Juba Primary Schools

Tina has been visiting some of the church primary schools in Juba. I have been talking to the headteachers, finding out basic information about the schools and asking them what their concerns and problems are, as well as their successes. I have visited some of the classes.

Most of the schools are very overcrowded with up to 80 children in a class and have very few resources. One headteacher told me her dream was to have a photocopier, but they don't even have electricity or running water. In this school there are two toilets on the edge of the playing area for 700 children. Some have a few text books but never one per child, and no reading material at all. Exercise books and pencils are provided by UNICEF. There is a lot of chanting and work copied from the blackboard. For this parents pay 200 Sudanese Pounds (about £60) per child per year. In addition to this parents have to find uniform (schools have their different colours as in Britain).

School starts between 8 and 9 in the morning, and goes on till two in the afternoon. There is a break for breakfast around 10.30 am. Children can buy finger food in the playground (see picture) or bring their own in in little coloured plastic pails, and there is another break around 12.30 pm. They mostly get water from a pump.


Most primary schools have a kindergarten for ages 4 and 5 (sometimes younger) and primary 1 to 8 (equivalent to Years 1 to 8 in Britain). To qualify for secondary school, which starts in Yr. 9 (that is called secondary 1 here) the children have to pass a standard national exam. The pass rate varies between different schools. But many of the children who pass never go to secondary school because they can't afford the fees which go up to 600 Sudanese Pounds in a church school. (Government schools have been cheaper because they have been subsidised, but things are now changing.)


As from this year, they learn English right from kindergarten, but most of them grow up with Juba Arabic as well as their tribal language. In secondary school they aim to teach everything in English, which is a challenge for those children who did not have as much English when they were younger. The children are mostly bright and cheerful and fall over themselves to greet visitors like me! And they love having their photographs taken - apart from a few of the older girls who are quite shy. In one school they had a long skipping rope and were doing communal skipping as some of us in Britain used to do in the playground when I was young.


There is a Sudanese programme called "Confident Children out of Conflict" which collects street-children and pays their school fees and provides food and uniform etc. I have been particularly visiting schools that have links, or would like to have links, with schools in Salisbury diocese and hope to be able to act as liaison as we visit, enabling them to exchange letters etc.

Visit to Lainya

At the beginning of May we went to the re-dedication of the church in Lainya. Lainya is a small town three hours by very rough road to the south-west of Juba. Lazarus Church is currently being used as the cathedral. It was built many years ago as the parish church, but will be used as the cathedral until a much larger, purpose built cathedral on a nearby hill is built.

Lazarus Church was severely damaged in the war. Its roof in particular suffered. The priest's house was blown up, and the area left traumatised after being on the front-line for several years. The Archbishop re-dedicated the church in the usual manner beginning with knocking on the closed doors with his staff. The ceremony began promptly at 10 am. The Eucharist, including sermon, lasted over two hours, and then the other proceedings continued without a break until 4 pm. Those of us at the top end of the church were offered water but the majority just sat it out (or drank their own). However with that length of proceedings one did not feel inclined to drink too much! Inside, the church was decorated with bunting which is common occurrence in the Sudan. The previous day we toured some refugee camps where the Archbishop promised to help with seed and tools so the people could grow their own food. We also visited the Mothers' Union sewing workshop with several Singer treadle machines. See picture.


We climbed up to the site of the new Cathedral with its wonderful view across Lainya diocese where the Archbishop dedicated a large foundation stone. Later, in the church, individual people pledged over £6000 (plus several goats and chickens) as people could afford. Most of this came from community dignitaries as ordinary people have very little beyond what they can grow. We pledged £500 from the Lyme Bay Deanery which is linked with Lainya.


There is a special link between Loka Secondary School in the diocese and the Sir John Colfox School Bridport. They have given us some letters to bring to Bridport when we visit in June. We visited the school but didn't see many people as it was the weekend, but we did managed to talk to three borders and the headteacher and the deputy.

Keep Praying

Thank you very much for your continued prayers for our project. We have some new things to pray for and would very ask you to help. Prayer does make a difference. The project is still on track but there are a few places where we need to "oil the wheels" through prayer. Some of the answers to the prayers you have already made (see below) witness to the power of prayer.

April 2009

Prayer Answers
1. Thank God for the wonderful new site in an excellent position that everyone here wants us to have. Something that might have been controversial but which has turned out to have universal approval.

2. Thank God for the people of Action Aid, an Christian organisation which seeks to help churches and church institutions in the developing world set up investment projects. We thank God that the Revd Vinay Samuel from Oxford (and Bangalore, India) who has been involved in setting up Bangalore Theological College to be self-financing, has shown special interest in us. We pray for him and his work and the working out of ideas of sustainable investment for BGC.

3. Thank God for the tremendous impact that our Archbishop is making on the work of the ECS and the great energy that is emerging in all areas to develop and grow. We thank God for the recent mission to Bor Diocese in which new areas were visited and the process of reconciling tribal conflict in the area took a great leap forward.

4. We thank God for the way in which we have settled here in very good health, and the way in which we have been welcomed.

5. Not least we do thank him for the tremendous patience people have here in the Sudan. There is an urgency about things and opportunities are taken without hesitation, but there are many obstacles that are beyond our control. The capital investment is never sufficient. The peace is susceptible to a criminal few who can get away with things because enforcing law in such a large area with remote wildernesses is very difficult. And, sadly, the nation is divided by a very few who wield power in Khartoum and are making things more difficult. Yet, in all the frustrations and the waiting and the setbacks, there is a tremendous patience in the Lord for which we give thanks.

Prayer Points
1. Continue to pray for the smooth handing over of the college from the former administration. The "Handing Over Committee" still has a few things to work on. We need to secure all the deeds and documentation of the buildings the college owns in various parts of the town. Two of these properties are occupied by former members of staff who have notice to quit by the end of June.

2. Please pray for all the former members of staff that they may find a suitable place to move to, and suitable employment or satisfactory retirement as they choose. Pray for The Revd. David Bako, the principal, who is in a particularly difficult situation. The Ven Canon Francis Paul, the Dean of Studies and Vice Principal, has been a respected members of the college staff for many years. There are several others who have served more than a decade, and in some cases two.

3. We need prayers to help us pay these people the unpaid salaries from 2007. We have arranged with SUDRA (Sudan Development and Relief Agency of the ECS) to exchange a house belonging to BGC with them to enable us to pay the staff all they are owed. SUDRA has US$100,000 in the Nile Bank (donated by UTO in the US), but unfortunately the bank is in difficulties and cannot/will not release the money. The Southern Sudan government are trying to bail the bank out, but falling oil revenues mean that the government are finding times hard too. Government workers were not paid at the end of March. Pray that SUDRA and BGC see the money. If we cannot get this money it may mean we will have to sell the house on the open market, and lose the chance of the site currently occupied by SUDRA which will be bad for SUDRA and a disaster for us because the site is in a perfect position.

4. Continue to pray for the 15 students at home waiting to resume their studies in January 2010.

5. We give thanks for the news links promised by Limuru University in Kenya that will enable us to re-establish an accredited diploma programme from the time we re-open.

6. Pray for the work of the overseas partners of theological education in the Sudan and the plans for meetings in June (in Salisbury) and Juba (in July) with people from America, Britain and the heads of the theological institutions in the Sudan. Pray that a programme for the implementation of the development of the vision for a Bishop Gwynne University may emerge. Pray also for the financing of these meetings.

7. We also pray for the preparations of a major appeal later in the year. If we manage to get this new site we will need hundreds of thousands of dollars of capital funding. Pray for the detailed planning process that will have to precede the appeal.

8. We are fortunate to have an agriculturalist working with us , Robin Denney. Pray for her work across the Sudan, but especially for the work she is doing on developing an agricultural curriculum suitable for theology students, and later the landscaping of the new site.

9. We give thanks that there is very little division on the every day level between Muslims and Christians, and it is certainly not common in Juba. Pray for an increasing influence of people of faith on the peace and unity of this nation.

THANK YOU!

Holy Week and Easter in Juba

We thought you might be interested in some of the different things that happen locally in All Saints Cathedral over this period. This has been a very different sort of time for us compared with the way we have celebrated Holy Week and Easter in Dorset and Salisbury.

On Palm Sunday we discovered that you are expected to make your own palm cross before the service. There were some palm branches at the entrance and some kind person gave us a piece. Fortunately we hadn't forgotten how to make them as we did many in Australia. There were a huge variety of styles and sizes. The service here is either ASB morning prayer or ASB communion. Palm Sunday, and Good Friday were MP and Maundy Thursday and Easter Day were Communion.

On Maundy Thursday, which had been advertised as the "feet-washing", the whole congregation had their feet washed. We formed a long queue and each came and sat in the front row in turn while the clergy went along the row - some poured water, others washed and a third dried. People were not reluctant. We had another surprise when we came to the communion. Instead of the usual wafer they had baked sponge cakes and we each broke a piece off. We weren't sure what it would taste like even though it looked exactly like cake - but it was cake! A special thing for a special day! The service lasted a long time, but 2 hours is the average, and no-one seems to mind. It was supposed to start at 5 pm. We arrived at 4.55 and were virtually the first. By the time it started at 5.40 there were about 10 rows of people and by 6 pm the cathedral was more than half full.

On Good Friday there was just the one service for both Arabic and English. Trevor preached with a translator. Since no sermon is less than 25 minutes long, the translation made it 25 minutes so it was regarded as respectable. Long sermons are expected. Some of the preachers get very dramatic and draw noisy responses from the congregation. Trevor's sermon was more sedate!

The Easter Eve service included candles. But again you had to bring your own. The practice is that everyone queues to light their candle from the Easter Candle. This took ages. Then you hang on to your lighted candle throughout the sermon so you have to have a fairly big candle! Most people stood them in sand in chopped off water bottles. By the time the service finished it was dark and everyone went out holding their lighted candles.

Easter Sunday was similar to a normal Sunday except that the hangings were all white. They don't just cover the altar but all the chairs and prayer desks in the chancel and the lectern. The Assistant Bishop of Juba preached an interesting sermon with several memorable things. One was that you should still come to church even if you think that the preacher on the rota is hopeless. You will learn from his hopelessness! Another was about the women going to the tomb in faith not knowing how they were going to get in. They went even though they didn't know how they were going to succeed. We should still set out on our tasks even when we are not sure how the obstacles are going to be overcome. The ladies also pointed out that all the women were allowed to do was go and anoint the body - but when they got there, they were called to be the first witnesses of the Resurrection. Women today should not content themselves with just doing the menial tasks but be prepared to witness to Christ.

We often get a "second sermon" at the end of the service on some topical point. On Easter Day we were addressed by the Minister of Gender, Social and Religious Affairs in the Government of Southern Sudan. She had just come to church as an ordinary member of the congregation, but the Bishop invited her to speak. She said that we need to stick at the work even when things get hard. We still need to grow food crops even though we expect to earn wages. (This month the government wages were not forthcoming). The Bishop followed this up by sending us out to plant now the rainy season has come. And he told white people who have come to work here to see they really help, and not just see their time in Juba as a time to make money! (There were far more white people than usual who had come for Easter).

In the afternoon there was an Outdoor Easter Celebration that had been organised mostly by the ladies. There were songs and dances from a number of groups, the mamas (older women),

younger women, a choir and young people and the Sunday School. We had another sermon (from a woman) and long speeches. The men's contribution was the All Saints Cathedral Drama Group. They were brilliant. They acted out a scene where someone was paying money to noisy witch-doctors to heal their friend but to no avail. Then a preacher came along and simply raised the person without any fuss. The whole thing involved a lot of clowning and caused huge delight.


The Sudanese are very good actors. The event overran (of course) and concluded in the dark with everyone being given some sweets and can of pop.

Perhaps the thing we most associate with Easter that we did not see were flowers. There are never any flowers in church because there just aren't any flowers in Juba, other than flowering bushes and trees - not the sort of thing your make into arrangements.

So we are now in the rainy season. It was pouring down on Easter morning. It is much cooler. And, by the way, not an Easter Egg or Easter Bunny in sight!

New Site

We have now confirmed the new site for Bishop Gwynne College. It has recently been cleared of temporary refugee housing in the centre of the city near the football stadium - next to the Juba Secondary School sponsored by St Francis, Salisbury. This is an excellent place for the new college - but a huge amount of work has to be undertaken now. We will be launching a major appeal when we have got all our plans and costings together. In the meantime we need your prayers. Here are a couple of pictures of what the site looks like at the moment. The ruined building will be rebuilt and provide offices, small study rooms and probably some staff accommodation until we can build proper staff houses. Thanks for your prayers. Trevor and Tina

Some "stop-press" news!

Our new college site looks as if is becoming available sooner than we thought. The two parties who currently occupy it are soon to move and make it available to us. There are currently two buildings there. A purpose built student dormitory and a a dining room and kitchen. There is also a building that needs a roof and some outhouses. The whole site will need clearing and fencing. The time is coming when we will be in a position to make a full-scale international appeal for funds to develop the site. Keep us in your prayers.
We want to open a BGC website so we can make an affective appeal with photos, updates and contacts etc. This will need to be several pages long because it will also serve to describe what the students are up to. The more "professional" this is, the more impact it will make. Is there anyone out-there with the know-how who could put-together, upload and manage a such a website for us? Reward in heaven - and the knowledge you are doing a vital job for the church and people of Sudan!
Thanks!

Prayer Points

Perhaps some of you would like to join us in praying for some specific things. We are so grateful to all of you who are praying for us around the world. We have folk in Britain, France, America and Australia, as well as Africa, who have said they would keep us in their prayers. What it is to have so many wonderful friends! Do pass on our blog address or copies of our blog to anyone who is interested.
1. Bishop Gwynne College. This is our "project". Please pray for the smooth path for the redevelopment of the college. We are specially concerned at the moment with:
a) Settling the affairs of the institution that is being terminated. The war has taken its toll. The college has been poorly administered and the academic status has deteriorated. The library needs completely regenerating. The facilities are desperately inadequate (not even any toilets for example). The financial debts are considerable, but fortunately the college has enough assets to sell to balance the books. Pray for the staff losing their jobs, and the fifteen students being sent home for a year. Pray for the committee charged with the administration of the handing over of the college to a new regime.
b) Pray for the process of new affiliation with other theological faculties and institutions in order to get a validated course and certificate/diploma qualification. This is not proving easy.
c) Pray for the process of obtaining a new site for the college. The current single building is quite inadequate. We have the possibility of exchanging with SUDRA (Sudanese Relief Agency of the ECS) to get a large piece of land adjacent to a piece the college already owns. Our hope is to move onto, and develop this site as soon as possible.
d) Pray for the appointment, later this year, of a new, fully qualified, person to take up the mantle of building a new institution on the legacy of the old.
e) Pray for the ongoing financial security of the institution, and the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit as we launch a world-wide appeal for the capital investment in plant, buildings and learning materials. Pray that God will show us the right time and method for this.
f) Pray for all those who support us around the world, those who are our declared supporters and partners, those who are seeking to link with us, former students and staff of the college and those whose support is known only to them and God.
f) Pray for patience on the part of everyone (especially ourselves) as we face obstacles, opposition, apathy and simply the time it takes to get a big project like this off the ground when money, resources, experience and facilities are scarce. Pray for those who have too many things to do. Pray for the Government in the Sudan, including the Government of Southern Sudan, that they may further open the ways for the Spirit of God to flow with his peace, unity and direction. Thank God for the vision and enthusiasm of so many people here and across the planet.

2. The Episcopal Church of the Sudan. Please pray for our Archbishop Daniel as he leads the church in new and positive ways. Pray for the provincial office in Juba, for all the staff. We thank God for their patience and endurance when there was no money to pay them - and we pray that the future will be stronger. Pray for the Bishops across the province especially where the numbers of people and the ease of travel have meant the establishment of new dioceses this year. Pray for the pastors of congregations that over-fill most of the churches in southern Sudan, and the expanding churches of the north too, as they seek to feed them the Good News and lead them into personal faith. Pray for the many young people - teenagers and young marrieds - that pack into the churches, that they may grow in their new faith.

3. The Cathedral in Juba. This is the place where we worship. Pray for the Dean and PCC as they try to address the problem of overcrowding at all of the Sunday services. Pray that they may sort out their stewardship and giving so that they can support their work among the poorest in the city, and raise enough money to extend the building to seat more people beyond the 650 it can presently accommodate.

4. Learning the language. Pray that we may learn Juba Arabic so that we can communicate more effectively with people - especially the children.

Very many thanks for all of you who support us. The people of the Sudan know just how important praying is. Last Saturday we attended a meeting for prayer and fasting that began at 11 am and went through to 3.30 pm. We prayed for the country, the church and the city. We are grateful for joining your prayers to theirs.

Trevor and Tina