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 .