Limbo

Here in Nimule we continue in limbo, waiting for the end of the Covid-19 crisis.  We are fortunate in that there are very few confirmed cases in the whole country – only 5, and no deaths so far.  For a change it is good to be at the bottom of the league tables.  I am very thankful for that as there are also very poor medical facilities to deal with even normal health problems, let alone an epidemic of any kind.

The main hazard for Covid-19 is seen as the truck drivers who bring supplies from other African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, which all have far higher rates of infection than South Sudan.  All these pass through our town on their way to Juba.  Our main road is the only tarmac road in the country, so it is a very important artery into the country.  The border is completely closed apart from these trucks.

Due to the awareness of the risk of these travelling drivers spreading the contagion, they are tested at every border they come to.  They are also no longer allowed to have any co-driver with them, at least travelling through South Sudan.  That must surely carry a risk of over-tiredness and resulting accidents, although I have not seen any proof of that.

Over the past two days, the testing has become yet more rigorous and long-winded so that the queue of trucks for the border is now huge and goes right through the whole town, passing my own home.  The drivers need to eat, so they have no choice but to buy food from the local fast food stalls, which must create a risk of infection as there is little access to face masks here.  One of the food stalls is in the foreground of the photo on the right.

This is not the first time truck drivers have suffered to carry out their jobs.  During the height of the war, when all the neighbouring towns to Nimule had been destroyed, the soldiers were looting and removing everything from the desolate homes, schools, shops and churches.  They then flagged down passing trucks, and forced the truck drivers at gun point to carry the loot to Nimule to be sold in the streets.  My heart used to bleed for them, as I watched the stolen goods unloaded.

Now they are risking their lives again to carry food and other necessities to South Sudan, with all the local people fearful and sometimes even downright hostile towards them as potential carriers of Covid-19.

For those who pray, please pray for these drivers and their families who rely on this dangerous work for survival.

What are we doing at this difficult time?

Our school started during the civil war in 2015 and has managed to grow and develop throughout five years of war with your generous support.  Even at one point in 2016 when all other primary schools closed completely, we kept going.  I am very proud of that record.  The war is now officially over, but are we going to be beaten by Coronavirus?  I sincerely hope not.  We are determined to keep going, even though at the moment we have no way of teaching. 

Tailor cutting our school shirts.

Our teacher-in-training Mohammed has come back to Nimule with course-work and a project to carry out, under the supervision of his course tutors, who are in touch with him through Facebook.  As part of this, he has just started an agriculture project for a handful of our school children in our school compound.  Ten is the maximum number for any gathering according to the government so we are being very careful not go over this number.

In the first two weeks that our school has been on hold, I have typed up all our exam papers ready for the end of term.  It now seems likely that we will have to adjust so that the exams are held whenever we are finally allowed to go back to normal.

Our new kitchen

Uniforms have been made for those children without uniforms, but we cannot distribute them yet.  The new kitchen is ready, but nobody will be cooking in it for a while.

I have done a major clear-out of our school storeroom and it is now far more organized than previously.

Rather than sitting twiddling my thumbs and going slowly off my rocker, I am starting to do some ad-hoc teaching of the young children who live in my home compound.  I have some resources which are not used at school as they are not suitable for large numbers.  The first morning, for instance, I taught the children to play dominoes.  Their number recognition is very poor, so this was a big challenge for them, especially as I was teaching them in English, not their mother tongue.  The lessons can continue indefinitely as they have a lot to learn! 

The children do some colouring and practise
writing the letter S at the same time.

We continue to plan for our building work, but at the moment cannot access the funds.  It would be very helpful if people can help us to fundraise even so, so that once things return to normal we will be able to get cracking. 

I have heard a very sad story of staff laid off in Kenya by major employers such as Kenya Airways, in complete breach of their rights as employees.  We have no intention of treating our staff like that, so it is important that we continue to pay them throughout this crisis.  Comfortingly, most (but not all) of them are able to grow food themselves and the weather is rainy, however it will be some time before there is anything to harvest.  Making sure our staff, teachers, cooks and guards are not forgotten is also a good way to ensure their loyalty to the school.

I am happy to send gift aid forms to anyone who is able to help with the construction costs of the new classroom block, or with regular donations so that we can pay staff salaries regularly.  My email address is rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk. 

It is also possible to make donations online through Virgin Money Giving.  Please be aware that it is necessary to put ‘Cece Primary School’ in the comments box, as Opportunity through Education also collects funds for other causes.  Virgin Giving charges a hefty admin fee on large donations, so please send direct to Opportunity through Education if you are considering sending £1,000 or over.

We have peace at last!

After six and a half years of civil war, South Sudan has declared peace and has sworn in a new ‘unity’ government, which is now just over a month old.  It is called a unity government because it consists of all the warring parties from the conflict.  It remains to be seen how well this will work, but at least at the moment, hopes are high.  This is causing a lot of refugees to return home, including trained teachers.

In a recent post, I described the difficulties we have faced with teachers.  I am happy to say that we have recently appointed several new teachers to replace those who have left.  The majority of the new teachers are trained and have considerable experience teaching in Uganda.  One is newly trained on a similar course to the Solidarity with South Sudan one, where Mohammed is studying.  This influx of teachers has transformed the teaching experience for the children. 

Coupled with the arrival of the new teachers, we have received a delivery of new textbooks using the New South Sudan Curriculum from the Ministry of Education.  They are very much better than the old books, but at the moment are only for Primary 1, 3 and 5.  We have been promised that the books for Primary 2, 4 and 6 will arrive, but we don’t know exactly when yet.  The new books include more interesting lessons with hands-on activities.  The only difficulty now is the need to find enough scissors, colours and a regular supply of paper and other stationery for the classes.

Another piece of good news is that HUMAES (our local partner NGO) has started a pilot project in our school to help our older girls with their particular child protection issues.  These difficulties have been mentioned in a previous post.  They have organized our girls of 12 years old or older by class, with a peer mentor in each class and overseen by one of our teachers.  The whole group meets once a week in the lunch hour and learns about various important issues affecting them, such as bodily hygiene, menstruation, sexual abuse, draconian punishment etc.  If a girl is suffering any sort of abuse at home, she can discuss the problem with the teacher-in-charge or the peer mentor in her class.  In less serious cases, the teacher will talk to the girl’s family and try to resolve the problem.  If necessary, the neighbours and local chief will be called to work together to provide back-up.  So far we have had one case, which was peacefully resolved with the help of the neighbours.  This is not a model which I can imagine being successful in Europe, but in a tribal society (where there is no concept of nuclear families) it is an acceptable approach.

Several weeks ago, gale force winds struck Nimule.  Our school kitchen collapsed completely, so that our poor cooks were left cooking in the blazing sun.  By contrast, one day we had heavy rain throughout the school day, so that the cooks were completely unable to provide food for the children.  We have just rebuilt the kitchen using the old foundations and leftover building blocks from previous construction work.  The new kitchen is now finished.    

This emergency building work caused us to raid the funds allocated for other things, particularly money intended for uniforms for our new children.  However, we have recently received some donations which are enabling the tailors to start work, while the school is not operating.

Several donors have quite spontaneously sent large donations.  Thank you so much for thinking of our school and helping us so much.  This money will be used to start on the construction of our last classroom block, which will complete the primary school classrooms.  The only problem is that the border with Uganda is now closed so we cannot access building materials.  This means that an immediate start is not possible.

I am happy to send gift aid forms to anyone is able to help with the construction costs of the new classroom block, or with regular donations so that we can buy school necessities and pay staff salaries regularly.  My email address is rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk. 

It is also possible to make donations online through Virgin Money Giving.  Please be aware that it is necessary to put ‘Cece Primary School’ in the comments box, as Opportunity through Education also collects funds for other causes.  Virgin Giving charges a hefty admin fee on large donations, so please send direct to Opportunity through Education if you are considering sending £1,000 or over.

Impact of the Coronavirus precautions

I am very sorry to see on the news how badly Europe is affected by the Coronavirus.  Coronavirus has not reached us, so everything seems very unreal.  However, the Coronavirus precautions are impacting us very severely. 

On Wednesday last week, I heard that all schools in Uganda were being closed as from Friday.  I needed to go to Uganda to fetch the deaf children from Mbale.  However, my passport was not with me as I keep it securely locked in the desk of a friendly pastor.  When I called him asking for my passport, he told me he was in Kampala until Friday.  I was therefore unable to leave immediately as intended.  I had to call the children’s school and explain that I could not fetch them until later.  Fortunately they were very understanding and helpful. 

In fact, this delay proved to be a Godsend, as I had a severe cold, cough and temperature at the time.  If I had left that Wednesday I would almost certainly have been detained in quarantine for two weeks (as has happened to some other people).  The pastor returned on Friday as promised and I left Nimule in a good state of health.  The journey takes two days, so I and the children only started the return journey on Sunday.  When we reached the border on Monday morning, I found the Ugandan Immigration Department closed and crowds of desperate people waiting outside.  I did not know if we would be able to cross at all. 

I called the father of one of the children to tell him our situation.  He said that as well as his home in Nimule, he also has a home in Elegu.  Nimule is a divided town, with part of the town (called Elegu) on the Ugandan side of the border.  He called his older son to find us and take us to his home for lunch.  If we were unable to cross to Nimule-proper, he offered for the children to sleep there overnight while I stayed in a hotel. 

In the event, we heard an announcement that the border would reopen at 2pm, so we came back ready to cross.  We waited for two hours, some of it in the pouring rain.  At nearly 4pm there was a sudden announcement that all South Sudanese nationals could pass.  I asked for advice, as I am not South Sudanese but needed to accompany our South Sudanese children.  The border officials kindly allowed me to go with the rest of the crowd.  There was no stamping of passports, which was a bit of a worry, but we all had our temperatures taken as we were hurried across the border.  Once in South Sudan, we piled onto motorbike taxis and headed for home. 

Since that day, the border has been entirely closed to all apart from long distance lorries, so we arrived home in the nick of time.  I tried to return to the border the next day to get my passport stamped, but was turned back, with the advice just to take things easy and come back when I heard that the border had reopened.  I have heard that many people are stranded on both sides of the border, desperately pleading to be let through.  Security officials have responded by beating people.  Some have swum across the river to get home, braving the crocodiles.

I arrived back to find that in my absence the South Sudanese government had closed all schools for at least one month.  They have also closed the churches and banned all public gatherings including funeral ceremonies.  So Cece Primary School is not open right now.  

We are not wasting time though we can't teach right now.  As it is coming towards the end of term exams, so I have asked our teachers to work on exam papers, in case we are able to reopen before the end of term.  I am also taking advantage of the non-teaching time to do a thorough clean-up of our school storeroom.  Uniforms are being made for the new children, which will be a good welcome back for those currently without uniform.

The presidential decree initiating the school closures expects that if the crisis has passed, schools will reopen after one month.  Let us hope that this is correct.

Teaching the teachers

Teachers are very hard to come by in South Sudan.  In Nimule, there was a huge drain of qualified teachers to the refugee camps in Uganda early on in the current civil war.  They were enticed by the high pay offered by a major international NGO.  There is no sign that they are going to come back in the foreseeable future. 

These teachers are not being replaced as there is a lack of training facilities across the country.  To tackle this, the Ministry of Education allows secondary school leavers to teach at primary level.  The South Sudanese curriculum ends at Senior 4, the equivalent of GCSEs, so most teachers are complete novices.  This applies to all primary schools in the whole country, apart from Dinka areas where the required level is even lower. 

Since starting Cece Primary School we have tried on our own to help our teachers to learn how to teach while teaching at the same time.  However, they come with their own school experiences.  They tend to model their behaviour on their former teachers’ behaviour.  This includes corporal punishment, teachers spending most of their time in the teachers’ common room when they are supposed to be teaching, regular lateness and absence while moonlighting at other schools.  Another general issue is absence due to funerals, which are vastly extended and can mean that we don’t see a teacher for several weeks.

One way in which we try to address this behaviour is by expecting our teachers to sign a contract which includes a ban on corporal punishment and taking another job at the same time.  When the contract is broken, the teacher has to leave.  Unfortunately this is a very regular event.  We also deduct pay for absence which is not agreed.  However, this is not working.

It is remarkable that in spite of these problems we still manage to get far better educational results at Cece Primary School than at the other local schools.  I believe this is partly because my own, and the school governing body’s motivation is the education of the children.  To this end we emphasize literacy, which doesn’t even feature in the official South Sudan Curriculum.  Most other schools are run as money-making concerns with little or no care for the children’s education.

We have been racking our brains for a solution, and finally it has arrived.  A few months ago, I heard of an organisation called Solidarity with South Sudan.  This is a Catholic organization which is seeking to stabilize the country through training in various areas, such as sanitation, health and education. 

Our school management team, Mohammed (centre)
and his sister and her child.

about an organization called

I contacted them and asked if they would be able to assist Cece Primary School.  Their response was very positive.  Although they do not intervene in individual schools, they have a teacher training college in a town called Yambio where they have offered us places for two teachers to attend a two year training course.   They suggested that we send two teachers each year, so that our school can gradually achieve a full staff of trained teachers.

However, when they sent me the documentation, including a Code of Conduct that must be signed by all trainees, it became clear that they have exactly the same experience of teacher attitudes, as I have described above.  We thought about each of our teachers and realized that currently only one, a teacher called Mohammed Hafish, would be capable of fulfilling their expectations of finishing the course successfully. 

Mohammed Hafish, our first teacher trainee

Mohammed was educated in Uganda, where he was a refugee.  Ugandan standards are far higher than those in South Sudan.  He is very pro-active and even quietly organized football training and a friendly match without being asked.  Best of all, he is one of the first teachers to arrive each morning and doesn’t have to be pushed into the classroom.  He very ably assisted me with the school registrations in the last two weeks.

Solidarity with South Sudan has accepted him and he is currently on his way to Yambio.  On our part, our school management team has written a contract for him so that he is bound to teach at our school for at least three years on his return, on a higher level of pay than previously to reflect his training. 

Solidarity with South Sudan has their own sponsorship network, so we do not have to pay for his studies or his board and lodging.  Mohammed will however need to buy personal necessities.  We have agreed to pay him a monthly amount equivalent to half his usual salary.  I advised him to open an account in Yambio and keep as much as possible untouched so that he is ready for any unexpected expenses, in case of illness etc. 

As you can see from my description of the teaching environment in South Sudan, we are in urgent need of properly trained teachers in order to raise our teaching levels.  We hope that every year we will be able to send at least one, possibly two teachers, for training for two years.  This will greatly increase our capacity in the long term.  However for the next few years, we will be paying half salaries for teachers who are not present and will need to replace them to keep the school running.

Would anybody be willing to sponsor Mohammed?  

The cost per year will be £160.00.  I am happy to send gift aid forms to anyone interested.  My email address is rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk.  It is also now possible to make donations online through VirginMoney Giving.  Please be aware that it is necessary to put ‘Cece Primary School’ in the comments box, as Opportunity through Education also collects funds for other causes.  Virgin Giving charges a hefty admin fee on large donations, so please send direct to Opportunity through Education if you are considering sending over £1,000.

More disabled children in need of help

The next academic year starts at the beginning of February in Uganda.  There are two children in need of special school education who are needing sponsorship.  Their stories are below.

Joel Simbe

Joel Simbe 

Joel Simbe is ten years old and completely deaf from birth.  His father is dead and his mother is struggling alone.  When I first met him in 2017 he was attending nursery at a local school and doing very well.  It seemed a bad idea to send him to boarding school at a huge distance with only one visit home each year at such a young age and when he was doing so well. 

Joel’s mother came to see me again a few months ago as Joel’s situation has changed.  Unknown to her he had been badly bullied at school throughout last year because of his deafness.  As a result he started to abscond from school.  It was only after two terms of absence that she finally heard from his school that he was not attending.  Apparently he set off each day in his school uniform and then hid himself somewhere.  She begged me to find a school for him in Uganda.

Joel is still very young.  However, I now know another school with a hearing impairment unit in Gulu, which is only 100 kilometres away from Nimule.  I would like to help him to go to the school in Gulu, which is called Mother Theresa’s Primary School.  That way, his mother can visit easily, and even fetch him herself at the end of each term.  The family has relatives in Gulu, which is an added advantage.

Peter Ngong

Peter (on the right) with
his cousin.

Peter has a long and very tragic story.  I first met him about three years ago.  At that time he was a completely blind fourteen year old street child.  His parents died when he was still a baby in their home town which is called Bor.  He is not sure if he was blind from birth or went blind while very small.  Apparently his eyes were checked when he was still small and his family was told that one eye was beyond help, but the other eye was operable.  For some reason nothing was done.  He was looked after by extended family, but maltreated by them so that he developed a habit of total distrust.  This type of behaviour to the disabled is very common in South Sudan.

In 2013 when the current civil war started, the vice-president’s army invaded Bor and committed a large-scale massacre of civilians.  Peter’s family fled on the back of a truck, taking Peter with them.  They settled in Nimule but soon afterwards Peter could take no more and ended up on the streets, begging.  Due to local attitudes to disability, he was regularly abused and often had his money from kind passers-by stolen from him immediately afterwards. That was his situation when I first met him.  It was obvious that he was very bright as he was fluent in four languages (Dinka, Madi, Arabic and English). 

Then things started to improve.  A local evangelical ministry became aware of him and invited him to learn the electric keyboard, guitar and drums at their church, as well as helping him to wash and giving him clothes.  A deaconess from another local church took him into her home.  I enrolled him in Cece Primary School.  At school Peter was hampered from making much progress by being in a non-specialist school.  I tried to persuade him to come with me to Gulu, where there are good hospitals, for an eye assessment.  I hoped to send him to a blind school in Gulu.  He completely refused, which I am sure was out of fear of more bad things happening to him.  I tried again and again over a three year period without success.  He was adamant and increasingly angry in his refusals, until things reached a point when he stopped coming to school at all.

A few months ago we finally had a breakthrough.  His relatives, seeing how he was being helped by strangers took him back and started to treat him better.  The lead pastor at the evangelical ministry managed to persuade Peter to allow me to take him to have an eye assessment.  We travelled there  together with his uncle’s wife.  Peter’s eyes were checked, but unfortunately both his eyeballs are now beyond help. 

The hospital referred him for blind rehabilitation, which includes ways to make him more independent, such as self-care and issuing a white stick.  They have also advised his family on how best to help him while letting him learn to be as independent as possible.  They also referred Peter to the deaf primary school in Gulu.  I queried this as he is now seventeen years old, but was told that the school teaches blind people of all ages.  Peter’s reaction was negative.  He said he would know nobody there.  Also, he was adamant that he must be able to continue his music.  The counsellor said that she thought they did music at Gulu Primary School.  Poor Peter.  It is very clear that the one bright spot in his miserable life up until now has been his music.  Who can blame him?

After leaving the hospital we went to visit the school.  The school office was open even though it was the holidays.  We were very warmly welcomed.  The Director of Studies was there and turned out to speak Arabic, which made Peter and his aunt feel at home.  The headteacher was also there.  Peter was told that there are several blind South Sudanese at the school.  We asked about the music issue and were told that music is taken very seriously.  We were even shown an array of gold cups from music competitions with other schools! Peter was given one to touch.  The school is run by the Church of Uganda, which has its cathedral right next to the school.  The headteacher told us that Peter can play the keyboard there every evening.  Adults do an accelerated learning course to enable them to catch up, starting with learning Braille.  Pupils transfer to a neighbouring secondary school with support, and some have gone on to university.

By the end of our visit Peter was really excited by the prospect of going to school there and has a new ambition: to go to university.  It has been a marathon, but the end is at last in sight.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring either Joel or Peter please let me know.  At this stage I am not sure of the exact costs, but will inform interested people when I know.  To give a rough idea, the sponsorship of the children at school in Mbale costs approximately £625 each per year.  If people would like to share sponsorship, that is of course possible.  My email address is rebeccamallinson1@hotmail.co.uk.

Chicken and New Clothes for Christmas

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

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

Cooking the chicken

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

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

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

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

A

Children eat together

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

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

Children pose in their new clothes

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

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

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