16th May 2022

Today the meeting mentioned yesterday finally happened.  I went along, but it consisted of numerous, lengthy speeches from large numbers of those in authority in each community.  All the speeches were in Arabic and I was left completely in the dark.  In the end I gave up and went home.  Finally the meeting ended and Charles, my partner in the school was able to enlighten me.  It seems that the final version of events (which I reported on 15th) is the closest to the truth.

People from Mugali were asked to go back to their homes and were told that there will be enhanced security for them in future.  The Dinkas were given a deadline of July to remove all their cattle and return them to their home areas around Bor.  It was emphasized that this does not mean that all Dinkas have to leave.  They are (as individuals) free to live anywhere in their home country.  What is not acceptable is to move to another tribal area as a whole community.  It was not possible to say anything about the raiders as they have come and gone and took no part in the discussions. 

For some reason, nothing was said about the large numbers of townspeople running away to Uganda.  Also nothing was said about the security of Nimule.  Today is a public holiday, so I am going to wait until tomorrow to call the local education department to get their advice on reopening the school.

It is so frustrating.  First Covid closed the schools for over a year.  Then, this new academic year, we reopened for one week at the beginning of April only to be ordered to close again until May.  Then we reopened for three days in May, only to be hurriedly closed because of the security situation.  This is the reality of working in South Sudan.  It is impossible to plan properly, or work steadily.  It is very hard to help the children of South Sudan to get a proper education under these circumstances, but we must continue to do our best.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Loveless Society

It is almost ten years since I arrived in South Sudan, specifically Nimule, a small town close to the border with Uganda.  Life has been very challenging but rewarding as well.  I have done things I never dreamt I could do, such as founding a school, fundraising for the school to the extent that we have always been able to keep going, even if the school is basic.  I have also managed to take a growing number of deaf children to special schools in Uganda.  All this, completely independently of any organisation.  It seems like a miracle to me. I have always found the way children are treated abhorrent.  They are beaten for the smallest thing, with no love shown to them at all.  Children are dragged up by fellow siblings, while their mothers do nothing for their children.  Their fathers are generally completely out of the picture.  Children are expected to do all sorts of heavy household chores, leaving them tired at school and with no time to d...
Read more

12th May 2022

I slept well.  When I woke I decided that although I had asked the teachers to come at 10 o’clock, I would go at my usual time to ask children to go back home.  Pascalina told me that police had stayed on our veranda all night and that things had been quiet.  However she did not open her shop.  Things were also quiet on my way to school.  As I had expected very few children had come, but I sent those who came back home.  Then I sat for a while doing a few administrative tasks.  The men who were plastering our classrooms were working, but I could see that the cooks who should have been at the school to cook lunch for them had not come.  I was told later on that the workmen went home.  I walked home, again without incident.  HUMAES continued to work in their office so I joined them. Police and soldiers were out in numbers, trying to keep the town secure.   In the late afternoon, HUMAES heard that two policemen had been shot dead ver...
Read more