Fr Alan in South Sudan: A visit from the MSC Superior General

Soon after arriving in South Sudan in November 2020 for my current appointment, I received a WhatsApp message from Fr Abzalón, the Superior General of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, wishing me the best with the new mission and saying that he would like to visit one day. In the height of the pandemic, travelling anywhere seemed unlikely, and the possibility of coming to Rumbek would test even the most credulous of believers.

Less than two years later, though, I was in Juba to welcome him early on a Wednesday morning. When I first arrived in 2017 on a research trip, the airport was a simple tent, with no chairs that worked, and a length of runway. Now we have graduated to a building with one carousel, a sort of Central African Knock International Airport if you will. After a brief prayer to St Jude, he successfully negotiated the labyrinthine entry visa process, and we were off.

Challenges and resilience

Part of the Superior General’s mission was to see what was happening in Diocese of Rumbek and to explore if there was a need for a greater MSC presence. To that end, we spent our first day meeting with the head of religious missionaries in the country and then the coordinator of the Jesuit Refugee Service (both coincidentally Irish) to get the lay of the land and a sense of the reality of the people. That evening, we had dinner with Christian Carlassare, the newly ordained Bishop of the Diocese of Rumbek. He returned to the country just last March to be ordained, following an attempt on his life in 2021. Over cremated nyama choma (a speciality of grilled meat), the Bishop told him of the many challenges the Diocese faced, but also about the resilience of the people who persevered through a long fight for Independence and the Civil War of 2013.

Before sunrise, we were back to the airport for our flight to Lakes State. The closest approximation to the domestic departures experience is if you imagine the chaos in Dublin Airport earlier this year, then squeeze it all into one-tenth of the space, occasionally switch off the power, raise the temperature about 20C, and then you’re about half-way there. However, our guardian angels were working time and a half, and by 8:10am we had arrived in Rumbek and were heading to Loreto, which would be Fr Abzalón’s base for the week.

Exploring Loreto and beyond

Fr Abzalón had the opportunity to explore the Loreto compound, beginning with the Mary Ward Primary Health Care Clinic. In addition to looking after all the students and staff, it has responsibility for nine local villages encompassing 27,000 people. Most come for vaccinations, nutritional support, and especially malaria treatment. In the primary school, there are 1,400 day pupils, with a further 340 boarding girls in the secondary school. We are coming to the end of the first semester, so everyone was intent on their revision for exams. That afternoon he came to the Catholic University of South Sudan, Rumbek, where I work as principal. There, he met the young men and women who are training to be the teachers and the business people of the future.

It’s hard to believe in recent years that to drive into the east of Rumbek would mean that you were taking your life in your hands. It would be highway robbery, except there was no highway and if you got away with just being robbed you would be doing well. With the arrival of the new governor last year there have been far fewer problems. On Friday, we joined the final-year students and some of the staff to be part in a peace walk to the Parish of the Good Shepherd in Thonaduiel. We started off like good pilgrims at dawn and arrived eight hours later and 45km away, finishing with a short time of prayer. It was a witness for the villages we walked through of the country that could be built together if peace were to flourish.

South Sudan celebrated its Independence on the 9th of July 2011, and every year since then it has been a day for processions, speeches, and sports in Freedom Square. They have an understandable sense of pride over the establishment of their nation, but are conscious too of the outstanding issues that remain, most notably peace building, the rights of women, and the first elections that are due to take place next year. The Loreto students were out in force for the day and their marching was featured on national TV, to the great excitement of all the girls.

Pioneering work

The next few days allowed Fr Abzalón the chance to visit some of the local villages in Maker Kuei, where we are based. People live in simple conditions with a quiet dignity and have a genuine warmth for visitors. He took a cooking class to learn how to make combo (a type of stew containing vegetables, peanuts, and meat) over a charcoal fire. He also attended some of my CRE classes in the secondary school and shared what life is like in Guatemala, his home country. It was a special blessing to have him celebrate our Sunday Mass for the students outdoors under the shade of the neem trees.

As his week came to a close, Fr Abzalón still had a lot to see. On Tuesday, we went to visit the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Mapourdit. The Daughters are the trailblazers of the Chevalier Family in South Sudan. They have been here for over twenty-five years and they endured many hardships before the country won Independence. Today, they continue their pioneering work in education and healthcare under the most challenging of conditions.

Thursday came around quicker than anticipated and Fr Abzalón headed back to Juba to get a COVID test and an onward flight to Rome. Looking back on his experiences he wrote to us that same week:

“The mission … is a wonderful and prophetic project of education and integral promotion, especially of young women. The community there struggle day by day to build and transform this challenging and complex, but at the same time, beautiful reality. The Chevalier Family is present in South Sudan.”
– Fr Abzalón Alvarado Tovar MSC
Superior General of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

Ben Nhialic areer kek a yin,
Fr Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Fr Alan in South Sudan: Sowing Seeds

“It’s time to sow seeds in South Sudan. The rains have finally arrived and the whole school is out in the afternoons cultivating. There is a celebratory feel to the whole affair, or at least there would be for me if it wasn’t so hot and humid. The students of Loreto Rumbek are utterly undeterred by such trivial matters like working in an environment where you could fry an egg on a stone. No matter the weather, they are out with their jembes (a sort of bent shovel that everyone uses here) and watering cans, tilling, weeding, and tending their crops. In a matter of weeks, land that had previously looked totally dry and lifeless will be green and thriving, with plants growing taller than me. Just this evening on a walk around the campus, a couple of them were sitting in their plot, tired but justifiably proud of their work.

Food insecurity is a constant threat, and many people are just one bad rainy season away from serious malnutrition. The governor of the state has designated Friday as a day for cultivation and has mandated that all public offices are closed to facilitate the work. In the Catholic University where I am now working in the afternoons, lecturers will take advantage of the three-week break in between semesters to go back to their villages to farm their land. Farming here is more than a serious business; it is a way of life.”

“[We are sowing] a seed that will flourish in a future yet to come. That will be a harvest worth waiting for.”

“This time of year is the most challenging. By now, many families will have used their last food stores and it is a delicate balancing act deciding how long to wait before harvesting. The longer they wait, the greater the amount of food grown, but sometimes time is a luxury that families cannot afford. It is a situation that is very much part of the Irish story. While we are now a prosperous, developed country, with a thriving, modern agricultural sector, we have inherited memories of what it was like not to have enough to eat and to be forced to leave our country or starve. They are so powerful that they continue to shape our identity even today.

It’s not all work though in Loreto. Three afternoons a week, the students have sports, and they approach them with their typical boundless enthusiasm. By the time I venture out around 5:00pm, the temperature has dropped to a more reasonable 36C. While I wouldn’t manage five minutes (a wildly optimistic estimate) running up and down the pitch, the girls have already been busy for an hour playing volleyball, basketball, and soccer. We are in the process of setting up netball and already there is a growing list of names who want to sign up.

One of the first albums I ever bought myself was by a Cork band called The Sultans of Ping FC. Aside from having an off-beat, energetic sound, they espoused a philosophy of world peace through football. That’s a lesson we’re happy to practice here. Sports are about more than exercise and fun. They teach our young people the value of fair play, teamwork, and determination. Our school has adopted a policy for many years of including people from different ethnic groups to help promote unity and peace. A game of volleyball with students from all around South Sudan may not seem like much in the grander scheme of things, but it sows a seed that will flourish in a future yet to come. That will be a harvest worth waiting for.”

Ben Nhialic areer kek a yin,
Fr Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Cakes, plants, and alpacas: A wonderful fundraiser at the Sacred Heart Church

Sincere thanks to all who took part in our recent fundraising event for the children of the Holy Family Care Centre, a care facility run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, with the support of the MSC, in Ofcolaco, South Africa. The fundraising event took place at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork, across the last weekend of May, and raised a running total of €5,200 for the Holy Family community, with donations still coming in.

The plant and cake sale took place during the weekend Masses, where local treats such as home-made brown bread and fresh free-range eggs were also on sale. Teas and coffees were available for all to enjoy while they browsed, while John and Richie kept the atmosphere light and lively with marvellous music on the accordion and mandolin.

A group of five alpacas took a star turn over the weekend, as Pat and Nora Casey from Macroom were kind enough to bring them along to take part in our fundraiser. “A few of alpacas were due a grooming session,” reported Fr John Fitzgerald, our MSC Missions Office Director. “Luckily, Fr John Finn was at hand with his farming skills to shape their fringes and add to their overall good looks.”

Founded in 2002, the Holy Family Care Centre in South Africa has been run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart with the support of the MSC for 20 years, under the leadership of Sr Sally Duigan FDNSC. The Holy Family Care Centre is an invaluable facility for young children who are very ill and who, in many cases, have been orphaned or abandoned. These children are primarily HIV positive and are in need of specialised care. With the resources to accommodate 70 children, the Centre’s facilities are stretched to full capacity and beyond on a daily basis; Sr Sally admits that the team at the Centre does its best never to turn a child away, and the Sisters there sometimes find themselves with 80 children in their care.

“The reasons for admission to the Holy Family Centre vary, but many children have been abandoned, sexually abused, physically abused, orphaned, or made vulnerable because of HIV/AIDS,” says Sr Sally. “Some come from horrific backgrounds and arrive here very ill, malnourished, frightened, lacking social skills, and generally very bewildered.”

The Holy Family Care Centre is, above all, a place of family, unity, and love. “We love these children unconditionally,” says Sr Sally. “It doesn’t take long for them to feel at home and to change once they feel loved and cared for.”

A sanctuary for children in need, the team at the Holy Family Care Centre care for the children on a 24/7 basis, and the Centre feels more like a home to one big happy family. The availability of funding is an ongoing concern, as the Centre relies on donations and the generosity of MSC mission friends and the local community for the upkeep of buildings and equipment, and to be able to continue doing the work that they do – “[giving] our children love, security, and care, in the hope they will thrive,” in the words of Sr Sally.

“Since our parishioners here in Cork cannot visit Holy Family, or help them directly, the plant and cake sale is a wonderful way of supporting Sr Sally and her team in keeping the Centre going, without having to worry about the immediate future,” said Fr John. “In addition, it was great fun for all involved!”

IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT THE HOLY FAMILY COMMUNITY

Fr Alan in South Sudan: A Week in the Life of Loreto – Bishops, graduations, an ambassador, and the Pope.

“It has been a busy week. There are rarely quiet weeks in Loreto, but this last one has certainly kept us all on our toes. Thankfully it has all been positive, and in light of the challenges we see on the news now, we are especially grateful.

Last Monday the Irish Ambassador to Ethiopia, Djibouti and South Sudan, Nicola Brennan, visited the school with a member of her team. Their arrival meant a 50% increase in the number of Irish people in Lakes State. It was only for a day, but in that short time they saw all of the exciting ministry that Irish missionaries are involved in, including the schools, the Primary Health Care Clinic, the Catholic University, outreach to people living with leprosy, and the local parish run by the Spiritans. It is the same anywhere around the world. The Irish are a small group, but we punch well above our weight.

The Irish Ambassador to Ethiopia, Djibouti and South Sudan, Nicola Brennan, with her colleague John Callaghan and members of the Loreto Community.

Ash Wednesday brought not just the beginning of the Lenten season, but also the news we had been waiting nearly a year for, the date for the consecration of Bishop-elect Christian Carlassare. Fr. Christian was shot several times last April in a home invasion in the Holy Family Cathedral. After a period of convalescence, he is ready to return and will be consecrated on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25th.

With just over three weeks’ preparation time, everyone has leapt into action. We are expecting anywhere between 5,000 and 7,000 people to attend from all over the Diocese and South Sudan. Some will even come from as far away as Italy, the Bishop-elect’s home country. It will be a wonderful, grace-filled, joyous, prayerful, and chaotic day. His return will mark a new chapter for the Church here that will seek to address the desire for vision, reconciliation, and evangelisation.

“The challenges we face are formidable.”

Last, but by no means least, on Friday we had the graduation of our Senior 4 students. They will soon finish in Loreto altogether and sit their final national exams. Many hope to go on to university and study law, teaching, journalism, healthcare, business, IT, and a host of other subjects.

The graduating class of 2022 at Loreto Rumbek.

On the day the students were joined by 1,000 family members and friends who celebrated the day with them. While this ceremony is similar to many taking place around the world about now, here it is remarkable. These young women have had to fight against almost insurmountable odds to stay in school. When they began four years ago in Senior 1, there were ninety of them. This year’s graduating class was comprised of fifty-two students. Many were taken out of school for forced early marriage, and, despite the very best efforts of the team here, did not return. It is important to note that when it comes to retention of students and completion of studies Loreto ranks among the very best in the country, but the challenges we face are formidable.

Several cultural dances were performed as part of the celebrations at the 2022 Loreto Rumbek graduation.

During their graduation, the girls spoke of their own hopes and dreams for the future. Their time in Loreto has helped them to reach a standard that will give them a say in their future that many young women here will be denied. After the Graduation Mass, the morning programme of speeches was interspersed with cultural dances and songs. Parents’ representatives spoke of their pride in their daughters and their belief that these will be the future economic, social, and political leaders of South Sudan. The day was also a good opportunity to showcase the work of the school with the visiting political dignitaries and bring them on board with the work we do.

"During their graduation, the girls spoke of their own hopes and dreams for the future... After the Graduation Mass, the morning programme of speeches was interspersed with cultural dances and songs."

Now that the week is over, another one has begun and it looks to be exciting as well. Please keep our preparations for the Bishop-elect’s consecration in your prayers. I’ll keep you updated on the coming and going. Thank you for all the support that you have given to our ministry here. During the week the MSC Missions Office transferred money that was given for our work in South Sudan. It is just enough to complete a new project for a toilet block, replacing outdated pit latrines. Little by little we are improving every day.

Ben Nhialic areer kek a yin,
Fr Alan

P.S. Almost forgot. We also got news that Pope Francis is coming to South Sudan in July. We are already planning our walking pilgrimage to meet him in Juba. It’s only 427km!”

One thousand family members and friends joined the Loreto Rumbek graduates in celebration of a very special day.

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Fr Alan in South Sudan: A Bigger Shovel

It is an Irish truism that if you dig a good ditch, you don’t get time off, you get a bigger shovel. Apparently this is not just Irish wisdom, but South Sudanese as well. In addition to the work in Loreto College, I have been drafted by the Diocese of Rumbek to help run the local Catholic University. At this point of life you’d imagine I’d have learned to keep my head down.

It may sound a grand affair, but it is certainly a lot more simple than you’d imagine. We have a roof, but no ceiling; windows, but no glass; and floor with no tiles. The less said about the two pit toilets that serve the campus the better. Just today we had the cleaner in to take care of the bat infestation in the library, that also serves as the office. Having droppings continually fall on the desk during an academic meeting is distracting to say the least.

the central library in South Sudan

“Group photo from the My First Mass at the University showing the library with all the bats right behind!”

Initially I took on the role with the expectation that it would be a short term appointment. In fact, early on there was even a discussion around closing the University altogether. Still, it is one thing to consider in a meeting room, surrounded by pages of accounts, and entirely another to act out once you have met our students.

At the moment we have a sum total of 59 women and men studying either business administration or teaching with a focus on English literature.They are almost all from Rumbek, with only a couple from further afield. Some have come straight from school, while others are looking for new opportunities later in life. All are committed and enthusiastic about their third level studies. It is something to see really.

It takes a lot of energy to get worked up about a computer class, without computers, but with a drawing of a Windows home page on a blackboard.

This was one of the first classes I visited when I began. Since that experience of ‘theoretical computing’ we have been able to set up a relationship with a Jesuit community not so far away that runs a computer course – with actual computers!

We are also seeing an exciting new development. In traditional culture here, once a woman has her first baby she leaves formal education to focus full time on child rearing and subsistence farming. However, so far I have met a number of young mothers who are coming back to study, with their new born under their arm. It is unprecedented and we are looking at ways of supporting them and their young families. I mentioned the idea of a creche, but so far I’ve been met with looks of incomprehension. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the initiative of a particularly creative Donegal MSC setting up a parent and toddler group in one of my old parishes I wouldn’t have a clue either. We’re working on it. Watch this space.

“My first Mass at the University.”

For me the main reason the University is so important is that we are the newest country in the world and we really need to develop the local economy. It has to be stimulated by well trained, committed teachers and hardworking, innovative business people. Charity is excellent for crisis situations. It’s an act of solidarity and compassion for someone you will never meet, but who you are ready to call brother or sister. However, charity is not a long term strategy and instead we need to increasingly invest in people on the ground to effect their own change, not just raising up themselves and their families, but entire communities as well.

The motto our small University is, The Truth Shall Set You Free. Our faith underlies everything we do here. Religious sisters, brothers, and priests are among the best educated in the area and they are working as lecturers in ethics, management, business, and education. We have great local educationalists who are taking the lead too. I spoke with one them today, as we were cleaning up the last of the bat droppings from the top of my desk, that in five years we’ll look back and have a good laugh at everything we went through to become a real third level college. In the meantime there is a lot of work to do. I’d better get my shovel.

Bi Nhialic arrer kek yin,
Fr Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

MSC World Projects Appeal 2022: OLSH Global Outreach

The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH) are a vital part of our Sacred Heart Family,
working all over the world, often in partnership with MSCs, under our shared motto:
“May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved.”

OLSH MINISTRY IN BRAZIL

There are currently 30 Sisters living in a house for aging members of the OLSH community in Vila Formosa, São Paulo. Several of these Sisters need special care, and Sisters in Vila Formosa are raising funds to purchase 3 bath chairs, 2 hospital beds, 2 hospital chairs, a digital pressure device, and 10 sets of linen for the hospital beds.

€2,600 will provide enormous comfort for aging OLSH Sisters who are in ill health.

There are currently 30 Sisters living in a house for aging members of the OLSH community in Vila Formosa, São Paulo, Brazil.

OLSH Sisters in Alfenas run a second-hand clothing shop, where money raised from sales is used to buy food supplies for poor families in the area.

Every month, OLSH Sisters in Alfenas distribute 65 food parcels to families in real need. The Sisters are currently renovating the shop to make it more practical and attractive, for the dual purposes of encouraging donations, and also to make the shopping experience a more pleasant one for those in need, who go to this shop to cater for their own needs.

The Sisters need €2,000 to continue the necessary renovations,
and €400 for washing powder to launder the clothes for resale.

OLSH Sisters in Alfenas, Brazil. run a second-hand clothing shop, where money raised from sales is used to buy food supplies for poor families in the area.

OLSH Sisters in Marahao are asking for your help in buying essential liturgical items for Mass, such as missals, chalices, and lectionaries, for several of the 18 mission stations they cover in remote locations across northern Brazil.

€2,300 will provide liturgical items for families in remote communities
to continue to celebrate Mass together.

The Daughters of the Lady of the Sacred Heart in São Paulo run a social centre which facilitates a number of workshops, including English lessons, yoga, and crafts for the aged. In addition, the elderly are taught how to comfortably use computers and smartphones.

The centre is currently using 15 old computers, 12 of which are in serious need of repair. The Sisters are working to raise funds to bring their computers back to working order, and continue to provide a comfortable, pleasant space for local people to learn valuable skills and share friendships.

€7,500 will repair the computers, allowing the Sisters to continue
to provide a space for people to meet, to learn, and to share.

The Daughters of the Lady of the Sacred Heart in São Paulo, Brazil, run a social centre which facilitates a number of workshops, including English lessons, yoga, and crafts for the aged. In addition, the elderly are taught how to comfortably use computers and smartphones.

HEALTH CARE IN MAKA KAHONE, SENEGAL

The OLSH Sisters in Maka Kahone, Senegal, run a health centre named for MSC founder Fr Jules Chevalier. Caring for the medical needs of families and vulnerable individuals who are living in conditions of severe poverty and hardship, the Sisters experience serious and concerning issues with security. The threat of violence and theft is an extremely worrying one, and the OLSH Sisters in Maka Kahone are appealing for funds to erect a security fence at the medical centre, along with metal grilles on the windows.

€9,200 will give the Sisters the opportunity to minister to their patients safely,
providing patients with peace of mind to recover.

MSC World Projects Appeal 2022: OLSH Global Outreach Programmes

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR OLSH SISTERS IN THEIR GLOBAL OUTREACH

EMPOWERING YOUTHS IN INDONESIA

OLSH Sisters in Indonesia are appealing for help in running an Empowerment and Basic Leadership Training Youth Programme in Central Java.

The programme will provide leadership training for young people, giving the youths involved a wonderful skill set to use as they embark into the world of work, along with the confidence to implement it.

€4,000 will pay for four retreats, an LCD projector, a guitar, a keyboard,
20 floor mats, and a projector screen.

MSC World Projects Appeal 2022: OLSH Global Outreach Programmes

OLSH OUTREACH IN AFRICA

OLSH Sisters in Burkina Faso are responsible for the running of the Jules Chevalier School in the town of Zagtouli, where 198 students currently attend the pre-school, and 321 students are enrolled in the primary school.

Over 500 children are provided with one main meal and two nutritious snacks every day – a lifeline to children coming from backgrounds where poverty is rife and diet is poor, who are in real need of sustenance and good nutrition.

The OLSH community in Burkina Faso are working to raise
€19,465 to install a solar energy system in the school,
and to renovate a large area of the school to create a safe learning area for students.

The Bakhita Village Outreach Project is run by OLSH Sisters in Dwars River. This programme allows for OLSH Sisters to visit vulnerable girls in their villages twice weekly, ensuring their safety and healthy development, teaching basic life skills, and keeping up with their educational progress, including school attendance, homework, and general behaviour. The carers also deliver food parcels, toiletries, and clothing.

The Bakhita Village Sisters need €10,000 to cover daily costs,
allowing them to continue to support and encourage young girls.

The Bakhita Village Outreach Project is run by OLSH Sisters in Dwars River, South Africa. This programme allows for OLSH Sisters to visit vulnerable girls in their villages twice weekly, ensuring their safety and healthy development.

The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart has a long-standing friendship with the Holy Family Care Centre in Ofcolaco, a residential home that cares for children up to the age of 18, who suffer with life-threatening illnesses and have often been orphaned or abandoned.

The care centre is home to 75 children, from newborns to teenagers. Sr Sally Duigan, OLSH Regional Leader and community leader at Holy Family, is currently raising funds to help with the daily costs of running the centre.

€10,000 will be allocated to vital health care for seriously ill children, essential educational supplies,
and outreach programmes for children who are being reunited with their families.

The Holy Family Care Centre in Ofcolaco, South Africa, is an OLSH-run residential home that cares for children up to the age of 18, who suffer with life-threatening illnesses and have often been orphaned or abandoned.

The OLSH South Africa Outreach Programme cares for 150 families in Nzhelele, including children living with HIV/AIDS, and families who have suffered bereavements or abandonments, and are run by grandmothers or older children.

The Nzehele Outreach Team are working to raise €10,000 to establish a vegetable garden project,
which will contribute to the nutritional needs of children living with HIV/AIDS,
while teaching valuable skills and promoting self-sufficiency.

RENOVATING A MATERNITY WARD IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

The Jules Chevalier Health Centre was established by the OLSH community in Mbandaka, in Democratic Republic of Congo, 10 years ago, and serves as a maternity clinic for local women in the extended area. Many of the women who use the health centre live across the Congo River, and even making the journey can in itself prove hugely difficult.

Currently, whenever it rains, a significant amount of water gets into the maternity ward at the centre, making conditions extremely uncomfortable and unsanitary for women in varying stages of pre- and post-natal care.

Renovations to stop the leaks will cost a total of €9,887.
Can you help?

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR OLSH SISTERS IN THEIR GLOBAL OUTREACH

Fr Alan in South Sudan: Christmas in South Sudan

“It’s a big shift coming back to South Sudan again. After a few weeks at home in November, sporting a woolly hat, gloves, and my scarf, I’m now back in my shorts and light shirts. All this week the temperature is around the 38C mark, and it isn’t even the hottest time of the year! Still, it’s good to be in Loreto again.

The exams are over and the term has come to an end, so most of the students headed off for the holidays. We only have a small group who either live far away or would be in danger of forced marriage if they went home. It’s quieter around the campus, but there is always something happening. We have already gone on a few day trips to nearby parishes. The rains finished earlier than last year, so the roads are passable, but very dusty. So far, we have taken the students to the parish of Cueibet, which is under the care of Korean, Peruvian, and Egyptian missionaries, and Wulu, where a Spiritan missionary is parish priest. In each place the Church is actively involved in the local community, supporting education through schools, running agricultural projects, working in the hospitals, and of course celebrating the Sacraments with the people.

Fr Alan Neville and Sr Orla Treacy with some of the Egyptian, Korean, and Peruvian missionary community working in the Diocese of Rumbek.

Christmas Mass for us would normally happen in our usual spot under the neem trees next to the school, but one of the priests in town who was at home for holidays was diagnosed with COVID, so we agreed to help out in his parish. Our Christmas vigil and morning Mass were both special celebrations, with families gathering together to welcome the birth of Jesus once again. As Pope Francis said this year, “Jesus is the name and the face of love – this is the foundation of our joy”. There was no shortage of joy as the people sang, danced, and prayed in thanksgiving for the birth of our Saviour.

Our own Christmas dinner was a wonderful affair. Like any family we set out the extra tables and twenty-two of us shared a dinner of goat, sikumawiki (sort of like spinach, but not really), chapati, Irish potatoes (that’s what the locals call them), and tamalaka (a peanut sauce), all made by the students. Nothing is wasted when cooking here. I still haven’t worked my way up to tripe yet. One day maybe, but not this year!

Christmas lunch in Loreto.

The Feast of the Holy Family fell on the 26^th, and according to tradition here, that is the main day to baptise children. Normally, four baptisms at any liturgy is more than enough for me, but here we had twenty-two. It was chaotic as you might expect at times, but it was a holy chaos, and the babies were just beautiful. People here cannot afford mobile phones, so cameras going off non-stop was not an issue. The baptisms took place within Mass, so the whole affair took two hours. By the end, I was ready for a cuppa, but the babies were probably the quietest there, content in their mothers’ arms. Another unique tradition they have there is to place a tinsel garland on the priest mid-baptism, so while I was busy anointing, I was being festooned like the prize bull at a cattle show.

"[One] unique tradition they have there is to place a tinsel garland on the priest mid-baptism, so while I was busy anointing, I was being festooned like the prize bull at a cattle show." ~ Fr Alan recalls baptising twenty-two babies, in keeping with local tradition, on the Feast of the Holy Family on December 26th.

As I write this on New Year’s Eve, I look forward to tonight, when we will have a New Year vigil for the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. Previously, people would be wary of being out after dark, because of persistent security problems. Thankfully, this year things are calm and people feel safer. 2021 has certainly been a year of mixed blessings, with more than its fair share of challenges. I think we have all felt a little bit more vulnerable, but perhaps more connected too in spite of our self-isolation. There is no doubt we realise that we are more reliant on each other, and we are conscious that the effects of how we live can impact our brothers and sisters.

This year South Sudan benefitted from global solidarity efforts like the Covax vaccination programme. Loreto as a school has gone from strength to strength. A lot has been achieved, but there is still so much more to do. We have also been impacted by climate change, as rainfalls, which are essential to survival in an agricultural country, are disrupted. People will have to make do with what they harvested and we’ll do our part to help too. As we begin this New Year, let us do so with joy and with hope as well. We remember that God came into our world as a vulnerable child, in the simplest of settings, among a people who were struggling, to remind us He came for all of us and that together we are one family.”

Merry Christmas to you all or as they say here, Miet puou dhith banyda.
Fr Alan

Some of the Loreto Rumbek group on a day trip over the Christmas season.

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Fr Alan in South Sudan – Vaccine Status: Denied.

“It’s official. Last week a journalist from the Irish Times tweeted that vaccines distributed throughout Africa would not be recognised by the countries of the European Union. This was initially thought to be directed against vaccines manufactured outside of the EU, but is now understood to include even the vaccines donated from the US, the UK, and the EU itself.

So what does this mean in practice? On one level, not much. To date, South Sudan has just received 60,000 first and second doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine. There has been a commitment from the US for just over 100,000 Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccines. That’s it. For a country of over eleven million people, these donations are only a drop in the bucket, but, to paraphrase Mother Theresa, it would be a drop in the bucket that would be missed if it were not there.

One of the Loreto interns gets their second Astra Zeneca jab in the Mary Ward Primary Health Care Clinic in the school. (Photos of Loreto School courtesy of Life on Earth Pictures.)

You might well ask, why are African countries not producing their own vaccines? Well, they are, but there’s a catch. Earlier this year a company in South Africa produced 10 million Johnson and Johnson vaccines. The continent clearly has the know-how and the technology. What they don’t have is the buying power. The entire ten million doses were sold to the EU as part of their vaccine drive. At this point, it might be good to look at the disparity in COVID health care. As of the last week in September, there is 74.4% full vaccination coverage in Ireland and just 4% coverage throughout Africa. It was only after international outcry at the manifest injustice of the act that the vaccines were returned to South Africa to be distributed there.

As I have mentioned before, we have been lucky in South Sudan that the number of COVID infections have been quite low. This has been variously attributed to the country’s low average age, hot climate, and relative inaccessibility of the towns and cities. Whatever it is, it is evident that our luck is running out. Only yesterday, two of the religious sisters in our Diocese were diagnosed with COVID, with another going for testing today. One of the sisters working in a nearby hospital has also tested positive. Given the modest budget for testing, the emergence of these cases among front-line religious sisters is indicative of a significantly higher infection rate among the general population.”

One of the Loreto students who is studying biology. The sciences are an important part of the Loreto curriculum and many of the students will be future scientists for South Sudan. (Photos of Loreto School courtesy of Life on Earth Pictures.)

“This is the time for solidarity, not division; for unity, not injustice.”

“However, there is good news too. Ten days ago, the second dose of the Astra Zeneca vaccines were delivered to Rumbek. Last time, we had so many people come from Loreto to receive the first dose that the hospital saved us a trip and sent a dedicated team to our Mary Ward Primary Health Care Clinic. We now have almost two hundred teachers, nurses, religious sisters, and agricultural workers who are fully vaccinated against COVID.

While a welcome relief, this level of take up was not easy to achieve. Rumours and the most ridiculous conspiracy theories abound about vaccines. The fact that the leadership team of Loreto were the first to take the vaccine gave others the confidence to go for their own. This frustrating reality is that this is not restricted to South Sudan, but is something of a global challenge.

Many of these rumours are easily dismissed as pure nonsense. However, the latest ruling by the EU quite reasonably has provoked doubts and concerns. We have been asked what the problem is with the vaccine that is been distributed in South Sudan. In spite of the fact that the entire enterprise is been undertaken by the World Health Organisation and their partners, the decision by the EU further emphasises the divide between the global north and south. We have many dedicated, professional medical personnel here who are entirely committed to an efficient vaccine roll-out. To disregard their work in such a cavalier manner is sheer prejudice. This is the time for solidarity, not division; for unity, not injustice.”

Bi Nhialic arrer kek yin,
Fr Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Photos of Loreto School courtesy of Life on Earth Pictures

Fr Alan in South Sudan: Lions, Snakes, and the World’s Deadliest Predator

When you are asked what is the deadliest animal that you’ve come across in South Sudan, people are hoping for something dramatic. On my first weekend here, when I was mapping out a potential jogging route around the Loreto campus, I came across a snake thicker than my arm struggling with his evening meal. Now I walk and as I do so I keep my eyes firmly on the ground. My godson has been delighted to hear that I have found scorpions on four different occasions wandering around my bedroom. All were dispatched with a trusty badminton racket that was left behind by my room’s previous tenant. Considering how difficult it is to play badminton by yourself, especially with no shuttlecock, I suspect they may have used it for a similar purpose.

When it comes to dangerous animals, Hollywood with its big budgets and daring adventures has got it badly wrong. Sharks, the subject of several blockbusters, languish in 15th place killing about ten people a year. Lions are responsible for up to a hundred deaths. Hippos, or ‘Rou’ as they are known locally, are at 11th place, killing five hundred people annually. Snakes earn something of their fearsome reputation with fifty thousand deaths and clock in at 3rd place. Surprisingly our most fearsome enemy is also among the smallest. Each year an incredible two million deaths are caused by mosquitos. The toxic and highly evolved diseases that the female carries, make this tiny insect that weighs the same as a grape seed, our greatest predator.

Loreto primary school students waiting their turn for malaria treatment in Rumbek, South Sudan.

As I have mentioned before, we have been waiting for months for rain. Since the arrival of the rainy season, the community around the school have been working feverishly preparing the soil, sowing the seeds, and keeping an eye on the weeds. The rains were late this year and so far have been sporadic. We are waiting to see how good the crop will be. However, as sure as night follows day, the rains also meant the return of mosquitos. In the dry months, they are not much in evidence and those who fancy themselves thrill-seekers sleep without a net. Not now. They are back, and once again, the number of malaria cases are soaring.

The Primary Health Care Clinic was originally set up to look after the two thousand primary and secondary students, the local workers, and the staff on the ground in Loreto every day. This number does not even include the people our nursing teams looks after in our community outreach programme. Last week alone we had 302 cases of malaria just from the primary school.

One of the clinic team administers anti-malarial medication to primary school students in Loreto Rumbek, South Sudan.

The problem is that in the evening families prepare and eat their meals around a fire in front of their homes. This is the time that the mosquito hunts. In addition, people’s houses or tukuls are often made with rough blocks and a grass roof, although some are fortunate to have corrugated metal. Anyone who has been on holidays in warmer climates know how good mosquitos are at exploiting even the smallest crack in a wall or hole in a net.

The situation this year has been complicated further by a lack of testing kits to determine if someone has malaria and if so, which type it is. Each requires different treatment. Insecurity on the roads mean that trucks from Nairobi stopped coming for a week, so deliveries are backlogged. We are fortunate to have a good working relationship with local NGOs and were able to make up a shortfall, before getting an emergency supply flown in from Juba.

The rainy season has hit South Sudan and the mosquitos have returned, with the Loreto Rumbek primary school identifying 302 cases of malaria in just one week. Here, a young child remains under observation in the Primary Health Care Centre.

While COVID continues to dominate the headlines, the challenges of malaria have been largely overlooked by the international community. It is a forgotten epidemic by an almost invisible predator that is wreaking havoc on already vulnerable populations. It has been pointed out by more than one commentator that if malaria was as big an issue in Western society as it is here, we would already have developed several effective vaccines. If these past two years have taught us anything, it is that we have the ability if we really want to. Until the situation changes, our nursing team is working flat out and will continue to do so until the rainy season ends in November. It’s going to be a long three months. Please keep them in your prayers.

Bi Nhialic arrer kek yin,
Fr Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Fr Alan in South Sudan: Ticket to Ride

Every couple of months in Loreto Rumbek, we have a celebration. It’s something of a bittersweet gathering with pizza, Coke, a few tears, and plenty of good humour. We had one only last Wednesday. They mark the departure of the graduates from our intern programme as they go on to further education. This time, we had three go to university in Nairobi, where two will study business, and one brave soul will train to become a social worker. Where she will even begin when she returns here is a mystery to me, but it is a welcome start. They will be welcomed in Nairobi by twenty other Loreto graduates who have gone before them and have, in fact, paved the way for them. Among our alumni we have women studying nursing, teaching, logistics, child protection, commerce, and medicine.

Three graduates from the Loreto Rumbek intern programme are now going on to further education in Kenya.

As I have mentioned before, decent education is a rare and precious commodity in South Sudan. Anytime I’m driving to a nearby school or going into the local town, I’m struck by the number of children who are out tending cattle, instead of being in class. Boy and girls, who are younger than my own niece of seven spend their entire day bringing the goats, sheep, and cows to the watering hole and back again. Many are dwarfed by the size of the animals they look after. Their education will be sporadic at best, but more likely non-existent.

Last week, we had our entrance of our Loreto Primary and take up was brisk. Families contribute the equivalent of the cost of a chicken for a year’s education, a daily meal, and free healthcare in our clinic. When we had the entrance exam for our secondary school last month, demand was once again far in excess of what we had available. The secondary girls have just finished their end of term exams and started their holidays, but we are looking forward to welcoming them back, along with our new first years at the beginning of September.

Chess and Scrabble championships at Loreto Rumbek. “The students love competitions,” writes Fr Alan Neville MSC.

The children who get into primary school are fortunate to have access to basic education denied to many of their peers. Girls who manage to get into secondary school even more so, but where do they go to from there? One of Loreto’s most successful programmes is the internship programme. Each year, secondary school graduates apply to return to the school to become an intern. This means they work across a wide variety of roles, such as teaching assistants, translators in the clinic, administrators in the school office, or team leaders in the agricultural project.

Interns who work for one year will have their third-level course funded anywhere within South Sudan. However, if they successfully complete two years, we fund their university education in Kenya, where the standard is significantly higher, and the options afterwards are far greater. At €5,000 per university student for studies, accommodation, health, and food, it is a significant investment, but one that is ultimately worth it.

Loreto Rumbek Sports Day, August 2021

Coming back to the three women from last week’s celebration, they took off from Rumbek on Saturday with their tickets firmly in hand. They will have only a week to prepare their documentation, arrange passports, and sort out COVID tests before flying to Kenya. It is undoubtedly an exciting time. To reach as far as they have demonstrates their extraordinary commitment to education in the face of nearly overwhelming odds. Each one has a story of determination and sacrifice that is simultaneously unbelievable and inspiring. This latest step is only one more in a journey which will hopefully lead them home, and they can help in the building up of their community, especially opportunities for girls and women in South Sudan.

A tug of war at the Loreto Rumbek Sports Day.

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

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Fr Alan in South Sudan: Young people fighting COVID-19 in Rumbek

There seemed to be a dreadful inevitability to it, but no one was surprised last week when Uganda joined the list of East African countries that have gone into lockdown in response to a surge of coronavirus infections. Along with Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, Uganda has seen an increase in community transmissions and hospital admissions. All these countries roughly surround South Sudan, but to date our numbers have remained exceptionally low. How long that stays that way remains to be seen.

“When these young women commit to something, there are no half measures.”

In the meantime, we are not sitting idly by in the face of the crisis. In fact, the students of Loreto Rumbek Secondary School decided themselves to take a more proactive, hands-on approach. So it was, on Fr Alan’s day off, that we loaded up three minibuses with students, mops, buckets, sponges, disinfectant, a few dedicated teachers, and a decidedly rumpled, certainly sleepy Fr Alan, and headed off to Rumbek Hospital. The hospital is our main health centre for the entire Lakes State area and is run by an Italian Catholic charity.

The students spent the morning washing down the walls, brushing floors, and cleaning windows. Shortly after my arrival I was dispatched to go into town and buy more mops. Apparently, my cleaning skills were not up to scratch. When these young women commit to something, there are no half measures. They blitzed both surgical wards and the paediatric ward from top to bottom. They also brought along mandazis, a local pastry, for patients and staff alike. They went down especially well in the maternity ward.

“When the pandemic makes its way to Rumbek, we will be as ready for it as we can be.”

It was only a week later when we were back in Rumbek Hospital again. This time we were on the receiving end of their care. A couple of thousand doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been delivered and the hospital were on a drive to get as many people vaccinated as possible. In fact, the vaccine rollout took place in one of the large tents that our students had just cleaned. The process was quick and efficient, and we were registered, injected, and sat down for our own mandazis in no time at all.

The programme for COVID vaccines here will take time due to challenges around cold chain storage availability, as well as a large, geographically dispersed population. Still, there is a determination among the people involved that when the pandemic makes its way to Rumbek, we will be as ready for it as we can be. There will be many people who will be at risk due to underlying health issues, poor nutrition, and lack of access to even basic medication. Please do keep us in your prayers.

Ben Nhialic areer keg a way,
Fr Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Fr Alan in South Sudan: Seeds of Hope

Like Ireland, South Sudan has a rich tradition of farming. Whether it is the cattle they tend or the small vegetable gardens they plant, the people here survive on the land. We have just begun rainy season and when it rains in Rumbek it pours. So far, I have experienced only a few storms and while they are short lived, they are Biblical in scale. It is not uncommon to have an hour of high winds and heavy rain, with thunder and lightning, before the blue skies and gentle breezes return like nothing happened. A decent pair of wellingtons is a must!

Self-sufficiency and valuable life lessons

This year, though, the rain has been sporadic. The people are not worried just yet, but they are certainly concerned. A bad season can mean the difference between having one meal a day or having no food at all. Women with young families are most especially vulnerable, because they use the proceeds of what they can sell in the market to support their families. With poor rains, they have to water their small fields by hand. Only last week on a drive back from town, we saw a family carrying water from a local well, including two preschool children each bringing a full two-litre container.

In the school, we are working away as we begin a new term, and we too are busy planting. The Loreto compound includes land that we can use for farming. Agriculture is one of the courses on the secondary curriculum and the girls enjoy the experience to get out from behind the desks every now and then. They have planted maize and ground nuts, which are staples that we will use in the school kitchen. This self-sufficiency allows us to reduce our expenditure, while teaching the students valuable life lessons.

“We are now in planting season in South Sudan. Every rainy season we use the land around the school to grow fruit and vegetables to feed the students. It’s a big job, so everyone gets involved.” – Fr Alan Neville MSC, Loreto Rumbek, South Sudan

Beginning to reap a great harvest

However, other types of seeds are now coming into fruition. At the moment, one of our graduates is back with us during a break in her studies in Kenya. She is working with the child protection team to help educate our students about children’s rights, as well as the importance of healthy and appropriate relationships. In the next week, another graduate will be here teaching English literature in the secondary school. After thirteen years of careful tending, we are seeing the first generation of our students return from further studies abroad. They are among the first, but they won’t be the last. These are bright, confident young women who are committed to their community. They are the pioneers of education for girls and they are determined to support those who follow after them.

This coming Sunday for our Gospel, we have the parable of the mustard seed, something tiny and unremarkable that can grow into a mighty tree, where people can shelter and birds can make a home. The same is true for what happens here in Loreto. Thanks to a team of gifted teachers who journey with the girls, to their parents who value education for the daughters, and to a student who commits herself whole heartedly to her studies, we are beginning to reap a great harvest. It is the fruit of tremendous work; it is a wonder to behold; and it is an absolute good to give thanks to God for.

Fr Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN