All's Well that Ends Better

Dear friends,

I am now in a better position to tell you what is going to happen with the school than in my last post when I was still trying to find a solution.

About a month ago, I was invited to speak at the local celebration of World Teachers’ Day which was organised by local headteachers.  I was specifically asked to speak about the difficulties faced by Cece Primary School, which I described in my last post.  I spoke briefly about the challenges faced and then said that I needed to find a way to help our pupils to join other schools as my problems with the landowners had proved insoluble.  I requested headteachers to consult their school management teams and PTAs and see if they can take some of our pupils in exchange for school resources. 

Three schools responded, one secondary (to take the Primary 8 class) and two primary schools.  I will write a little about each school below.

Liberty Primary School has agreed to take our lower classes up to next year’s Primary 4.  Liberty is a school with a very similar motivation to Cece’s - to bring up the most marginalized children.  They were told to move site by their former landowners early this year.  They are now in a large compound holding their lessons in a church as they have no buildings yet.  This year they have only had one class, Primary 8, but they are keen to expand downwards.  Unlike Cece they have been charging school fees in order to pay their four teachers, but the pay has been very poor, not even a living wage especially during a time of rampant hyper-inflation.  My suggestion is that, if donors are willing, we can pool our resources so that wages come out of donations.  Parents can still be asked for occasional assistance for particular activities.  The teaching bill will be considerably smaller than at Cece because there will be fewer teachers and fewer classes, at least at first.  I have agreed to teach and act as an advisor at Liberty.  I look forward to working with them and also to not having all the management of the school on my shoulders. 

As teachers will be needed at Liberty, I have asked if some of our current teachers can transfer.  Others will get reference letters.  I don’t think they will be long unemployed as this is the time of year when schools are recruiting for the next academic year.  Our staff contracts end at the end of December, so they are still being paid for now.

Happy Day Primary School is more stable than Liberty as their founder is very wealthy, and they have not suffered from the same threats.  Their headteacher was the first to visit me (two days after my speech at World Teachers’ Day).  He is very keen to take our upper classes from next year’s Primary 5 up to Primary 8.  Happy Day will receive desks from Cece which will help them to adjust.  They have agreed not to charge school fees.  As the desks were bought with resources from donors for Cece pupils, it seems only right that the desks should go with the pupils.

Our current Primary 8 class will transfer to Kings College Secondary School.  Kings College is a relatively new school but very serious about academic standards.  Their first few final exam results have been among the top in the whole of the state of Eastern Equatoria.  Knowing that our Primary 8 class are high-flyers, they are keen to have them!  The school charges school fees but is part of a scheme whereby they receive sponsorships for pupils from ‘difficult’ backgrounds.  Their headteacher is going to apply on behalf of our pupils.

As you can imagine I am hugely relieved to have found places for all our pupils.  The icing on the cake, as far as I am concerned, is that it is a major step forward in the Nimule area to find schools willing to take children without school fees.  The comments of all three headteachers showed that they really understood the importance of supporting the most marginalised children who otherwise would not get the chance of an education.  I think that Cece Primary School has been responsible for this change of mindset.  Without your support this would not have happened.

In the meantime, school life has not stopped.  The final exams for all classes up to Primary 7 have taken place, with 87% passing, which is a record.

We got the results for the Primary 8 mock exams and found that we were among the best in Nimule, with only one school ahead of us.  Coming second out of twenty-one schools is a big achievement.  Two pupils failed, but not by very much.  As mentioned in my last post, the mock exams are usually more challenging than the real thing, so my expectations are high for a really good result for Cece’s one-and-only Primary 8 class.  A second round of mock exams took place in which everybody passed, so we are definitely in the lead now.  

The final exams took place from 20^th to 24^th November.  The class revised very seriously for weeks beforehand.  They have been a wonderful class to teach.  One boy has decided to train as a priest and has applied to the diocese’s minor seminary.  Another has been insisting for years that he wants to be a scientist.  Without your help these would have remained completely unattainable dreams.  Thank you so much.

Primary 8 posing the day before sitting
their final leaving exams.

Cece Primary School's good standards, at least by comparison with other schools in the area, are due to teaching literacy from the early stages.  Learning to read and write is not usual in South Sudan.  Although it is highlighted in South Sudan's Education Act 2012, literacy has never been implemented: there are no textbooks or teacher training in how to teach children to read.  Almost all teaching is done by blindly copying from blackboards.  This year I received quite a few applications to join our Primary 8 class from young people from other schools.  I insisted that they did entrance exams so I could assess their chances of keeping up and passing.  Most got around 0 to 5% and were clearly unable to read the questions at all.  I offered places in lower classes, but most refused and went on to be accepted in other schools who were less stringent.  There is a huge problem of cheating nationally.  Needless to say, I will continue to teach literacy when I join Liberty Primary School.

I will continue to support the deaf and blind children, which is very expensive as there are not many sponsors for the number of children.  The costs this year have been in excess of the amounts specifically for them, so that I have often had to dig into school finances, which I would rather not do.  I look forward to the time when the oldest student, Alau, finishes school and teacher training college.  As mentioned in my previous post, he very much wants to become a teacher for the deaf in Nimule.  At that point I am hoping to find a willing school where we can open a hearing impairment unit.  If this dream materialises, we will have the first deaf school provision in the whole of South Sudan.  The costs will also come down and more deaf children can join, as it will be cheaper to teach them in South Sudan than to send them to boarding schools in Uganda.

Alice, the second oldest deaf pupil, has just finished her leaving exams.  She will start secondary school next year in a school called Nancy Secondary School for the Deaf, in a town called Lira.  Lira is much further north, towards South Sudan.  Her current school is confident that she will pass.

The buildings at Cece will be managed by my former fellow founders from January 2024, who are hoping to change it into a private school, so they will not stand empty. 

I do hope you will continue to assist my mission here, especially Liberty Primary School, which of the three is the most in need of help. 

It has been a very challenging year, but also a learning experience for me.  I am not giving up, in fact, the mission to broaden awareness of those at the bottom of society is being enhanced.  Liberty Primary School will certainly have struggles, but if you are willing to help, things can gradually improve.

Please do pass this message on to any other people who might be able to support us. 

My email address is rebeccamallinson1@gmail.com. Please do not use my old email address (ending in hotmail.co.uk) or reply directly to this email.  It no longer works, and I will not be able to receive your emails.

What's in it for us?

 Dear friends,

I am writing to tell you about what has been happening in Nimule.  I have been having a very challenging time ever since the start of term in June.  

Problems have arisen between me and the landowners who gave us the land in 2016 through a land agreement.  The landowners have now become very hostile and full of demands for their own clan.  They have completely no thought for the school or the pupils.  The constant chorus has been, ‘What’s in it for us?’  

Spontaneous prayer from one of our pupils,
found on the blackboard.  He does know how
to spell really!

I think the root of all these problems is that I am a white foreigner, bringing change to a society which is very traditional and reluctant to have any change to the status quo.  Education is not seen as a human right.  It is also unacceptable not to use corporal punishment; even though it is officially illegal in South Sudan, there is not one other school in Nimule which does not beat the pupils.  White people are seen as rich and are supposed to give to them freely.  When I have refused, saying that all the money I have is from fundraising for the specific purposes of education, whether for the school or the deaf children, I am shouted down very aggressively. 

They are completely ignoring the fact that our school is for disadvantaged families, not just for themselves.  They do not see that the free education of their children is a very great benefit already or have any concept of care for other people’s children, especially those of other tribes.  They want others to pay school fees, but for their own children to be educated free-of-charge.  I know that if I give way at all, it will be the beginning of a slippery slope in which the school will no longer be feasible because of the ever-increasing demands of the landowners.

I have found it necessary to let you all know because some of you have said to me in the past that the reason you feel able to donate towards the school is because I am there and am able to ensure that your money is used as intended.  Over the years that the school has operated, this hasn’t been too much of a problem, but it is now becoming more difficult.  The latest communication of the landowners said that they will ‘enforce’ their demands.  They did not say in what way.

I am looking for a way forward as I do not want to see the school fail.  We have over 240 pupils and 19 staff, all of whom will lose out if the school collapses.  On a personal level, I have taught in the school since 2015 and have very strong teacher-pupil relationships with a good number of our pupils.    

I also feel very concerned that you, as donors, have given so selflessly and generously should be let down, especially those who have paid for all the construction work.  At least the buildings will not collapse, and I am sure they will be used again, maybe even by our school, depending on how things turn out.

I am currently looking at potential ways forward.  One is to try, through the Catholic Diocese of Torit, to find a religious congregation to take over the school.  They would have the status in the community to move the school on, with an understanding of its purpose in helping the most marginalized children in the local community.  They would also give it a more sustainable future than I can as an individual.  I would anticipate staying on as a teacher with them or having a handover period.  

Another possibility is to move to a different school site and enter a partnership (rather than a new land agreement) with the owners.  There is an empty school in Nimule where this may be possible, or another school may be willing to take me as a volunteer with the understanding that my pupils will follow me and will continue to be supported.  

It is of course possible that when the local people see that their children's school is threatened, they may be able to campaign for it to remain and make the landowners see reason in ways that I cannot do.  I plan to hold a parents' meeting this month as I have told them nothing officially yet although, (as can be seen from the blackboard prayer) word has filtered through to some. 

I think the option of the religious congregation is the best, but the snag is that it is likely to be a lengthy process.  Either way, I don’t think it is possible to remain as we are, with the vague threat of ‘enforcement’, whatever that means, hanging over our heads.  It also makes my own day-to-day life difficult due to lack of trust.

On the positive side, the school has kept going onwards and upwards until now.  There have been previous challenges, but they have always been overcome, and I never felt the need to write to you about them.  For those of you who pray, please can you keep our school in your prayers.  It is so important for the children of Cece to have their chance of gaining an education.

The deaf children’s placements are totally unaffected by this current crisis, and I still hope to be able to start a deaf unit in Nimule in the longer term.  

The roof was blown some distance away.

This term we experienced a severe gale which completely removed the roof of the two temporary classrooms.  We managed to find a contractor who did not charge too heavily, so it has been repaired, but for a couple of weeks we had to squeeze four classes into two classrooms and ask their subject teachers to keep swapping around so that all levels were covered.  It was not easy.  The new roof slopes more gently, so that I am hoping it will be less susceptible to the wind.

The tree planting team

We received an unsolicited donation of 250 tree saplings, which we have planted in the compound.  Unfortunately, it is a very harsh environment and we have never succeeded in growing trees up until now, although we have planted many.  So far, 26 of the new trees have survived, but I am not very hopeful as the dry season will be with us soon and will coincide with school holidays, when it will be difficult to care for the trees properly.

Primary 8 sat their mock exams, which were done at another school in a way that simulated the real conditions they will face in late November.  I was there and saw them all frisked thoroughly (by a teacher of their own sex) in case of carrying anything that could enable them to cheat in the exam room.  They felt fairly confident at the end, but we are still waiting for the results.  The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say!  The academic standard of the mock exams is generally considerably higher than the final national exams, so if they pass their mocks, we can expect very good results at the end of the year.  I have heard from one of our teachers, who was involved in the marking of the mocks, that our school has done very much better than most.

The other classes have just sat their end of term exams.  We have changed the way in which we do the exams.  In the past teachers have set their own exams, which I then typed and had printed.  This was very costly and also very stressful, as some teachers would leave everything to the last minute.  This time we are making use of a local exam board who have done all the work of producing the exam papers for a large group of schools.  They have ways to do it far more cheaply as it is in bulk, so we are saving around $200 as well as reducing stress.  The only problem is that the setting is done according to levels in other schools, and some class teachers have complained to me that the exams were too easy for their classes.  80% of our pupils have passed, which is our best result ever.

Me, Lillian, Aluma, Alice, Paul (back)
Jackline, Vibrant, Jennifer and Beatrice, the head 
of the Hearing Impairment Unit (front)

The deaf children are flourishing in their various schools.  I have just come back from visiting those studying in Mbale.  I also took Alice and a teacher to visit a deaf secondary school in Lira, a town which is comparatively close to South Sudan, so that she will be able to go home in the holidays when she goes to secondary school next year.  The school has both an academic and a vocational training department.  She seemed very positive about the visit.  Like South Sudan, her final leaving exams will be towards the end of the year, and we can expect the results by late January or early February.

I would really appreciate your comments on what is happening at the school.  It would have taken a much longer post to tell you everything that has happened, and I am very willing to explain more to anyone who wants more information. My email address is rebeccamallinson1@gmail.com. Please do not use my old email address (ending in hotmail.co.uk).  It no longer works, and I will not be able to receive your emails.

I do hope you will continue to assist us.  Even in this state of flux, we still need to pay salaries and for other school expenses.  Please do pass this message on to any other people who might be able to support us.  

Update after a long silence

Dear all,

I have been forced to neglect updating this blog for several months because of lack of internet for my computer in Nimule.  I have only been able to keep up with emails on my phone; anything needing a real keyboard has had to wait until now, when I am in Uganda. It has been very frustrating, but that is the way life is in a country with very poor infrastructure.

The new temporary classrooms.

Firstly, a big thank you to those of you who have remembered the school and the deaf children despite my lack of contact.  We managed to build two temporary classrooms out of bamboo poles and free up space in the room where the construction materials are kept, so that we have classrooms for all pupils.  We were also able to buy ten 3-seater desks, greatly alleviating the pressure on seating arrangements.  These desks are now in our Primary 4 class (see photo).

The new desks in situ.

Our Primary 8 class (the first in our school’s short history) got off to a good start and I am hoping that they will do well in their Primary Leaving Exams at the end of the school year.  There are only eleven pupils in the class, so they get quite a lot of teacher attention.  The PLE is crucial, as getting a pass mark makes all the difference between being allowed to proceed to secondary school or not.  I have decided that rather than starting a whole new building programme, which is unrealistic at the moment, I will look for a local secondary school willing to accept them at a reduced rate and then look for help for individual pupils.

We once again had problems with late information from the Ministry of Education, which caused us and all other schools, to be completely in the dark about term dates.  We were therefore taken by surprise by the need to produce exam papers for end of term exams with almost no notice.  The timescale was unrealistic, so we ended up putting exam questions on the boards, and buying lined A4 paper for their answers.  It was all rather messy.

The next priority in the way of expenses is for construction of shelving.  We have a lot of books, but nowhere to put them.  We really need our textbooks to be in a more organized and accessible fashion than they are at the moment.

Just before the end of term, two teachers left us, so we are going to start the new term next week with two new faces, one for lower primary and the other for nursery.  We have recruited several new teachers in the space of four months, some replacing those who left and others adding to our number to cater for Primary 8.  We now have 15 teachers altogether, including myself.  This is part of a general problem in South Sudan of instability caused by poverty and war.  It affects the pupils too, who also have a high turnover as families move around due to their personal circumstances.

I am now in Uganda, and have visited the deaf children in Mbale to check that they are doing well and to pay their school fees and for other necessities.  The oldest primary school pupil, Alice, is due to start secondary school next year so she is doing her PLE this year.  I was told that she is the top deaf student in the school and that the school is confident that she will do well.  I did not see her because she was away as a member of a school sports team who are competing at a national-level competition.  Her two followers in the year behind, Lillian and Paul, are also high achievers.  Aluma, who is in the next class down is also bright, but struggles with his health.  As well as being deaf, he is epileptic, for which he has medication, and he also has a paralysed right hand and leg.  All of these problems are due to meningitis.  The younger pupils are also doing well at their different stages.  I barely recognized Jackline, who has just completed her first term at school.  She is so happy and wreathed with smiles.  When I brought her to the school last term, she was very tearful and had no means of communication at all, not even a basic homemade sign language.  Now she is signing away with the best of them, and the school says she is a fast learner.

Classrooms at Lira.

On my way back, I visited a deaf secondary school in a town called Lira.  Lira is closer to South Sudan than Mbale, so that pupils will be able to go home for all school holidays.  The school seems fine, and has electricity which enables them to have a computer lab.  Their Director of Studies boasted that a lot of their pupils go on to have nursing or other medical careers, as well as teaching.  The reason for looking at this school is that the school where Alau went has not been satisfactory.  In the end Alau has left and come back to Nimule, where I have found a local secondary school with small classes where he can have a sign language interpreter.  Alau’s ambition is to be a teacher for the deaf at Cece Primary School.  This is still a long term plan because he will need to do special educational needs training after completing secondary school.  I want to thank Alau’s sponsor so much for his willingness to continue to assist him.

From left to right: Bernard's mother, Mary, Alfred
(headteacher), fellow blind teacher and Bernard.

Today I paid the school fees for Alafi and Joel, who attend school in Gulu.  They are both doing well.  My next stop on the way back to South Sudan, will be at Firefly, the blind school, where I will pay Bernard and Mary’s school fees.  Their first term at Firefly was difficult, especially for Mary, who had not been taught any self-care skills at all at home.  It is very common for disabled children in South Sudan to be neglected, sometimes even to the point of no medical treatment for curable illnesses.  This has been the case with Mary and also some of the deaf children.  It is even harder for blind children because they are unable to copy the actions of others, such as tooth-brushing, dressing or using the toilet.  Bernard is in the lead at the moment academically, but hopefully Mary will catch up.  In spite of her difficulties, when she returned to Nimule for the holidays, I asked her how she was finding school, her response was, ‘When can I go back?’  That seems a good sign.

If you can help with monthly donations towards teacher salaries, sponsorship for the disabled children, or fundraising for shelves, please contact me on rebeccamallinson1@gmail.com and I will send you a gift aid form.  Please do pass this message on to any other people who might be able to assist us. 

The new school year has a bumpy start

Dear all,

A very belated Happy New Year to you all.

Here in Nimule, we have been having plenty of challenges but are on a much more even keel than when I wrote last.  I am very grateful for the donations which came in response to my last blog post.  As you will see below, your donations came at an opportune time.

We have three excellent new teachers who replaced some who were unable to continue with us for various reasons.  Classes continued after the Christmas break, although we were still pressed for space, with two classes having to share classrooms.  Our teacher, Mohammed, who we sent away just before Covid to do a teacher training course is now back with us, to the delight of the pupils who remember him with great affection.  He passed his course ‘top of the school’ and has been given the chance to go for further studies to Belgium in October.  This is disappointing for us, but a wonderful opportunity for him.

In December we changed to a new School Management Committee, which has meant that I needed to organize training for them and myself in our responsibilities.  This was done through Drop in the Bucket, who gave us a day-long training.  The great thing is that the SMC will be able to support the school with advice and practical help.

We have received a large supply of national curriculum textbooks from the Ministry of Education for classes from Primary 4 to Primary 8.  This is a great windfall, as there has been a huge shortage in the whole town.  In some cases, there has been only one textbook for a whole class, so that only the teacher has been able to use it.  If textbooks go missing, it has been a matter of going to other schools to beg from them, knowing that we are all in the same position.

With the help of your donations, we were able to pay our teachers in December and January, for which a heartfelt thank you.

All seemed to be ticking along well, when there was a completely unexpected decision from the Ministry of Education that all schools were to close one week later (on 27^th January) and reopen for the new academic year on 6^th February, with only a week’s turnaround time.  Originally the school year was supposed to end on 24^th March, so no school has been able to finish their year’s teaching.  The system in South Sudan is to hold end of year exams to determine pupil promotion to the next level, but there was no time for that this time.  Instead, we were advised to make use of term 2 exam results to promote our pupils.  I believe the decision was taken to bring South Sudan into line with the other East African Community countries.

From our own school’s point of view, we are going to have our first Primary 8 class, which is the final year of primary education here in South Sudan.  If pupils do not pass their Primary Leaving Examination, they will not be allowed to go to secondary school, so this is a crucial year for them.  Knowing this, we have been preparing our Primary 6 and 7 classes with simulated papers.  We are about to interview more teachers and will hopefully employ two new teachers, so that we have enough to cater for the new class.

The basic framework of the classrooms.  The walls
will be made of bamboo poles and the roof will
be made of metal sheets.

There were already problems of not enough classrooms.  With Primary 8 about to start, we now need three classrooms in a very short period of time and with very limited funds.  We looked for quotations for making two temporary classrooms out of bamboo poles and with corrugated metal roofing.  Most contractors, knowing that there was a ‘white woman’ in charge, gave exorbitant estimates which would have created a palace.  Luckily, our guard recommended a much more reasonable contractor who is now making the classrooms out of bamboo poles.  The third classroom will be a room which is currently used as a storeroom.  We are going to clean it out and put the materials behind a screen.  That room can then be used for a small class.  Registrations start next week, so time is not on our side. 

Desks of the type we want to make.

The next problem looming on the horizon is the need for new desks due to an increase in the number of classes and classrooms.  We are going to begin the school year by making do with mats for the youngest class, as there is currently no budget for desks due to the construction work on the classrooms.  We have received one quotation so far, which is for the equivalent of nearly £70 per three-seater desk.  That is not including transport, which is often a similar amount to the cost price.  I hope to find a better price elsewhere as we will need at least 10 or 15 desks.  It is not possible to buy readymade furniture here.

Like South Sudan, the Ugandan school year starts on 6^th February, so I really have my hands full at the moment.  As a result, I am in the midst of making two trips to Uganda taking a couple of blind children to one school and the deaf children to another one at a much greater distance near a town called Mbale, near the border with Kenya.  I have warned the headteacher in Mbale that we will be several days late.  There is another couple of deaf children who go to school in Gulu, who will be taken back by their parents.  I have just paid their school fees while in Uganda on the first trip.

Mary and Bernard held by the two blind teachers.  
Bernard's mother is on the left.

As mentioned, we have two blind children who are starting school for the first time, at a school called Firefly School for the Blind, which is newly reopening after a long gap since Covid.  They are a boy and a girl, both 7 years old, called Bernard and Mary.  This is the first time either of them has ever been to school and they were very excited beforehand and impatient to arrive.  The school is founded and run by a blind man called Alfred Okello (centre of photo), and is situated around 40 kilometres away from Nimule, in Uganda, which is very convenient as in future the parents will be able to take them to school themselves.  The children will need to learn English and Acholi (the local language of the area), neither of which they know at the moment.  They are from different tribes, one Madi and the other Lotuku, so there will be a lot of language barriers for all concerned.  One thing which I find remarkable here is how quickly everybody (except me) learns new languages, so I am not too worried about this.  

I was warned that school fees for blind children would be more expensive than for the deaf children as they will need special Braille paper and Braille writers, which have to be imported to Uganda, but in fact the fees seem to be a bit less than for the deaf school in Gulu.  The school already has blind-adapted computers, which is a major achievement for a small rural school in Uganda. The costs so far, for the first term, are just over £250 per child.  That includes buying mattresses, mosquito nets, sheets and blankets, which will not need to be bought again as well as the cost of school uniforms.

As mentioned, Alafi and Joel will be taken back to their deaf school in Gulu by their parents.  As I type, I have just paid their school fees and am going back to South Sudan armed with the money for their other expenses, which the parents will use when they bring them to school on Sunday.  The total anticipated expenses are £260 each.

Later in the week, I will make a second trip to Uganda to take the remaining nine deaf children to their schools near Mbale.  I will be leaving the school registration process at Cece Primary School in the hands of our most capable teachers while I spend a week in Mbale.  Among the children going to Mbale will be a 13-year-old deaf girl called Jackline (local spelling), who has never been to school before.   I anticipate costs per term of a similar level to the other two schools.

Sadly, I have had to make the decision to stop taking Assumpta to school.  She has severe learning difficulties as well as being profoundly deaf and has made no progress at all since she started school in 2018 in spite of the best efforts of the school.  She was not very happy at school, watching her schoolmates progressing while she was completely unable to keep up.  She is now 17 years old.  Her mother died last year, and she is now living with extended family.  I am glad to say that she has settled in well with them, but they live a long way from Nimule, in Juba, the capital city of South Sudan.  Her family seem happy with her.  Money for sponsorships is tight, especially with the two blind children and the new deaf girl, so there was really no alternative.  We are really in need of more sponsors for these children.

If you can help with monthly donations towards teacher salaries, sponsorship for the disabled children, or fundraising for desks, please contact me on rebeccamallinson1@gmail.com and I will send you a gift aid form.  Please do pass this message on to any other people who might be able to assist us.