Pain and Pride

In the capital of South Sudan, Juba, there is a significant network of approximately seventeen Catholic schools. Here in Malakal, no Juba-like network of Catholic schools exists. Historically, the Catholics in this part of Southern Sudan were on the other side of the Nile to Malakal.

The spirit among the Malakal group of training teachers is less cohesive and attendance is not as good as the programme in Juba. Life in Malakal is more of a struggle as many teachers need to do other things to supplement their income. It is an extra to be going to a teacher training programme. One woman last week came apologetically to say that she would be absent because her 25 year old brother had died. Another man said his brother had been knifed and killed in a domestic dispute. Behind the warm handshakes and the smiling eyes, one glimpses every now and then, a lot of pain among the people of this ravaged country.  

An evacuation exercise had been scheduled for Saturday. Conducted by the UN, it was to utilise the Nile as the means of transport out. A practice for evacuation by road had already been done. The exercise was cancelled because a candidate for President of the South was coming to town. No trouble was expected but the practice could create misunderstanding. Even before the cancellation, some of us were wondering what message having such a practice sends out to the Sudanese people. 

February 23rd was the anniversary of the outbreak of fighting last year in the area [...]