This Thanksgiving, I (Mary) have much to be thankful for.
Particularly, this year I will remember all of those who have helped Abukloi
Secondary School thrive thus far. This celebration will be tempered,
however, as I sit down for our family feast and remember our friends at Abukloi
who have never had the experience of abundance.
Over the next few years, it is our goal to develop a program
in Rumbek that will address one of the core issues weighing on South Sudan and
our students: food insecurity. One of
the main goals of Abukloi Secondary is to not only give students a formal education,
but also teach them real life skills they can use to create employment. As we
all learned during the Arab Spring uprisings, an educated citizenry may indeed
be essential to a free state, but if those educated citizens don’t have
employment it eventually leads to unrest.
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Road into Rumbek |
There is no employment more self-sustaining than food
production. Agriculture is a largely undeveloped sector of the South Sudan
economy. Almost all of Rumbek, if not all of Lakes State, experiences malnutrition
at some level. Hunger is pervasive among our students. They eat one meal a day. The meal consists of vegetables and grains, as meat
consumption is extremely rare. Students sleep very little, are up around
5:30am, and many must walk at least an hour to school exacerbating the effects
of low caloric intake.
Purchasing food in the market to feed students is cost prohibitive. South Sudan’s small agriculture sector means food is virtually
non-existent in the large Rumbek Town market. What is available is relatively
expensive. As most families in the Dinka
areas are pastoralists, very little area is used for agriculture besides the
small household garden. Fuel shortages and security issues also contribute to
high prices by making the transportation of products from food production areas
to town very expensive.
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Eggplant Bed |
So this year, Abukloi Secondary added agriculture to the
school’s curriculum. Although not a compulsory subject in the national exam,
the subject is mandatory for all students at our school. The intent is to teach
the students proper application of agricultural practices that they can apply at
home and share with their communities.
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Okra |
Students and teachers worked on designing beds, planting
seeds, watering and weeding. In addition to students working on the garden for
class work, an agricultural club was created for students especially interested
in the project. In June, an ox-plough was hired and one-third of our school’s
12 acres was tilled for crops. Crops were sown using the “scientific method”
(rows and mounds) and traditional method (casting seeds over raked earth) so
the students could compare the results.
Several crops were chosen for this first garden. A majority
of the grounds were planted with ground nuts, while other beds were planted
with okra, kale, pumpkins, tomatoes, and eggplant. When it was time to harvest,
the students came to bring in the crops. Some of this crop will be consumed by
the students and teachers, but most will be saved and sold at market when
prices rise. The proceeds will be used to expand the garden and train
area residents how to grow their own food. Slowly, the school’s garden
will sustain not only itself, but the surrounding community.
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Pumpkins and Ground nuts |
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