The Foundations for a Better Future

On Monday last, 06^th November, we were delighted to welcome Sr Orla Treacy to the MSC Office to discuss the outstanding work she has been doing in Rumbek, South Sudan.

 

 

Sr Orla Treacy is a Loreta Sister who was missioned to South Sudan in 2006. She is the Principal of Loreto Secondary School in Rumbek.  As you will know the MSC dedicated our Summer 2017 Appeal to South Sudan with the aim of raising vital funds to support Sr Orla and the Loreto Sisters working tirelessly in the war-torn country.

On her recent trip back to Ireland to receive the Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty Humanitarian Award, Sr Orla paid us a visit. Her enthusiasm and passion for her work is quite infectious and we could have sat and listened to her speaking of her work in Rumbek for hours on end.  Sr Orla’s gratitude for the donation simply could not be measured. Sr Orla wants to extend her sincerest thanks to everyone who supported the MSC South Sudan Summer Appeal 2017. We were elated to hear that the funds raised through the Summer Appeal are already being put to great use. The money raised will be spent across three main areas: food, clinical services and education.

 

Graduate Housing 

The majority of the finances will be spent on building housing for the female graduates. Having completed their government exams and before moving onto university, some of the graduates choose to take a year off to undertake an Internship Programme which was developed by the Loreto Sisters. This programme allows the graduates to work for one year in various positions such as nurse’s aides, teacher’s assistants, office secretaries and in financial roles within the compound in order to gain practical work experience before progressing to university.

“52% of girls in South Sudan are married by 18 and in most cases these are forced marriages.”

The Loreto Sisters developed the Internship Programme in order to challenge this troubling statistic. By introducing this programme and providing this housing, graduates are guaranteed secure accommodation and are provided with practical work experience for one year.

We are excited to announce that building of this housing has already begun. It will consist of 4 rooms which will house 16 prosperous young graduates.

Loreto Primary & Secondary Schools 

As well as aiding with the Internship Programme housing, the funds raised will also be spent on the further development of both the Loreto Primary and Secondary Schools in Rumbek. It costs approximately €1600 per pupil annually to attend the Loreto Secondary School in Rumbek which is a boarding school – a sum which the students cannot afford to pay in full. In the Western world we often associate boarding schools with the children of those more financially comfortable. This is not the case in South Sudan. Sr Orla commented that a “women’s refuge” would be a much more suitable term for their boarding school. The Loreto Girls Secondary School numbers are growing year on year and the Sisters are accepting 280 girls next year. The funds raised by the MSC will allow the Loreto Sisters to offer a number of scholarships to students and to subsidise the costs for others.

 

Presently, there are 900 children attending the Loreto Primary School at a cost of approximately €400 per child annually. Children attending the primary school are guaranteed a teacher every day – something which is not guaranteed if they attend a government school in South Sudan. Each child gets a meal every day – in many cases this is the only food the child will consume that day.

 

 

“10% of babies in South Sudan will die before reaching 3 months old and 14% of our children are dead by the age of 5”.

Children attending the Loreto Primary School have free access to medication which they would not receive outside of the school. The €400 cost covers a student’s meals, medication and education for the year.

 

 

What struck us most listening to Sr Orla speak about South Sudan was the fact that at no point did she dwell on the negative aspects of her work, of which there are many. The UN has called South Sudan the “most vulnerable country in the world” and Sr Orla expects conditions to get worse before they get better. However, this has not hindered Sr Orla and she is still as committed and driven towards educating the South Sudanese woman as she was when she arrived in the country 12 years ago.

We look forward to tracking the progress of the Graduate Housing project and it’s development over the coming months.