Challenges and solutions

Dear all,

A lot has happened this term.  After my rather desperate appeal for help, I received a very substantial donation, which really came to the rescue.  Thank you Dominica, so very much! 

Almost as soon as it arrived, we had a seeming catastrophe, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  The nursery classroom was basically a small wall-less, mud-floored shack.  It could not have been more inadequate.  Out of the blue, workmen arrived during class-time and started to dismantle it!  It seemed that the original builder of the room wanted the materials for use elsewhere.  It did not occur to him to mention it to the school in advance.  We managed to persuade the workers to wait until the children had gone home.  The next day, there was no trace of the classroom.

The new block of temporary classrooms under
construction.

We had an emergency meeting and decided to use some of the donation to complete the construction of three temporary classrooms, for which funds had not previously been available.  The work was completed within a few days.  It is a great relief to have those classrooms.  The nursery class was able to re-start the following week.  We were also able to move some classes out of their shared classrooms.  We still have P3 and P5, and P6 and P8 in shared classrooms, but at least nursery, P1, P2, P4 and P7 have the luxury of their own classrooms now.

It has also been wonderful knowing that there is enough money to pay teachers’ salaries for the rest of the school year.  I am now in Uganda, paying for next term’s school fees for all the disabled children, again without having to agonize about it.

Primary 2 in their new classroom.  They really
relish the space.

We have just held our end of term exams.  Academically there is a lot of improvement.  The pass rate is 79%, compared to 64% last term.  This year’s P8 class has just sat their mock exams, and came away feeling confident although we haven’t had the results yet.  Their final primary leaving exams will be in late November.  We have a new headteacher called Ayuel.  He is the pastor of a local church and an important person in the community around the school, which is very helpful.  The local community are not educated people and prioritize their cows above all else, which has been quite difficult.  

Deaf pupils

Alau, the oldest of the deaf pupils, is about to sit his final secondary exams, Senior 4.  His interpreter is confident that he will do well.  I was planning for him to receive formal teacher training next year in Uganda, but there is a problem.  The Ugandan government, in its ongoing battle to improve standards, now insists that teacher training can only take place after finishing Senior 6 (the equivalent of A’levels).  To teach in a Ugandan school it is necessary to have a certificate of teacher training.  Great as this is from the point of view of raising educational standards, it causes difficulties for Alau and myself. 

From left to right, back to front: Paul, Aluma, Joel, 
Jackline, Jennifer, Lillian, Alafi and Vibrant.

By contrast with Uganda, South Sudan’s education system only goes up to Senior 4 (the equivalent of GCSEs).  There is no requirement in South Sudan either for teacher training or for teachers to have any education past Senior 4 level.  There are no teacher training colleges locally, let alone for Special Needs.  To make matters worse, last year’s final results were not released until late July this year, so that nationwide, students were left unable to move forward to their next level of education.  I fear that the same will happen to Alau’s results, which would delay him terribly as well as delaying my plans to start the deaf school in Nimule.  I do not want to see him doing manual work as he was before, such as loading and unloading lorries, for a whole year when he could be moving forward.

I have found what I hope is an alternative solution.  Instead of waiting for the Senior 4 results to be released, I have asked if Alau can be employed as an assistant teacher at the deaf primary school in Budaderi.  This has still to be approved by the school board.  If approved, it will give him informal instruction and practice at an excellent and well-established deaf school.  I know already from experience during the time of Covid, when he assisted the younger deaf children with extra lessons, that Alau has a natural talent for teaching.  Then, we can start the deaf school the following year.  We will also employ a suitably qualified teacher from Uganda at the same time.

Paul and Lillian will do their primary leaving certificate this coming term.  Then they will transfer to deaf secondary school to join Alice next year.  Aluma will move at the same time because his epilepsy, with resulting slow academic progress, and physical handicaps are proving an insurmountable barrier to him moving further up the school.  The secondary school has a vocational training department, so he will receive vocational training rather than continuing his very disheartening academic battle.  The remaining deaf students at primary level are much younger than Aluma so it would have been miserable for him to be left behind.  He and his family are very happy about this decision.

Blind pupils

Mary and Bernard are coming to the end of their first year at Gulu Primary School.  Bernard is doing very well and is learning Braille very quickly.  Mary has fetal alcohol syndrome, which is the cause of her blindness as well as developmental delay.  At first it seemed that teaching her would not be possible.  However, I have just been told that although she is at the most basic level, learning living skills, she is now speaking Acholi (the local language) and can find her way around the school site, even taking herself to the toilet, which is a major milestone for her.  She has been overheard talking in the dormitory about things she has learnt in class, although so far this is not transferring itself into formal assessment achievements.  She keeps completely silent in class and has not managed to learn any Braille yet.  However, I am now feeling very much more hopeful about her than I was.

General situation in South Sudan

South Sudan has been facing a severe financial crisis, so that prices of necessities are going up on a daily basis.  To give an example, a short journey by motorbike taxi cost 500 South Sudan Pounds at the beginning of the year.  Now it will not be less than 1,500 SSP.  From the point of view of fundraising, we are not affected because your donations come in dollars, but for the average citizen, it is a disaster.  Most people are unable to eat more than once a day.  Some schools have closed because families cannot eat and afford school fees.  Even at our school (where we are not charging school fees), some older pupils are dropping out to assist their families by working. 

Civil servants (including government-paid teachers) have been without pay for ten months.  This was the reason for the great delay in producing last year’s Senior 4 exam results, but it affects all sectors.  Lack of pay has led to widespread corrupt practices.  For example, it is not possible to report a crime, without paying a fee to the police. 

The government points to the fact that the main source of national income is oil, which goes by pipeline through Sudan to the Red Sea.  Unfortunately, due to the civil war in Sudan, the pipeline has been severely damaged in an area held by rebels and so oil export has ceased.  The tax system is virtually non-existent.

The first ever general elections in the history of South Sudan (which was founded in 2011) were supposed to be held on 22^nd December.  However, there is no money for the necessary preparation or campaigning.  No census has been held, so nobody knows how many potential voters there are.  This plunged the country into great uncertainty. As I write, there has been an announcement from the President that the elections are to be postponed for another two years.

In the meantime, all we can do is keep the country and its poor people in prayer and try to do our small best to help where we can.  In my own case, that means in the field of education for disadvantaged children in one small town.  I do hope you agree with me.  

I am planning to visit the UK from December to January but am not sure of my dates yet.  I hope to see some of you at that time.  It would be great if anyone could arrange some publicity in your own area.  I would be very happy to talk to groups about my work in South Sudan with the school and the disabled children.

Thank you for all your support.

Rebecca Mallinson

rebeccamallinson1@gmail.com

Update from Nimule

Dear friends,

New temporary classrooms

I at last have a chance to communicate with you after months of extremely hectic activity and very limited internet access.  School life continues as described in my last post.  It is a major struggle.  We ended the first term with end of term exams in which 64% of pupils passed.  Holding the exams was very difficult because we did not have enough money to produce exam papers, and had to rely on writing the exam questions on blackboards.

A major issue is the lack of food.  At Cece we had the benefit of food from the World Food Programme.  WFP have now withdrawn from their school feeding programmes in South Sudan because of the ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East.  This is having a very detrimental effect on the pupils attendance.  Many leave at lunchtime and do not come back for afternoon lessons.  The teachers are also suffering.

According to the headteacher of their secondary school, the former Primary 8 boys are thriving.  This has been confirmed by the students themselves when I have bumped into one or the other of them in the town.  They are particularly enthusiastic about the sciences, which at secondary level are no longer ‘general science’ but divided into physics, chemistry and biology.  Their enthusiasm seems extraordinary to me given that there are no laboratory facilities in their school, or any other Nimule school.  It is a credit to the teaching they are receiving.  I seem to have chosen their secondary school well.  I am very happy about this because it really shows what a good start they had at Cece Primary School with your help over the past eight or nine years.  The girls are also doing well in their different schools.  I really hope that this can continue for those still at primary level, in spite of the difficult conditions since we moved.  However, the funds I am receiving are currently only stretching to continuing to pay teacher salaries, and also supporting the deaf and blind children, with very little left over for other school costs.

Last week I visited the eight deaf students in Mbale and paid for all their necessities.  Their costs keep going up due to the rises in prices and unstable dollar to Uganda shilling rates.  I don’t yet know the full costs for this term as I am still in the process of taking the blind pupils and Alice, the deaf secondary student, back to school.  To give some idea, last term the average cost per child was £275, which makes the annual total £825 for the full year, assuming costs remain similar.

Alau, the oldest of the deaf students, is now in his final year at secondary school.  His keenness to become a teacher for the deaf continues.  I look forward very much to the day when I am able to open the planned hearing impairment unit in Nimule with his help.  This will cause costs to go down for the education of the deaf children, while hopefully acting as a catalyst for changing attitudes to disability.  A couple of months ago I met a deaf boy of roughly twelve years old, moving around the town, barefoot and in rags, clearly completely neglected by his family.  This is a common scenario for those with disability here in South Sudan.  I can’t afford to take him to school in Uganda, but hopefully he and others like him will get their opportunity in the next couple of years.

The day the children were issued
with white canes.

The two blind children completed their first term at Gulu Primary School.  As you will see from their photo they are very different in size.  This is due to the fact that Mary has fetal alcohol syndrome.  Unfortunately this is not a curable condition.  She is in fact the same age as Bernard, but terribly behind both physically and intellectually.  It is very sad.  The school is doing their best with her, but it remains to be seen how she will do.

Please do pass this message on to any other people who might be able to help either with deaf sponsorship or with the ongoing expenses of the former Cece pupils in their new schools. 

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.

 

Ground Zero

Dear friends,

Thank you so much to all those who responded to my last post.  I am very grateful to one donor who has passed on information about the deaf children to others.  As a result we now have a new sponsor.  I received a good amount of funds in time to take the deaf children back to school at the beginning of February. 

I am now in a better position to write about what has happened with the move to Liberty Primary School at the beginning of this school year.  As some might remember, I had planned for Cece pupils to move to two different schools, Liberty for the lower school and Happy Day for the upper school.  This has not worked out.  Happy Day started to come up with extra financial demands, such as funding a full school feeding programme, which would have been impossible to manage.  I therefore asked all former Cece pupils to enroll at Liberty instead.  Over 150 of our former pupils have registered at Liberty, which is around half of the full enrolment at the school.  I have been appointed Director of Studies by the school and also teach six classes: English to Primary 7, Christian Religious Education to Primary 5 and 8 and literacy to Primary 1, 2 and 3.

I am finding that the difference in educational level between the pupils from Cece and those who came from other schools is stark.  The Cece pupils have been trained to interact with their teachers, and are mostly very active learners.  Literacy is good, especially among the higher classes.  The other students have come from various schools around the Nimule area, where they have not been given any foundation and are almost all illiterate, even those who are in the final year of primary school.  If asked a question they cower behind their desks, expecting to be beaten for being unable to answer.  Liberty only had one class last year, Primary 8.  Their results were generally poor; one boy took his 19% score on his results certificate and attempted to forge higher marks onto it.  The secondary school noticed the forgery and refused to accept him.

The teachers who have come from Cece have commented on the contrast and are justly very proud of the results of their teaching.  It has been a vindication of our approach to learning, especially teaching literacy, no corporal punishment and interacting with pupils.

At Liberty, we are back at square one in all other respects.  In January there were no school buildings, no toilets, no storeroom or teachers’ room, no food, very few teachers and large numbers of cows around the school site.  In short, it has been terribly difficult, but things are gradually taking shape.  There is a small church built of bamboo and mud on the site, which we received permission to use.  We have been using it for Primary 7 and 8, one class at each end of the room.  Until a few days ago, Primary 1 up to 6 were housed in a loaned building, which was terribly cramped.  Last week the owner suddenly asked for the building back, so we have constructed temporary classrooms, three of which are now usable.  As a result, each room has two classes in it.  The nursery classes (in three levels) are all crammed into another temporary classroom. 

I have requested the Local Education Office to highlight the school’s needs to relevant non-governmental organizations to help us with permanent structures.  This is because I am not comfortable with asking donors, who gave so generously before, to give for the same things again.  The money for these temporary classrooms has not come from you; it comes from the founder of Liberty Primary School, except for some smaller expenses, such as the costs of blackboards and some of the timbers and metal sheeting. 

We held teacher interviews a few weeks ago and have appointed enough teachers.  None of the applicants were trained teachers but most at least had teaching experience.  This is common in South Sudan.  We also have some teachers from Cece who have continued with us.  Until the appointments were made we were without teachers for around half the classes, which has been very distressing to me.  The main expense that I agreed to is the payment of teachers and I am trying very hard to make sure that that pot of money is available, as teachers are crucial to the work of a school, ahead of anything else in my view.  The monthly salary cost is almost £800, which is less than at Cece, where we were also paying cooks and a guard.  Right now, every step of the way is about prioritizing.

Two toilets have been built and are now functional.  In combination with the cattle issue, lack of access to toilets has been a major health worry.  Some parents have volunteered to talk to the cattle-keepers about taking their animals elsewhere. 

Providing lunch to staff and children remains an insoluble problem.  At Cece we had the benefit of the World Food Programme, but WFP have now stopped their operations due to the various crises elsewhere in the world.  Some pupils are therefore absenting themselves at lunchtime, which is very detrimental to their education.  I have tried asking parents to provide packed lunches, but this is too countercultural, and I have had no success at all.  I haven’t given up yet.  A couple of neighbouring families have noticed a business opportunity and have started cooking chapattis and mandazi (a type of sugarless doughnut) so we are not completely starved, even though it is not a balanced diet.

I have been asked to pay for school uniforms for all the Cece pupils.  This is beyond the money currently available.  The South Sudanese Pound is in a terrible state and has leapt to record highs against the dollar.  This will make it very hard for local families whose income is pitifully small (and in SSP), but is in our favour when bringing money into the country.  The total cost of uniforms, if I am able to pay for all the Cece pupils, will be around £1,000.  If this is not possible, we will at least contribute towards to the cost.

On the positive side, Cece’s 2023 Primary 8 did spectacularly well.  All passed at between 70.6 - 88.8%.  The girls have been accepted for scholarships to boarding schools in Uganda and a South Sudanese town called Magwi.  One boy has gone to minor seminary, while the remaining four boys have been accepted as planned at Kings College Secondary School.  The downside is that the plan of the secondary headteacher did not work out.  The NGO he had hoped would fund their places has stopped their sponsorship programme.  As the boys are from very poor backgrounds, it was clear that this would stop them from going on to secondary level, leaving them little better off than if they had never gone to school.  I therefore agreed to use some of the school funds to pay for their school fees and other requirements.  This is another financial headache.  I am currently paying little by little as money comes in.  This is not something I think we can continue to do for every batch of Primary 8 students and I am going to have to make that clear to this year’s Primary 8 class as gently as possible.

Please do pass this message on to any other people who might be able to help either with deaf sponsorship or with the ongoing expenses of the former Cece pupils in their new schools. 

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.

New School Year 2024

I am getting ready for the new school year both in South Sudan and in Uganda.  I have been calculating how much will be needed for the deaf children, when I take them back to school at the beginning of February.  As I said in my previous post, the money received specifically for the sponsorships was not enough last year and I found it necessary to bail the sponsorship budget out by using money which should have been for the school.

As some of you will have seen in the international news, there have been major political problems in Uganda.  The Ugandan Government put into force a very severe new law making homosexuality a serious criminal offence.  The country faced, and continues to face, huge international governmental and NGO opposition, resulting in sanctions.  I am not going to say anything on the rights and wrongs of this; however, it has caused very high inflation in the country and is making an impact in all areas of life.  This includes the costs of taking the disabled children to school.  Costs rose so that instead of an average of £630 per child in 2022, the cost in 2023 was around £800.  That is an increase of around 25% from 2022 to 2023.

There is no sign of a change on either the Ugandan or the international side, so I fear that this financial impact will continue this year.  Please can I ask for assistance?  Only a few of the deaf children have donors at the moment, although there are some donors who give a large general donation, which is for the same purpose.  Those with donors are Alau, Joel and the two blind children.  Let me tell you something about the others who have never had direct sponsorship.

Alice started school in 2018 and has proved very bright.  She has just finished primary school and we are waiting for her school leaving exam results.  The school is confident that she will have passed.  She is going to go to a deaf secondary school this year, in a town called Lira, which is about one hundred miles from South Sudan, one third of the distance than from her primary school, so she will be able to go home in holiday time.  She is a very sensible, hardworking girl, always very cooperative and helpful with the younger pupils.  She has excelled in sports and taken part in several national school sports contests.  She is an orphan, who previously lived with her grandmother where she assisted her grandmother to make and sell fishing nets.  She is now living in one of the Ugandan refugee settlements with extended family when it is the school holidays.  Due to negative attitudes to deafness, her family members have been astonished at her academic capacity, to the great delight of her grandmother who was always very supportive.

Paul began his school life at Cece Primary School where he made no progress because of his deafness and the school’s lack of training in deaf teaching.  His father is elderly and incapacitated, so that Paul and his siblings were working to support their family outside school time.  Paul’s job was polishing shoes on the streets.  With the permission of his father I took him to school in Uganda in 2019. He is now about to start his final year at primary school and will hopefully go to secondary school in 2025.  He has made a lot of progress.  Like Alice, he is keen on sports and takes part in national contests in Uganda.  He loves football.

Lillian became deaf as a result of meningitis, of which she nearly died.  At that time she was living in one of the refugee settlements in Uganda.  Her mother has mental health problems and cannot care for her.  Her father is dead.  Fortunately the father’s co-wife (this is a polygamous society) took pity on her.  When Lillian contracted meningitis, her stepmother was unable to afford medical care, so they moved back to South Sudan and settled in Nimule, where there is a free hospital.  Lillian, as in the case of Paul, started her school life at Cece Primary School.  I took her to Uganda at the same time as Paul.  They have gone up the school together and are both now about to start their final year of primary school.

Aluma, like Lillian, became deaf because of meningitis.  Unfortunately for him, the meningitis also affected his right arm and one leg.  His right arm is paralysed and he walks with a severe limp.  He can only use sign language with one hand as a result.  He also has severe epilepsy, which is holding him back.  He has medication for the epilepsy but it is not completely effective and he still has fits and has missed a lot of school due to hospitalization.  In spite of all his health problems, Aluma is usually very cheerful and is keen to do well.  He will be in Primary 6 this year.  I have been told that he stays behind in the classroom after lessons, working hard to make more progress.  I really feel for him.  He joined at the same time as Alice in 2018, right at the beginning of my mission to help the deaf children.  Deaf secondary schools in Uganda tend to have two streams, one academic and one for vocational training.  I, the school and his parents expect that Aluma will do vocational training after finishing at primary school.  In that way he will be able to be a useful member of his family and clan in future.  He is most fortunate in having a very supportive family.  Aluma’s school costs are a bit higher than for the other pupils.  This is because he needs regular medication for his epilepsy and extra snacks to eat at the same time because the medicine is too strong to be taken without food.

Vibrant joined the school in 2021.  He is deaf because of a drug overdose when he was a baby.  He is a very bright little boy, who picked up Ugandan sign language very fast and uses it equally fast, so that people have to keep asking him to slow down.  His parents live in Torit, the capital of the state where I am living, but a long distance away.  They have relatives in Nimule and are originally from this area, so that it is practical to take him to school.  As in the case of Aluma, his family are very supportive.   He will be in Primary 5 this year.

Jennifer joined the school in 2022.  She is a very self-isolated child compared to all the others, who are far more sociable.  This worries the school quite a lot and they do try to bring her out.  She is doing well academically and will start Primary 3 this year.  I believe that her self-isolation is due to her life experience before starting school.  The majority of people in South Sudan do not treat their disabled family members well and exclude them from most activities, treating them as a curse or a burden.  This can have a psychological impact especially when the child has no means of communication at all.

Jackline is the latest to join the school.  She joined in 2023.  She was very fearful when she arrived but has settled down well.  I think the fear was due to the fact that nobody was able to explain to her where she was going, who I was, or anything else.  I was the first white person she had ever met, which I am sure added to her fear.  She is now fine.  When I went to visit at the beginning of the second term, she came rushing to hug me.  She is a very fast learner and is going to Primary 2 this year.

Alafi was at school in Gulu from 2021 but was not happy there.  He used to cry bitterly at the beginning of each term, when leaving for school.  His mother asked me to transfer him to be with the other deaf children in Budaderi.  His previous school recommended that he move to Primary 3 this year, but Budaderi Primary School will, I am sure, do their own assessment. 

Unlike the UK, the education system in Uganda (and South Sudan) does not go by age; instead it goes by ability.  The advantage of this system (at least for disabled children) is that it is a more flexible system.  A child making outstanding progress can be moved up, and a struggling child can be moved to a more suitable class.  None of the deaf children started school at five years old as they would in the UK.  Most were big even by Ugandan standards, so Budaderi Primary School try to be extra vigilant to speed up their education if at all possible.  I don’t think this happens at secondary level.

I do hope sponsors can be found for all these pupils, and that those already sponsoring can increase their donations.  As the cost last year was roughly £800 per child, can I ask for £850 instead, as I am sure that the costs will not stay at last year’s level.  My great dread is that there will not be enough money in the pot for the school costs of all the children.  It would be terrible to let them down.  I am not taking on any more children for the same reason.

As I have mentioned before, the grand plan is to start a hearing impairment unit in Nimule with the help of Alau, the oldest and most advanced of the deaf students, once he finishes his studies.  I had the opportunity to talk to the Local Education Office in Nimule recently and they are keen to support this plan.  They have asked a local government-run primary school for land where we can build the necessary building.  Being government land, there should be no more problems of difficult local landowners.  This plan, if successful, will remove the need to take deaf students to Uganda except at secondary level.  The costs will be lower, apart from the cost of building work, and will give opportunities to study to more deaf children than currently.  Right now there is no educational provision for deaf students in South Sudan, so this would be a ground-breaking initiative.

Please do pass this message on to any other people who might be able to sponsor any of the above pupils. 

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.

 

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.