was a terrific event for us.  Hopefully something good with come out of it, however, we have heard nothing so far.

Quite separately, we had a visit to the school from officials from the National and State Ministries of Education.  They had come from visiting the local Education Office, where they had asked if there were any schools in Nimule specifically for disadvantaged children.  They were directed to Cece Primary School, where, as mentioned, we educate children from families with HIV, disabilities and orphans.  They explained that the national government wants all children in South Sudan to be in school, even the very poorest.  This is currently a dream, due to the sheer poverty of the country and lack of resources.  There are many areas of the country where there is simply no access to education.  Teachers are not trained or paid.  Schools are not built.  Textbooks are in very short supply.

The officials told us that we are the only school of our kind in the whole country.  They asked if we could accept children from all over the state.  I explained that this is not a possibility, unless the Ministry of Education can step in and find funding for us.  We would need boarding accommodation for the children and a huge investment in expanding the school itself.  Fundraising just to keep the school afloat is already a big struggle.  I left unsaid that in any case, it would be far better for the children to be educated in their home areas, particularly as the roads across most of the country are nothing but rutted tracks, which are completely impassable during the long rainy season.

We are still reeling from all this unexpected publicity for our school.  Hopefully, there will be some tangible outcome. 

In the meantime, we still have very many needs just to keep going.  Wages have to be paid for teachers and cooks.  The World Food Program recently supplied a first instalment of food for the school but it is now finished, and they have not given us any more yet, with no date given for when more food will be received.  It is back to porridge at the school’s expense.  This is a big drain on our very limited funds. 

A similar structure to the one we hope to build.

We had hoped to start the roofing of the two remaining classrooms, but that has not yet been possible.  The result is that our Primary 5 class is still being educated in our storeroom and the very large Pre-Primary class is crammed into one classroom.  To make matters worse, the year is slipping away, and we need to start work on another classroom for next year’s new class (Primary 6). 

Another local school is in the process of building a multipurpose shelter (pictured), and this has given me the idea of building something similar, which can be used for one of our classes next year, and then as an assembly/dining hall as we build more classrooms.  It will also be very useful for other whole school activities, such as our regular ‘story time’ and debates. 

As you will see from our news, we are at a very exciting stage of our school’s development.  We have never been recognized officially before.  The world focuses so much on negative news, that maybe that is why we have heard nothing yet from the media coverage.  We are at least one good news story from South Sudan.  I am personally very proud to have some responsibility for it, but what about you?  Without your help, it would have been completely impossible.  We hope you will continue to be part of it by contributing to our school’s ongoing work.  Please can you share this news of our school as widely as you can and contribute to the school through Opportunity Through Education.

Our supporting charity Opportunity through Education has registered us through Give as you Live.  This website acts as a portal through which to shop online.  Each time you use it, a percentage goes to the charity of your choice.  Please note that Give as You Live cannot be used for donations. 

It is now possible to donate online by clicking on this link to My Donate.  My Donate will unfortunately be closing at the end of June this year, but please make the most of it until then. 

If you dislike online giving and wish to give direct through our bank account, please let me know if you are able to help by email so that I can send a gift aid form for Opportunity Through Education.  Rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk . 

Update on the deaf children at school in Uganda

Thank you to all those who contributed so generously towards the sponsorship of Assumpta, Aluma, Alice and Alau.  I have no need to fundraise for more money for them for this academic year.  Please see my previous post, which shows where money is urgently needed at the moment.

From left to right: Alau, Aluma,
Assumpta and Alice

I took the four children, Assumpta, Aluma, Alice and Alau back to school last week ready for their new academic year.  We returned two weeks early because I was told by the headteacher of the primary school that the Audiology Department of Soroti Hospital had asked for all Hearing Impairment Unit children to come for testing.  This is an opportunity which has never come to Nimule, and very important.  Who knows if there might not be some residual hearing which could be tapped with a hearing aid?

Assumpta wept when parting with her mother.  The brother of Alau, who accompanied us to the border and has been taught sign language by Alau at home, gave Assumpta a ‘talking-to’ in sign language, that it was not right for her to cry; she was going to school so that she can do well in life and help support her family.  I think Assumpta had genuinely not understood why she was going to school previously.  She was fine after that.  For the rest of the journey she was perfectly cheerful.  It makes me very happy that Assumpta at last has a means of communication other than laughing, crying and pointing, and that people can now explain things to her.  The fruits of last year’s sign language lessons are now really showing. 

Aluma was diagnosed with epilepsy while at school last year after having several fits and is now on medication.  Fortunately, his return to Nimule for Christmas coincided with the setting up of an epilepsy unit at Nimule Hospital, so he is now registered there and will receive free medication, which would not have been possible before.  His father Angelo decided to accompany me to Uganda as he wanted to hear directly from the school and medical staff at the local hospital about Aluma’s health issues last year.  Out of all the children’s parents Angelo is the only one who speaks English and is able to communicate in Uganda.  In spite of all Aluma’s handicaps (profound deafness, paralyzed right arm, lameness and now epilepsy) he is always laughing and smiling.  He did very well last year at school, so intellectually he has no problems.

Alice was her usual peaceful, sensible self.  She lives with her grandmother as she is an orphan where they work making fishing nets and practice subsistence farming.  According to her grandmother she is very skilled at making nets and was missed during last year’s school year.  Last year Alice made the best progress out of the three children at primary school level, both in learning sign language and academically, and is to be in Primary 4 this year.  This is particularly good news because she is a few years older than Assumpta and Aluma. 

St Philomena’s Primary School is very holistic and will monitor all the children’s progress during the year, moving them to more appropriate classes as necessary.

Alau, the oldest of the children, is starting Senior 2 at Mbale Secondary School this year.  During the Christmas holidays he worked solidly at the local transport hub, loading and unloading vehicles, to help support his family.  Likewise, at school, I have been told by his teachers that he is extremely hard-working.  During school hours he has worked very hard academically and ended last year among the top students in his class.  After school, along with all other students, he does the vocational training of his choice.  He chose welding.  I spoke to his welding instructor, who was full of his praises.  On top of lessons, he spends a lot of extra time working in the welding workshop.  One of the great things about this secondary school is the fact that they expect all their students to leave school with a really good qualification in a vocational skill (of which they have a very good range).  Elsewhere in Uganda and South Sudan, it is very hard to find a vocational training course of more than one year, and most are only for a few weeks.  The courses at Mbale Secondary School are three year courses leading to recognized qualifications.  Parents are expected to make a one-off payment for their tools, but there are no fees for the actual vocational training courses, only for the school.  This makes Alau’s education a terrific bargain.  His tools, which have already been paid for out of the sponsorship raised for him, will remain his own, so that he will be able to take them home and work with them.  He will be a real asset to local society in Nimule, where there are no welders of the level he will reach.  I left Alau with the younger children because we were two weeks too early for the new term.  Before I left he told me very firmly (in writing) that he now knows the way to his school in Mbale and that there was no need for help in getting there, apart from the fare. 

South Sudan does not have the necessary specialist teachers to teach deaf children either in ordinary or special schools.  This applies to other disabilities as well.  The local culture sees disability as a ‘burden’ and sometimes even as a ‘curse on the family’.  Disabled children are hidden from public view and sometimes even turned out on the streets where they either die or become street children.  None of the local NGOs focus on disability, so I am very happy to have been able to help all these children through your help. 

Once again, thank you so very much for making such a difference to these children’s lives.