18th May 2022

After a day in which nothing seemed to happen yesterday I decided to text all teachers and ask them to come back to school today.  There was very little response.  It seems that most have run away to Uganda.  However, I went to the school this morning. 

I found our school guard busy digging a long trench in order to plant trees around the school perimeter.  We have attempted to plant trees many times in the past, with almost no success largely because of the cattle who sweep through the compound.  However, if all is carried out according to the State Governor’s instructions, this may be a thing of the past.  Who knows?

A few pupils were arriving at our neighbouring school, which is a good sign, although none came to Cece.  Three teachers came, for which I am very grateful.  We have decided to keep coming to school each morning.  Hopefully we will be seen by local families and word will spread that the teachers are waiting for their pupils to return.  We also decided that an announcement needs to be made in the local churches this coming Sunday that Cece Primary School is open.

There is a sense of déjà vu about this situation.  We faced a similar tug-of-war in mid-2016, when the whole town emptied for months – this time it is not nearly such a complete exodus, so I hope we can get back to normal fairly soon.  At that time we kept our school going, the only primary school to do so.  What we did then was to suspend normal lessons as we had too few in each class and did not have the right teachers for all classes.  Instead I got out non-formal learning materials such as jigsaw puzzles, duplo and drawing materials.  This time I think I will also get out paints (which up until now we have not used, so they will be a real novelty).   Fortunately we have plenty of plain paper.  I might even teach children to play the recorder. 

We talked about the general attitude of fear among the Madi community and that we need to be a positive role model for our pupils, whose lives can be completely wasted by constant disruptions and fleeing from one place to another, as has happened to at least two previous generations.  South Sudan will never develop if this type of attitude persists.  My message is always ‘Fear comes from the devil and courage comes from the Holy Spirit’. 

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

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 15 th ) 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. ...
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