8/9/2019 The Refugee Voice in Southern Sudan

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J e s u i t R e f u g e e s e R v i c e / u sA | 1016 16 t h s t R e e t , NW, s t e 5 0 0 | W A s h i N g t o N , D c 2 0 0 3 6 | ( 2 0 2 ) 4 6 2 - 0 4 0 0 | W W W . J R s u s A . o R g

A N ote from the N AtioNAl D irector

Dear Friends of JRS/USA:

In the early 1990s, JRS started providing basic education to Southern Sudanese refugeesin camps in Uganda and Kenya. Throughout their fteen years of exile, the refugees fromSouthern Sudan placed a high value on education. When the refugees started to voluntarilyreturn home in 2005 following a peace agreement, JRS expanded its educational ministry which has always been a key aspect of the JRS mission to accompany, serve and defend therights of refugees as a way to encourage and support refugees during their return.

In January 2011, Southern Sudan will hold a referendum to choose independence fromor unity with the north. The conduct, result, and aftermath of the vote will determine the

direction of Southern Sudans future and the prospects for sustained peace in the region.During this uncertain period, JRS continues to accompany the people of Southern Sudanwith programs that make schools the heart of new and restored communities, as focal pointsfor hope for a better future and centers for peace building activities. Whatever the next year

brings, we believe that the people of Southern Sudan will be better able to face the challengesahead as a result of the support they have received through JRS education programs.

In this issue of The Refugee Voice , I invite you to learn more about how JRS is working tosupport the revitalization of Southern Sudan at this critical moment.

Fr. Ken Gavin, S.J.

W alking amidst the lush tall grasses of Eastern Equatoria State in SouthernSudan and looking at the peaceful verdant hills dotted with trees, it is hardto imagine the chaos and carnage that raged throughout the area from 1983until 2005. After a generation of civil war, the signing of the Comprehensive PeaceAgreement (CPA) on January 9, 2005 ended armed hostilities between the SudanPeoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan. The agreementcreated the semi-autonomous Government of South Sudan (GoSS) controlled bythe SPLM, and provided for a six-year interim period leading up to a referendum onindependence that is due to take place on January 9, 2011.

Challenges to Peace

Since the signing of the CPA, some 320,000 refugees and 50,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned home to Southern Sudan. Re-establishing their communities has been no easy task. There is little modern infrastructure in the country,as development was stalled by more than twenty years of war. Returning refugeeshave had to relearn the skills of subsistence farming, growing cassava, maize and

beans in the rich red soil, often competing for land and water with those people whostayed behind during the con ict. Gradually, peace has made possible the beginnings

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Peace through education inSouthern Sudan

The Refugee VoicJesuit Refugee Service/US A August 2010 Vol 4, Issue 3

After cleaning their classrooms, stu-dents at Lerwa Primary School studyoutdoors while waiting for the oors todry. (Christian Fuchs - JRS/USA)

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Initially, and often stilltoday, the quality of education in schools founded

by the returned SouthernSudanese refugees has beenlimited by local resources andteaching capacity. UNICEFs2006 Rapid Assessment of Learning Spaces found thatthe majority of schools inSouthern Sudan were locatedoutdoors, under trees, and thatfewer than 20% of teachershad a teaching quali cation.The Government of SouthernSudan, facing challengeson numerous fronts,simply could not providethe necessary support to

local schools, and urgently requested assistance from

international non-governmental organizations, includingJRS.

JRS saw a clear need to continue the educational ministryit had begun in the refugee camps so as to meet the needsof returnees. At the invitation of returnee communities,JRS began education projects in and around the towns of

Nimule, Lobone, Kajo Keji, and Yei. The trust createdthrough many years of previous interaction has allowedJRS to foster community involvement in the schools,including school management committees, parent teacher associations, and cultural activities. JRS considers

these programs an opportunity for returned refugees toexperience the full bene ts of peace while preparing for anindependent future.

It was a turning point in my educational knowledge when I recently attended a two-week teaching program organized by JRS in Yei. The program covered the core subjectswhich include English, mathematics, physics, chemistry,biology and geography More than 150 students from sixdifferent secondary schools bene ted from the program

All the students who attended said it was the best and most remarkable preparation program they cold imagine. ~ AdeSamuel, student at Equatorial College in Yei.

Given educational opportunities, people have the potential to rebuild their lives, to help rebuild their communities and thus to strengthen and stabilize their countries for generations to come, said JRS InternationalDirector Fr. Peter Balleis, S.J.

Long Term Commitment

Lobone, an area in Southern Sudans Eastern Equatoriastate where JRS has worked since 2001, has more recentlywitnessed the return of the Acholi people. JRS is the onlyinternational agency working in this community. Through

of improvement in education,health, and sanitation,although much remainsto be done. Throughoutthis period, Jesuit RefugeeService (JRS) has contributedto this development by

building schools, supportingteacher training, providingschool supplies, encouragingthe education of girls and

building the capacity of localcommunities to take charge of their own educational needs.

Yet as the referendum drawscloser, tensions between thetwo Sudanese governments,that in Juba in the south andthat in Khartoum, have onlygrown. Many provisions of the CPA that were to have beenresolved prior to the referendum remain unimplemented,such as the delineation of the common border and anagreement on how oil revenues will be shared after thereferendum. In addition, Southern Sudan struggles tocontrol spreading internal violence that has killed thousandsand displaced hundreds of thousands of people. It also facesa food shortage in Jonglei State, home to Akobo County,which a local UN of cial recently called the hungriest

place on earth. With time running short and many complexissues left to resolve, international observers are concernedthat Sudans north-south con ict could reignite and destroy

recent progress.The Need for Education

Education in Southern Sudan is important because it isthrough education that we can sustain peace, said JRSLobone Project Director Lam Leone Ferem.

During the civil war, Southern Sudanese refugees eagerlysought education for their children in af rmation of their hope for a better future amidst desperate circumstances.Parents in camps such as Adjumani (Uganda) and Kakuma(Kenya) understood that without education their childrenwould become a lost generation. The schools operated byJRS in these camps gave the Southern Sudanese valuable

basic skills and a sense of dignity and normalcy duringtheir displacement. When return to Southern Sudan became

possible, many families delayed their departure until theend of the school year, and refused to return until theywere assured that their childrens education could continueback home. Working with UN agencies and the SouthernSudanese government, JRS anticipated these needs andworked to renovate and staff schools in locations targetedfor repatriation.

The new school buildings replace old structures comprised of thatchroofs, stick walls and dirt oors. Jesuit Refugee Service built the rst

permanent school in Lobone, at Paimakong, in 2009. Earlier this year, JRS built the rst permanent school buildings in the villages of Lerwaand Palwar. (Christian Fuchs - JRS/USA)

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grants provided by the U.S. State Departments Bureauof Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), JRS hasimproved access to primary education by building three

primary schools and supporting seven schools.

The schools in the Lobone area (Paimakong, Lerwa andPalwar) receive supplies, in-service training for untrainedteachers, support for fteen teachers to attend university,and encouragement of female education. Presently these

projects directly bene t 2,200 students and 58 teachers,and also bring indirect bene ts to thousands more in thesecommunities.

I was a bene ciary of JRS. JRS educated me, and now I work in the Lobone Administrative of ce during themorning, and teach adult education in the afternoon.

Education for children is important, but adult literacy is also important, so I chose to teachadults. ~ Assistant Administrator of the Lobone

Regional Government Of ce.

In 2009, JRS built the rst permanent school in

Lobone, at Paimakong. The local chief commentedthat JRS really made a miracle, building the

rst permanent classroom in this (county), sincethe creation of this (area) by God, recalled JRSLobone Project Director Lam Leone Ferem.

JRS also built the rst permanent school buildingsin the villages of Lerwa and Palwar. Prior to their construction this year, students met on classroomsof dirt oors, under thatch roofs held up by limbshacked from nearby trees.

We prayed to God that He should give a sign that

JRS should add more classrooms, so (students)could sit in a good place so they can study well,said Oyet Thomas Dominic, Chief of Palwar.The (students) are very happy about the building,

because the building is very beautiful to them.

Prior to the opening of the school in Palwar,We used dry cassava [a local crop] as chalk anda metallic door as the chalkboard, a communitymember said.

JRS has worked in Nimule since 1997, and inthat time developed a deep level of trust withthe local community. Since 2007, UNHCR hasassisted approximately 20,000 returns to the area,far outstripping the capacity of existing schools.With a grant from PRM, JRS is building two newschools in the Nimule area and will provide supportto twenty- ve primary schools. In total this willdirectly bene t 15,000 children and 350 teachers.JRS will provide school supplies, fund scholarshipsfor teachers attending college for formal teachingquali cations, provide in-service training toenhance the skills of local teachers, and encourage

female education.

In 2003 I moved back to Nimule, where I started working as an English teacher at a secondary school. I took part in training programs regularly organized by JRS to build the capacity of the teachers and improve the quality of teaching. JRS also engaged me as an adult instructor toteach English in the Functional Adult Literacy program.What I saved from my incentive later enabled me to pay

part of my fees at university. ~ Vincent, a former refugee from Southern Sudan who recently completed his B.A. at Kampala International University.

In his book Islands of Education: Schooling, Civil War,and the Southern Sudanese (1983-2004) , Mark Sommers,

The Refugee Voice - August

Top: Students take notes during a class at the Palwar school, one of three education projects implemented by Jesuit Refugee Service and funded by the U.S. State Depart-ments Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration in Lobone Payam, SouthernSudan. Bottom: Abore George Opiny teaches math at Palwar. The school, and another in Lerwa, opened in April 2010. (Christian Fuchs - JRS/USA)

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For more information including more photos, videos and expanded testimonials please visit The Refugee Voice online

at http://www.jrsusa.org/

Associate Research Professor of Humanitarian Studiesin the Institute of Human Security at The Fletcher School, Tufts University, declared that the work of the Jesuit Refugee Service in providing education on

both sides of the UgandaSudan border is a model thatshould be replicated and supported elsewhere.

Southern Sudan is vast, and the needs are far larger than JRS alone can address. JRS indeed hopes its

accomplishments in Southern Sudan will providea template for others to replicate, thus bene ttingmany more people. The expansion of educationalopportunities for returning refugees can be a key factor in stabilizing local communities, improving localcapacity and demonstrating the bene ts of the peace

process.

Education is important to our people because, as theysay, Education is the key to the world! We want our children to develop. In the future, some can becomedoctors, teachers a president even can come from

this school, if God wishes, said Mr. Dominic.Call to Action

Every child of Southern Sudan should have access to primary and secondary education.

The education of girls should remain a high priorityand be promoted through international organizationsfamiliar with local communities.

Southern Sudanese communities should be supportedin their efforts to staff and direct their schools with

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mutually acceptable support from international agenciesand organizations, until such time as these communities andthe Government of Southern Sudan develop the capacity toassume responsibility for them.

International organizations and the GoSS must do moreto ensure that quality education is made available in areasof repatriation.

Because hungry children cannot learn, education must be accompanied by sustained and increased support for theWorld Food Program projects in Sudan that seek to addresscurrent food shortages.

In-service training and college education must becomemore accessible to teachers in Southern Sudan.

In addition to support to education for children, sustainedinternational support is needed for adult education,including community peace building and reintegrationactivities in order that the full bene ts of peace can berealized by all of the people of Southern Sudan.

Whatever the outcome of the CPA, the Government of Southern Sudan will require sustained international supportto strengthen all of its institutions, including its Ministry of Education, if the gains made thus far are to continue.

In order to fully succeed, education requires anenvironment of stability and hope, this environment canonly be achieved if both the governments of northern andsouthern Sudan uphold their stated commitment to non-violent reconciliation.

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