Happy students of the Catholic Health Training Institute

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 and a strong Catholic ethos. Sr Maria thanked the many people who had worked so hard to restore the Institute, especially the large team of workers, under the leadership of Father Alberto, who had transformed the old facilities so effectively in only a few months.

Alberto, a man of great good cheer and a zest for life, jokes a lot with the African people whom he has been supervising in the very extensive construction and renovation work necessary to restore the Health training Institute to operational status.   

Phase one of the renovation is nearing completion. There are two further rebuilding phases which will be done this year to complete the Institute which will offer a range of training programmes in the Health sector. The initial students are all enrolled in a four-year, residential, nurse-training programme, the first in Southern Sudan meeting international standards for registered nurses. 

The new students led the singing for the blessing and in a joyful celebration of the mass. In his homily, the Bishop stressed the importance of the service those who were being trained should give back to their local communities. 

The Director General of the Wau Teaching Hospital also addressed the students. He stressed the great need for nurses. The hospital he directs has just over 200 nurses. Only two of them have been trained. 

So a key part of the planning for the Catholic Health Training Institute is the rebuilding of the Catholic Hospital in Wau, which has been reclaimed from the military after a successful court action. Sr Maria is also overseeing that development and has fund-raised very effectively for the capital costs of building and re-development. Our programme calls for the student nurses to be trained there under expert clinical supervision. 

To conclude the formalities, the Bishop planted a mango tree, which Sr Sneha, Principal of the academic nursing programme, described as ‘a strong symbol of life and shelter and a reminder of how we plan to grow as a Health Training Institute’.

While it has been challenging, it has not been too difficult to find governments and other generous donors to provide the several million dollars for the capital works. The huge problem now, however, is funding the recurrent costs. We estimate it will cost US$6,000 per year to train each student nurse in this residential programme. The target intake is 25 students. The students themselves have virtually no capacity to pay.

A few dioceses are providing $2,000 for each student from their diocese but for the major part we shall have to rely on sponsorship from outside of Sudan. If there are any ‘fairy godmothers or godfathers’ out there, I am not too old to be grateful for fairies! Any donations big or small would be very helpful. 

The average lifespan in Southern Sudan is only 42 years. Surely we can improve that with better health care.

Br Bill