When is a School not a School?

I believe it is true that almost all parents, including those in Southern Sudan, want their children to receive a ‘good education’ – whatever that might mean. Even parents who have not received much formal education themselves grasp the notion that basic literacy and numeracy is important and that children should go to school.  

This morning I went to the Nile to fill some containers with purified water. It’s free to the people of Malakal but individuals must collect it – a burdensome task for the women and children carrying full, 20-litre containers on their heads. I saw one little girl at the taps. I wondered if she goes to school. Many children here do, well dressed in colourful uniforms, but many don’t.   

I started thinking of the Brother in Australia many years ago who tried to suggest gently to a parent that her son should wash more regularly. The mother retorted: 

‘I sent him to school for you to learn him, not smell him!’  

At various Education conferences I have listened to disturbing statistics about education in Southern Sudan: 

 ‘96% of teachers do not have a recognised qualification; 63% of teachers are completely untrained.’  ‘In our county, we have no competent teachers of English’. ‘We have several schools with six classes and only two teachers’ ‘Many of our classes have more than one hundred students’. ‘Children in Southern Sudan have the least access to primary education in the world.’  

‘Schooling’ in many places in Southern Sudan is delivered under a tree. Many ‘schools’ simply have no classrooms. A few days [...]

Oven Baked But Pressing On

The impositions of the British and Arab cultures here is not logical. Who and why and when did someone convince these people to begin wearing western suits and long dresses which are far too hot for this climate. One man I saw last week, was proudly dressed in an iridescent beige and silver pin stripe suit which would have made Elvis proud in his youth! 

At least our watchman/handyman, Emmanuel, only wears long trousers to work and then changes into shorts around our house.  I do the same. I did not see one male, of any age, in shorts at Sunday mass. Even the two-year olds were attired in long trousers. 

How inappropriate are the long pointy-toed shoes worn by the men, or the wigs and gowns worn by some of the women? Many women wear high heels even though they have to walk on the dry, cracked earth. A little boy near me in Church was dressed in a full suit, cut down in size, which he proudly wore – t-shirt and shorts would be far more sensible. 

Apparently it has just snowed in Rome. Last Sunday, the weather pattern here was also a small aberration. I sat defiantly just inside the door of the Church enjoying being cold for a change. It was really too cool, but ‘cold’ was a rare experience that I wanted to savour. This past week, however, it has indeed been ‘oven-baked’. Thank heaven for fans but last night there was a total power failure in our area. So no fans and [...]

Health or Wealth

Coming to the end of a week of teaching English in Juba, Br Denis, now well recovered from malaria, commented light-heartedly to his class:

‘I’ll see you tomorrow’. 

‘Not tomorrow Brother’ one woman responded, ‘I have to do the washing’. 

‘Fine,’ jested Br Denis. ‘I’ll bring mine’. 

‘If I do your washing Brother, you will have to marry me’. 

Apparently that is a local, cultural expectation. Needless to say, Denis will continue to do his own laundry! But now we are ‘worried about’ Father Joseph whose ironing has sometimes been done by Asunta, the Sudanese housekeeper! Is there an expectation? 

Sister Margaret in Malakal recently had malaria, a rather prolonged bout that required several trips to the doctor. After asking some personal questions, the Muslim doctor expressed great surprise that she had never been married. In all seriousness, he suggested to her that her recovery would be helped greatly if she were to get married. Needless to say, she recovered without accepting that part of the prescription! 

We met recently with the very tall and gracious Dinka Bishop Rudolph of the Diocese of Wau. He was coming to bless our Catholic Health Training Institute in Wau. 

At the joyful opening and blessing, the Director of the Catholic Health Training Institute, Dr Maria Martinelli, a Comboni Sister, welcomed the guests and stressed the significance of the Institute motto: Knowledge, Integrity and Loving Care. Students can come from any part of the country, including the north, and be of any religion, but the Institute is setting high expectations for all of its staff and students [...]

The Wounds of War

During the past week, I was back in Malakal briefly where we had various meetings and the blessing of our house during the visit of Sr Pat Murray, Executive Director of Solidarity with Southern Sudan (SSS), who is based in Rome. Almost all the priests in the diocese were there. Before the blessing, I was pleased to be able to hang an aboriginal cross on the wall donated by some of the staff of De La Salle College, Malvern, and sent to Sudan with Br Denis.

Work is also in full swing at Malakal in the development of the SSS teacher training facilities. The SSS, 2010, eight-week, in-service programmes, for first and second year students, are about to begin in Malakal in borrowed, near-by, school classrooms.

We flew back to Juba on Thursday and on Friday drove to Torit. Sr Pat, Fr Joseph and I set out at 5:30am to drive the 140kms to Torit, the centre of the Diocese, where we had arranged to meet the Bishop, Johnson Akio. The trip took just under five hours each way. The road takes one toward the Kenyan boarder and passes through that part of Sudan where some of the heaviest fighting during the war occurred. It is apparently regarded as a strategic area and even now, a Northern army is based in Torit, as well as the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) from the south. We passed through several military camps, and check-points, along the way. 

The Bishop welcomed us warmly and generously. He took us to visit the [...]