Potholes and Patience

As if the roads are not bad enough already, someone seems determined to turn them into an obstacle course. Roadside, drainage ditches have been deepened recently by an excavator. The soil was not removed but simply dumped on the edge of the roads making them narrower and muddier. Sometimes, major roads are randomly closed off for the excavator to work. There are no detour signs but one is just expected to find another way.

With the roadside so muddy, every person, dog, cow, pig, goat & duck chooses to join the donkey carts, horse carts, bikes, wheelbarrows (carrying water), cars and trucks in the centre of the road which tends to be firmer. No need to look first! If you get there first you have the right of way – so the reality seems. You may be coming from the opposite direction and overtaking on what I would call the ‘wrong side’ of the road, but why worry about that?

Even if I were younger, I wouldn’t be looking for a ride on the dodgem cars in a fun park. Here I can have it all for free – weaving and sliding in between pedestrians, carts, vehicles, animals and abundant children, not to mention pushbikes, motor bikes (no helmets required) and wheelbarrows. I have noticed it is easy for a pushbike rider to become unbalanced if the bike begins to wobble when there are five, 20 litre, plastic gerry cans of water tied on to it. Watch out for the sudden lurch, one learns!

When roads dry out [...]

Grandiose & Greedy

Last Tuesday, at 9:30am, I took Br Denis to the Malakal airport to check in on a World Food Programme flight to Juba. We were gruffly told ‘no check in’ – go to the WFP office. We eventually ascertained that the Malakal Airport Manager, not following correct procedures, had tried to get on a WFP flight the day before but had been turned away. So in retaliation he declared the airport closed to all WFP flights on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, Sr Luchita, returning from Colombia had been sitting in the Juba airport from just after 8:00am waiting for her flight to Malakal. If it were not my phone calls, she would have had no idea why her plane was delayed. By 12:30pm, the dispute had not been resolved and all intending passengers at both airports were finally told to go home. This is Sudan! 

You meet some wonderful people in Southern Sudan. In the recent August 30 edition of the USA National Catholic paper, America, a correspondent wrote of two Bishops visiting the USA:

‘You have to look up to the Sudanese bishops because they maintain their faith despite what they’ve been through. Witnesses to their country’s horrific civil war, they nevertheless have ready smiles and gentle humor….  Bishop Rudolf Deng Majak, president of the Sudanese bishops’ conference, and Bishop Daniel Adwok Kur, auxiliary bishop in Khartoum, retain hope for peace in Sudan despite the likelihood of war.’  

The Bishops exercise a leadership of service and preach peace. Unfortunately, too many people, choose instead to exercise a leadership of [...]

Angelo Asking

One of the difficulties in living in Southern Sudan is being confronted with so many very obvious needs. The circumstances in which many people live in simple tukuls, presently surrounded by mud and pools of murky water, is appalling – to my eyes. Many of the people, however, have never been elsewhere and thus do not make comparative judgements as readily as I do. One hopes that they are not as conscious as we ‘kawadjas’ (white people) of how far there is to go in attaining better living conditions and that they take encouragement from seeing some of the obvious improvements that are occurring. Perhaps the increasing prosperity of some who have employment provides the strongest motivation for a lasting peace.  

For the ‘kawadjas’, however, there is another related problem. Those in need see the resources of the expatriates and, specifically, what we are doing as part of Solidarity with Southern Sudan, and think we should be able to respond to their needs. Although we try to explain that we have to fund-raise ourselves for the high priority needs of better health services and delivering teacher education, the perception persists that we have a capacity to respond to other needs.  

One becomes accustomed, even if it remains a little unsettling, to meeting children in rags who plead ‘Kawadja, one pound, one pound.’ I am referring here, however, to more than this. As well as the obvious need for better homes, the Church is trying to address the need for better schools and churches and even [...]

The Quality Quandary

Long ago, Confucius warned: ‘Seek not every quality in one individual’. Wise advice. None of us is perfect. Quality is a real issue for us here in Southern Sudan. A couple of days ago as I drove around Malakal with Peter Stemp, from our Solidarity with Southern Sudan Rome office, he listed several economically poor countries he had visited and remarked of the muddy Malakal roads:  ‘These are the worst roads I have seen anywhere’. 

It is not just the quality of the roads, but also of goods, that is a problem here. The tap on our kitchen sink has already been replaced three times this year. Toilet seats disintegrate, the electrical cables, far from being systematically tested, as in developed countries, are often just two lengths of wire loosely joined together. Fortunately, we have a Syrian builder who is focussed on quality. He is bringing most electrical fittings from Europe. The switchboard for our new Teachers’ College was made in France.  

With clothing I find myself opting for lower quality because it is thinner, lighter, cooler and washable – never mind if the appearance is not so smart. Ironically, many of the Sudanese dress very smartly in suits with collars and tie while I appear quite casual by comparison. When I think it is pleasantly cooler than usual, they say it is cold!  

These things, of course, are only incidentals. The real issue is the quality one finds in the people. Many Sudanese speak at least three languages fluently – Arabic, English and their local [...]

The Gift of Peace

I have decided that I like the wet season. Yes, it brings slush and mud, slippery roads, paths under water and many roads, especially near the main markets, become quagmires; but the much cooler temperatures, the varied cloud cover, the lack of dust and even the sound of rain on our tin roof bring ebb and flow, light and shade to the pattern of our living. ‘Glory be to God for dappled things’ wrote Hopkins, in admiration and praise of variation and diversity in creation. 

At the recent blessing of the local Catholic radio station, after Sunday morning mass, the Apostolic Administrator of this Malakal Diocese, Monsignor Roko Taban, spoke of the diverse tribes of Southern Sudan. ‘There is difference here but be proud of who you are and what tribe you belong to but there is no place for violence. Beauty is not a competition’. 

He used the analogy of flowers in a garden. ‘The flowers are greatly varied but they do not need to fight one another. Each can be appreciated for its own beauty. There is no better or worse flower. They are all flowers and we are all people. Be proud of who you are but we are also Sudanese and there should be no violence between us. Some here come from other countries and also live and work peacefully among us.’ The approaching referendum (January 2011) is very much in the minds of the Church leaders who are using every possibility to urge continuing peace.  

A little earlier, at the end of [...]

Going in Gumboots

Last week I quoted some health statistics from a development report, based on research carried out in 2009, recently released by the European Commission in Brussels. In that same report, here are some comments about education. 

‘Education indicators in Southern Sudan are amongst the lowest in the world and the vast majority of children and youth from the south have not received any formal schooling. Less than 50% of all children receive 5 years of primary education and whilst 1.3 million are enrolled, it is estimated that only 1.9% will complete primary education… Decades of conflict and under-investment in education have left Southern Sudan with a lack of qualified and trained teachers and learning spaces. Whilst resilience in the sector was supported by the mobilisation of volunteer teachers and recruitment of demobilised soldiers into the teaching service, the legacy was such that in 2003, up to 90% of teachers had no formal teaching qualifications and had limited educational qualifications.’ 

A major focus of the work of Solidarity with Southern Sudan is the delivery of teacher training for primary school teachers. There is an urgent need, not only for more schools and more teachers, but for basic training of the current teachers. Our present focus has been on in-service but we are building facilities at both Yambio and Malakal that will enable us to begin pre-service education in 2012. 

The wet season has well and truly arrived but life and activity don’t stop in Southern Sudan. This is a country where one simply accepts there are difficulties and keeps [...]

The Healing Touch

In a development report, based on research carried out in 2009, recently released by the European Commission in Brussels, I noted the following appalling statistics: 

‘Indicators in Southern Sudan are amongst the lowest in the world: over 90% of people in Southern Sudan live on less than $1 per day. One out of six women who become pregnant will die and one in six children die before their first birthday. The under five mortality rate remains high at 135 per 1,000 live births, despite having reduced significantly from 250 in 2001…. Only 27% of girls in Southern Sudan attend primary school and a 15 year old girl has a higher chance of dying during childbirth than completing school… Nationally, adult literacy stands at 71% for males and 52% for females. Only 8% of female adults in the south can read and write.’ 

No wonder it is hard to find qualified, female candidates for our Catholic Health Training Institute where I was last week. Girls in Sudan have had so little educational opportunity. In many countries the majority of nurses are women. I suspect there may now be more male nurses in first world countries than in the past but of the 17 student nurses in our Catholic Health Training Institute, there are five women and twelve men. We would like to recruit more women. 

The Catholic Health Training Institute in Wau, conducted by Solidarity with Southern Sudan (SSS), is the only place in Southern Sudan conducting a recognised Registered Nurse training programme. When Sister (Dr) Alphonse joins our [...]

Welcome to Our World

The wig was almost falling off the back of her the little girl’s tiny head. A small boy with laughing eyes crouched behind her while another in a ‘Joe Cool’ T-shirt stood at the back. They had come to request a lolly from kindly Sister Cathy. These are the children of Juba and this is their world.

I often find myself thinking, when I see young children, that where they are is their whole world. Most have never ventured far from home. Their entire world, especially in the more remote areas, consists of the local tribe and the tukuls with grass roofs and dirt floors in which they live, with no gas, electric power, nor running water. They learn to carry water and to cook over charcoal fires. They are too young to remember the war. Yes, they do see cars drive by and planes fly overhead but they live in a happy simplicity. One sees very small children wandering around roads, or playing, with no watching adult anywhere nearby. This is mostly a safe world – unless it is made hazardous by the LRA or other militias showing scant respect for human rights.

The children in the Congolese refugee camp at Makpundu are alienated from their home country. I imagine they must share some of the anxiety of their parents about the activities of the LRA. They welcome the reassuring presence of Fr Mario and the support provided by our Sisters in Riimenze. Yet they are cheerful, like children normally are, smiling, laughing, playing games and [...]

The African Dilemma

A few days ago, our Juba neighbour, Sister Pushpa, celebrated the anniversary of her 20 years in Africa, considerably longer than my ten months!

Africa is such a culturally diverse continent. When Ghana was the only African country left in the World Cup, I did find Sudanese were barracking for Ghana, ‘the African team’. There is a general consciousness of being ‘African’ although some 54 independent sovereign states make up ‘Africa’. 

Nonetheless, the tribe of origin often impacts more on style of life than any national identity. Some say the colonial powers divided up Africa into arbitrary countries. ‘Arbitrary’ it truly was as tribes such as the Azande nation, an ethnic group of more than one million people, found themselves divided into parts of three countries. Further, many of the more than 10,000 independent, African, tribal nations were forced into uneasy coalitions with traditional enemies. These ‘coalitions’ may be single countries nominally but conflicts continue, unfortunately exacerbated by modern weaponry. 

A Wikipedia entry, printed below, sums up the African situation, in the post-Colonial period since the mid 1950s, much better than I can:

‘Today, Africa contains 54 sovereign countries, most of which still have the borders drawn during the era of European colonialism. Since colonialism, African states have frequently been hampered by instability, corruption, violence, and authoritarianism. The vast majority of African states are republics that operate under some form of the presidential system of rule. However, few of them have been able to sustain democratic governments on a permanent basis, and many have instead cycled through a series [...]

Sleep in Peace

Sr Margaret visited one of the teachers from our in-service programme in his school last week and found herself in a conversation with this fine man about his personal circumstances. He is being paid SDG 279 (Sudanese pounds – about US $104) per month. To earn that, he teaches both shifts in his school which has separate morning and afternoon student cohorts. He pays SDG 100 per month to rent his tukul and budgets on feeding his wife, child and his father on SDG 5 per day. There is not much left for clothing or other expenses! He is not complaining but he does say he cannot afford another child at present! 

Another teacher on Sister Margaret’s list lives at one end of Malakal but, because he speaks good English, has been told to teach at a school several kilometres out of the town at the other end of Malakal where they need English instruction. He walks two and a half hours every morning to get there and in the evening, another two and a half hours to return home. There are taxis, relatively cheap, from my perspective, at only one pound for a ride on the set routes. If he caught those, it would reduce his trip time by at least an hour and a half.  He would need to take two of them each way on the set routes; but he can’t afford to spend SDG 4 (about $1.50) each day on taxis. So he walks! I am not sure what will happen on [...]