Recognition at last!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A similar structure to the one we hope to build.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update on the deaf children at school in Uganda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greetings from Nimule!

Dear all,

I have made a New Year’s Resolution.  Last year I was thoroughly overburdened with all my responsibilities, for the school (guiding, teaching and fundraising), for the deaf children (fundraising and taking them to and fro to school) and also for an increasing number of older children being discharged from their orphanage, where I used to volunteer, who are now coming to me asking for help to begin their lives.  By the end of the year I was completely exhausted and ill.   I have realized that I need to step back and look for people to share all this work.  If I do not do so, I will wear myself out, and then the school will collapse, the deaf children will have no school fees, and the former orphans will have nobody to turn to.  In short, my work here will not be sustainable.  The local people in Nimule are by and large without the necessary educational, computer or administration skills to take on my work.

An example of how overstretched I am, is as follows.  Just as we were about to start our school registrations, I had a call from the headteacher of the primary school for the deaf asking me to bring the four deaf children urgently as the hospital had decided to test the hearing of all the deaf children in their area the following Monday.  I therefore had to hurriedly inform the parents of the children that we needed to travel to Mbale two weeks’ earlier than planned.  This entails a ten hour bus trip, with a hotel stay at the beginning to allow us to catch a very early bus.  The headteacher and teachers were left to deal with our school registrations alone.  As none of them are trained administrators (unlike me), the results were that they made rather a mess of the administrative process, all of which needed to be disentangled on my return, exhausted after my ten hour return bus trip.

If you are able to help either from your own country with fundraising, or would like to come and volunteer even for a short time, please let me know.  You may have other ideas of how to help, which have not occurred to me.  In case you worry about coming to South Sudan, a peace agreement was signed last year, and it seems that the warring factions are serious this time.  Nimule, in any case, has not suffered from the war, apart from the resulting hyper-inflation and large numbers of internally displaced people from elsewhere.

In short, if you are able to help in practical terms, I will not be able to thank you enough!

In the meantime, here is my update. 

We are about to start our new academic year, after a very difficult registration period in which we have been deluged with new children, many of whom we had to turn away.  We accepted 55 new students altogether.  Some of our former pupils did not come to re-enrol, so it is not clear if they are returning or not.  Assuming that all the children turn up on 4^th February (which is likely), we will have an increase in numbers from 180 in 5 classes last year to 228 in 6 classes this year. 

Two teachers left us at the end of last year.  We also need more teachers to cope with the new class.  We advertised for new teachers and have had a good response.  Interviews will be held this coming Friday.  We are hoping for four new teachers, two to replace those who left us last year and two to help us to teach the expanded number of classes.  Altogether we expect to have eleven teachers including myself (unpaid) and our headteacher, who also teaches.

With these increased numbers of students and teachers, there will also be an increase in the need for food for the children and teacher salaries.  We are in serious need of increased regular giving from our donors so that we can continue in a stable fashion.  If you are able to donate a regular amount each month, it will assist us greatly.  If many people donate small amounts, we will be in a much better position.  If you are a UK tax payer, we will be able to claim 25p to each pound, which also makes a very big difference.

We have still not managed to roof the two outstanding classrooms due to lack of funds, so that one of our new classes will have to occupy the teacher room, at least at the start of the school year.  Please, if you are able to help with a larger one-off payment, we will be able to roof at least one more classroom.  If we can roof both, we will be able to divide our pre-primary class, which is currently much too big.  We have come so far, with foundations and walls in place, for which many thanks.  All that is needed is a roof!

As mentioned in my last post, 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 . 

The school year draws to a close

Dear friends,

The children are now sitting their end of year exams, which I hope will continue to show an upward trend.  At the end of next week it will all be over, bar the distribution of report cards and marked exam papers. 

On Thursday 6^th December we celebrated a belated World AIDS Day, in which some of our children recited a poem which they had worked on together.  World AIDS Day is a major feature of our school year because HIV/AIDS is the main reason for admission to Cece Primary School.  Nimule is a major hotspot for HIV/AIDS in South Sudan, with a shocking 1 in every 25 people testing positive.  The children wore their smart new uniforms for the first time at that event.  They led the audience in singing the National Anthem.   It was a very small event this year due to poor organization by the NGOs responsible, but those who attended were full of praise of our children’s contribution.  The poem goes as follows:

HIV, HIV, HIV
You came to Africa
You spread to many parts of Africa
You affect many groups of people
Young, elders, families
HIV, you kill many people and still continue killing
Now you have left us to be orphans, widows and sick
Because of HIV.

View of pre-primary class PE lesson with
un-roofed classrooms in the background.

The school closes on 21^st December for the Christmas holidays.  We will begin registration for the new school year, in mid-January.  Last year, we were snowed under with desperate families wanting places and had to turn many away.  It was horrendous.  Most of the applicants who were rejected were for the pre-primary class.  Next year, we really hope to have two pre-primary classes, to try to avoid this situation.  We will also have a new class at the top of the school, as our Primary 4 class will graduate to Primary 5.  This is an ongoing process until we reach the exalted heights of Primary 8, which is the end of primary education in South Sudan.  A secondary school on the same site is a distinct possibility, but is still at the pipe dream stage.

In order for us to house our two new classes, we need to finish the construction work on our two remaining classrooms.  All that is needed is roofing and a small amount extra for creating blackboards in the classrooms.  The cost of roofing two classrooms will be around $3,300 or £2,586. I know this is a large amount of money. If you are able to contribute something towards the roofing of the two, very necessary, classrooms, it will be a very great help to us.

Children complete their planting task.

Mango seedlings in the rubbish heap.

Still on the subject of the development of our school compound, our watchman has found around sixty (60!) self-seeded mango seedlings growing in our rubbish tip, clearly sprouted from the children’s discarded mango stones.  We very recently planted five neem tree seedlings, so a couple of days ago the children were set to work before going into their exam rooms planting ten of the baby mango trees.  The only problem is freely roaming goats and cows, which will eat any saplings they find, so we have surrounded each seedling with brick walls to keep the animals at bay.  The dry season is almost here, so it will be necessary, at least for the first few months, to mulch and regularly water the seedlings, otherwise they will not survive.  We are living in a very fertile area, so we are fairly confident that the mango trees will be bearing fruit in five years time.  Both the neem and mango trees will give very welcome shade for children and teachers and stop our compound from looking so desert-like.  The remaining mango trees will be planted around the edge of the compound.  We already have a self-seeded pawpaw sapling, which we are hoping will prove to be a female and produce fruit.  We are planning to plant some more.  A pawpaw is about the size of a honeydew melon so each one will feed several children. There is also a lemon tree sapling.   If we can end up with several types of fruit which ripen at different times of year, it will be very good for our children’s general health.  In spite of the fertility of the soil here, very few people eat fruit regularly.

Last week I went to Uganda to fetch the deaf children and bring them back to South Sudan for their first Christmas holiday.  It is the first time they have seen their families for ten months.  Some of the parents have come to thank me for their children’s schooling.  They were very impressed by how well-fed their children look and how much more disciplined they are.  All are now communicating in Ugandan sign language.  The children’s report cards show how much progress they have made academically. 

A big thank you to those who responded to my last appeal for help with sponsorship.  This will enable me to pay the children’s school fees and get them back to school next year.  There is another deaf child who is currently in our school called Paul.  Depending on his exam results this term and on his family’s wishes, I may well take him to join the others next year.  He is a very bright 12 year old, who communicates incredibly well with his own version of sign language.  He is completely mute.  In spite of his communication difficulties he is very sociable and particularly keen on football.  Our problem is lack of expertise in communicating all the school subjects to him.

Our supporting charity Opportunity through Education has registered us through a website called 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.  Christmas is coming!  It would be lovely if you could to do at least some of your Christmas shopping through Give as You Live.

Please note that Give as You Live cannot be used for donations.  However, Opportunity through Education is currently applying to join another site called MyDonate, which will allow donors to donate online.  Once this has been activated, overseas donors will also be able to help our school.

I would be very grateful if you could share this post widely with anyone who might be able to help us with donations.  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 . 

Everything has changed! shouted the children

Since I last wrote, all the promised work has been done on the school within a remarkably short time.  This is a fantastic achievement and we are all very thankful to those who have donated to make this possible.

I appealed in my last post for sponsors for the deaf children at school in Uganda.  One person has very kindly responded and agreed to sponsor one of the children, Assumpta.  There are still three more.  The new sponsor recommended that I put a figure of how much it will cost for one year.  The amount I paid for each child last year was £623 including school fees, uniform, living expenses and travel.  I know this is a lot.  It is too much for me in the long term too.  If people would like to contribute something smaller on a regular basis, that is fine and will help.a

Doors and windows being put in place

Doors and windows have been put in three more classrooms so that we now have five lockable rooms.  This is a fantastic achievement.  It will enable desks to be put in them securely, and avoid the constant necessity of removing everything to the storeroom at the end of each day. 

To give you a side view of why this is necessary, there are huge problems with organized gangs of thieves in Nimule.  Anything not welded down, goes.  A few nights ago, there was a jointly planned robbery of many homes all over the town.  One of our neighbours is a policeman.  Not knowing this, he jumped out of bed and chased the thieves who were attacking his home.  He followed them to the local football ground, where he was set upon by many more thieves, who were all working together there.  He was severely injured. 

View of the new classroom block including
the newly roofed classroom - worker perched on top

This time last year, we built a new block of four classrooms, but were unable to roof them due to lack of funds.  Earlier in the year, one classroom was roofed and fitted with door and windows and desks.  This classroom is now used by Primary 4.

Over the past few weeks we have roofed a second classroom, which now houses our Primary 3 class, who were previously in our storeroom.  It is lovely for them not to have people constantly coming in and out, disturbing their lessons as they fetch textbooks, cooking pots and other things.  This is particularly important as all our children are hyper-inquisitive and very easily distracted!  Their new classroom does not as yet have a door or windows or desks, but they are at least in a better position to learn.

We still need to roof the other two classrooms, ready for next year’s intake.  One classroom will be for our first Primary 5 class.  The other classroom will make it possible for us to divide the pre-primary class in two according to level.  This is important because the current class size is far too big (49 children).  Based on past experience, there is always a big demand for the pre-primary class, which we were totally unable to meet this academic year.  We ended up being forced to eliminate all 5 year olds at registration time, which was a great shame as we expect our school to cater for children from 5 year old upwards.  Many desperately needy families were so desperate for their children to come, hence the over-large current class.

These new classrooms will also need doors and windows, but more urgently, blackboards to be made, as we only have five blackboards.  We are intending to make the blackboards by plastering a section of wall and painting with blackboard paint.  We did this in our old school building very effectively.

The London Oratory has paid for twelve more desks, making a total of twenty four.  The desks were made and are being used by our Primary 2 class in their newly secure classroom.  The London Oratory has very kindly agreed to continue to fundraise for desks in the other classes.

School shirts being made on Singer machines

Pencils for All fundraised during the year for school uniforms for all the children.  The children have all been measured and are waiting with bated breath for their uniforms.  Some children who were absent on the measuring day were told to go directly to the tailors.  They came back to school excitedly clutching off-cuts of the school shirt material, running around the compound shouting, “Our kitenge!  Our kitenge!”  Kitenge is the local word for cloth.  Uniform is going to make a huge difference to the children.  Most of them have very few, and very ragged, clothes.  To have something new is a huge experience for them and will really boost their morale.  All the other schools have uniform, and our children are often taunted on their way for the lack of uniform.  Shamefully, it has on one occasion led to discrimination against our school by the local personnel of an international NGO who were running a schools’ event.  Our children, although they had prepared a lovely poem, were not allowed on the stage.  Parents have pointed out that uniform will also make our children identifiable outside school, so that if there is any incident involving them, passers-by can contact the school. 

The downside is that from now on, there will be a need for new uniforms as the children grow and as new children are accepted.  Help!  However, I think you will see that the positives far outweigh the negatives, regarding school uniform.

We have a new nursery teacher, to help with our over-large class.  She is a young, lively and very well qualified Ugandan called Nataleen.  Very shortly afterwards one of our primary teachers resigned, which will leave an unfortunate gap, which we are not planning to fill until next year’s new recruitment.  We also have engaged two watchmen to look after the school after hours and also do any handyman jobs around the compound.  Next year as we will have a Primary 5 class for the first time, there will also be a need for more teachers. 

When the children arrived at school on Monday two weeks ago, they were stunned.  "Everything has changed!" they shouted.

I mentioned the problem of feeding in my last post.  This problem is ongoing as the World Food Programme, who are supposed to be taking over from Far Reaching Ministries, have still done nothing for any of the schools.  In the meantime, we have been supplying maize porridge to the children.  This is not as substantial as oatmeal, but is at least better than nothing.  The problem is made worse by the fact that under the South Sudan education system, although children up to Primary 3 have lessons only up to lunchtime, Primary 4 and upwards are supposed to remain in school up to 4pm.  Both teachers and Primary 4 are really struggling.  Bear in mind that our children are the poorest and most vulnerable in Nimule who cannot rely on being fed at home.

To sum up, things are moving on very well indeed at the school at the moment, with the exception of the food situation.  We need to continue fundraising for the roofing of two more classrooms, for staff salaries, for uniforms for next year’s intake, and for the various small items needed in the running of the school, such as chalk, pencils and pens etc.  We also need to fundraise for doors and windows for the newly roofed classroom and the two classrooms which should (I hope) be roofed this term. 

Please don't forget our deaf children.  Sponsorship is very important so that they can continue their education.

I would be very grateful if you could share this post widely to anyone who might be able to help us.  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 . 

Challenges!

Apologies for the length of time since I last updated the blog.

The end of term examination results were an improvement on last year’s, so we are on course (unless we rest on our laurels) for a very successful year academically.  In August 2017 48% of students passed, this year 54% passed.  This is in spite of a very large intake of new students at the beginning of the year, many of whom had never attended school before or had been out of school for a very long time.

Financially things have been tough for several months, due to the handover from Sean Devereux Children’s Fund to Opportunity Through Education.  This resulted in serious delays in receiving funds, made considerably worse by the bank problems of TSB (the bank used by SDCF).  It has been a very difficult patch, making it hard even to pay staff salaries, let alone do anything else.  In spite of all this, the school kept going and the children are doing well.

However, money is finally coming through and we are going to be able to do the various things for which donors have been so generous.  These include installing doors and windows and roofing the unfinished classrooms as well as paying for day-to-day school necessities.  We are also soon going to order school uniforms through the fundraising efforts of Pencils for All.We are also now able to order desks for another classroom through the fundraising project of the London Oratory.

Another challenge is that Far Reaching Ministries, who I have mentioned in previous posts have been providing school meals for the children, announced very late in the term that they were unable to continue to help.  They have been so good and reliable for the last two years so this is going to be very difficult.  A major international NGO who shall be nameless is supposed to be taking over, but based on their poor record on their feeding programme at the hospital, we can expect a very unreliable service.  This will be very detrimental to the children’s well-being, and may even mean that parents remove their children and send them to the refugee camps.  In the meantime we are going to try to provide at least porridge each day.

The three children at St Philomena's Primary School
from left to right, Alice, Assumpta and Aluma

At the beginning of September, I left for Uganda to see the deaf children at school there and to pay their school fees.  They are all making progress.  The oldest, Alau, is in the first year at secondary school.  He passed his end of term exams with flying colours and the teachers were very complimentary about him.  Those at primary school are now becoming very competent at sign language, which will greatly enhance their lives and school performance.  Alice, the oldest of those at primary school, who is 16 years old, is radiantly happy as she is able to communicate with those around her for the first time in her life.  It was lovely to see her signing with a great smile on her face.  She has been moved up two classes because of her excellent progress.  The younger two (both 12 years old) are also getting to grips with sign language and are making some progress, although more slowly than Alau and Alice.  As yet, I have no sponsorship for any of them and have been paying their fees and living necessities out of my own pocket.  I do not have a salary and am relying on diminishing savings.  If anyone feels moved to help these children, I would be very grateful if you would email me.  There are no resources in South Sudan for disabled children, which is why it was necessary to find schools in Uganda for them.

This week we go back to school for the final term of this academic year.  I look forward very much to a less difficult term now that the final transfer between Sean Devereux to Opportunity Through Education has been made.  If you are able to support either the school or the deaf children, it will be a very great help.

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

Desks lead to the need for doors and windows

Since we started the school construction work in 2016, we have been putting the children in class in incomplete classrooms, without doors, windows or plastering and sitting on mats for their lessons.  This has been necessary because of the rapid expansion of the school and the huge and urgent need for the education of children who would otherwise have no hope for the future.  Our needs always outstrip our fundraising.

To reassure you all, this is not unusual here in South Sudan.  In fact our school is luxurious compared to some schools, in which children simply sit under a tree for lessons.

In my last post I mentioned that the London Oratory is currently fundraising for desks and chairs for Cece Primary School.  This is a big step forward for us.  The intention is to have all our children off the floor and sitting at proper desks so that they can work in a better physical position.  Up until now, as mentioned, our children have been sitting on mats on the floor, which is not good either for their posture or for their handwriting.

Primary 4 at their new desks.

The first batch of desks was ordered after receiving the first installment of funds.  The desks arrived this week and are in the Primary 4 classroom.  As you will see from the photos, they are very good quality.  The locally available wood is mahogany, so we have desks that will last.  Everybody is delighted with them.

Our new desks with a view of the empty doorway and window.

However we realized rather belatedly that there is now an urgent need to keep the classroom where the desks are placed secure against the huge number of thieves in the Nimule area.  We therefore also needed to order and put in place a door and windows to protect the desks.  Then we will need to fairly rapidly put in doors and windows in all the other classrooms ready for their desks to arrive.  This is a big problem for us.  

Our construction work on the new classroom block has absorbed a lot of our money and there is, of course, the ongoing need to pay salaries to the teachers and cooks and buy any necessary teaching materials.  

Coupled with these regular needs, Far Reaching Ministries (who supply our food free of charge each week) have been delayed in bringing food for the first few weeks of term due to a sudden and unexpected demand for meals from other schools who were previously fed by an NGO which has now stopped its feeding programme.  Most other schools gave up completely and did not reopen for lessons after the school holidays.  However, because of the extreme poverty of our children and their need for education, we decided to do our best to keep the children fed and in class.  This has meant that we have had to provide food for nearly 200 children for three weeks which has been an unexpected expense for the school.  We have been told that the FRM feeding programme will restart next week, which will be a great relief to us.

I am asking for your help to enhance our funds so that we can install doors and windows in all classrooms and continue our building work.  At the moment, construction on the new block of classrooms has had to be put on hold due to the factors mentioned above.  We need to finish the work.  As you will see from the photos, there isn’t far to go.

If you are unable to help yourself, maybe you could circulate this blog post to all your friends.  I can assure you that the money sent is always well used, for the benefit of the most needy children in the community.  Our school criteria is for children from families with HIV/AIDS, disabilities and orphans.  The children are from many different tribes, local and national.  Many are from families displaced from other areas of South Sudan by the ongoing civil war.  Other schools in the area are all fee-paying, which makes it impossible for these children to receive an education elsewhere, leaving them doomed to a life of grinding poverty and lack of education.

Please let me know if you are able to help by email so that I can send you a gift aid form.  Rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk .