The students across South Sudan started their final exams on
Monday. At Abukloi Secondary School the
air was palpable with anxiety. Because
only one exam is given at a time, the levels not taking the exam are waiting
outside in the shade. The school grounds
normally loud with chatter and laughter is quiet with students whispering and
noses in their notes. One student
described her math exam as “dangerous”.
These exams will last two weeks.
Students who do not pass will have to repeat the entire grade
level. Few choose to do that, opting to
drop out. The Head Teacher will decide
which teachers to extend contracts based on the exam scores of their
subject(s). So much rides on these exams
for both teachers and students – and influences the future of this nation when
you think about how precious each student is.
There are approximately 1,000 students who complete secondary school and
the national exam each year. This is for
the entire nation of South Sudan! It is
predicted that number will grow exponentially over the next decade as more
secondary schools are being started.
We went back to Nancy’s Gardens today. Justin put a hand gun in under his belt just
to be sure we would be safe. Even with 4
armed men on the premises, he wanted to assure our safety. It has been about 10 days since our first
visit and much progress has happened.
Four women have cleared a section, all with hand tools, and have begun
to break up the soil. We offered to pay
for a tractor and plow to do this, but the soil is so hard the plow will not
work so it is done by hand, by women. It
is like breaking rocks. They are in the
hot sun. This is the challenge for these
women wanting to feed their families. I
prayed for the spirit of Nancy to protect and provide for these women and their
families. The challenges they face
simply to grow food is so severe, hard to take in.
Once we got back to Justin’s office we talked more with Chol,
chairman of the Akuac Community Committee, who oversees this garden project. I learned that the plan is to start small,
with these 4 women. There will be need
for funds to build a small building inside the fence. This cement block building with iron roof
will provide shelter for the guards (who will also sleep in the shelter
providing round the clock security), storage for tools, produce, etc. and a
space for training the women in agriculture and financial literacy. The seeds have already been given by an
organization, FAO. They include carrots,
tomatoes, watermelon, cabbage, onion, kale, potatoes, okra, and various
greens. In addition, our school will
provide seeds for ground nuts. By
February/March the first crops will be harvested. Local restaurants will come to the garden to
purchase food saving many of the women the long walk to the market. Eventually, they hope to have a Nursery
School for the children of the women working the gardens. An NGO in the area, BRAC, can provide the
school but we have to find other sources to fund building the small school.
Several of us in the US had talked about a “Mother’s
Garden”. This is a garden with food
especially important for women who are pregnant and breast feeding. Sonja Tussing and Katie Fleigler compiled a
list of foods. Comparing their lists to
the list of seeds we have, I believe we have ourselves a “Mother’s Garden”!
The area where Nancy’s Garden is located is called
“Akuac”. Think of it as a sub-division
of mud huts and thatch roofs. It is an
historic community where Angelo was born.
He has been given property to someday build a home. Near that property are also graves including
the grave of his father. Only the people
of “significance” to that community are buried there. Over the graves are carved trunks (akin to
totem poles) and symbols of cow horns.
Justin believes that someday a museum will be built there to tell the
story of this ancient people. He hopes
to be the one who writes their story. I
hope I live long enough to read it.
Pizza! November 15 is
Justin’s birthday. He is now 28! So I took Justin, Stephanie, and Helen (a
member of Angelo’s family here in Rumbek) to dinner at Hill View. They had pizza! It was a lovely evening and fun to treat
Justin to dinner.
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