Mar 12, 2018
It is no secret that South Sudan has become one of the largest crises in the world, and the fastest growing crisis on the African continent. In reaction to this crisis Pope Francis declared a day of fasting and prayer for this crisis-embroiled country. People around the world joined in solidarity with over 7 million South Sudanese, 1.1 million of whom are under the age of 5, and who do not know where their next meal is coming from.
The young women enrolled at the Loreto Girls Secondary School approached Sr. Orla about their desire to participate – to fast during lunch. They decided to donate the food that they would have eaten for that meal to Pan Ngath; a women and child center run by the Missionaries of Charity in Rumbek town.
Loreto has been working to support the community through this time of extreme food insecurity and is providing over 2000 meals each day and distributing over 2 metric tonnes of dry rations each month. Loreto again expresses their gratitude to all donors, advocates and supporters for standing in solidarity with them and their community and for all the support they continually receive throughout this time of great need.
PLEASE HELP US TO SAVE LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
Feb 9, 2018
The De La Salle Brothers have visited the Loreto Schools, Rumbek, on a number of occasions to date, the first of which was in January 2014. This month, we are delighted to hear, they have started the foundation for what will become a De La Salle Boys Secondary School in the Rumbek community to act as the counterpart to the work of the Loreto Girls Secondary School.
This month, Br Bill, Br Pierre and Br Amilcare (featured in the photograph below) visited Loreto and met with young men from the community who will be attending the inaugural class of the De La Salle Boys Secondary School in March 2018.
Brothers Bill, Pierre and Amilcare (far left, centre and far right) stand with the De La Salle Boys Secondary School Inaugural Class of 2018.
The Brothers visited for 3 days to forge the path for two more brothers who will be arriving in a few months to start the school. The local community has agreed to donate land to support the Brothers’ work, ensuring that the young men of the community have access to a high quality and relevant education.
For the young men finishing Primary 8 at the Loreto Primary School this means a bright future where they can dictate their own success and futures through hard work and perseverance. The De La Salle Boys Secondary School will start their classes within the Loreto Compound while they wait for their own buildings to be built. It is the birth of a new school, and a new hope in Maker Kuei for the community’s vulnerable young men.
Feb 8, 2018
We were very pleased recently to receive some very positive student updates from the Loreto School, Rumbek.
Mary Adut, pictured below on the left wearing blue, graduated from Loreto in 2013 before taking her place in the Nursing Program at the Catholic Health Training Institute (CHTI) in Wau, South Sudan. After her secondary school graduation she served as a trainee teacher in the Loreto Primary School. In 2014 she was among the first two graduates of Loreto to be accepted into this prestigious nursing program.
Over the last 3 years Mary has worked and trained to become a Registered Nurse in South Sudan. The Loreto Sisters now welcome Mary as a new team member of the Loreto Primary Heath Care Unit. Mary is returning to Loreto and to her home community and is the first nurse from this community to qualify and return to serve.
We are delighted to have an empowered and capable South Sudanese woman to complement our team and we are excited for our current students who will undoubtedly see her as a role model over the coming years.
Congratulations on such an incredible achievement Mary. We here at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are very proud of you!
PLEASE HELP US TO SAVE LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
You can also follow the Loreto Schools progress via Facebook or on their website.
Jan 29, 2018
Our dear friend, Sr Orla Treacy, and the Loreto Sisters are celebrating 10 years of incredible, yet extremely challenging work in the Loreto Schools, Rumbek.
In February 2006, Sr Orla Treacy stepped off a plane in Sudan ready to set up a girls’ boarding school in a remote region in the south of the country. She had been told the project was already under way and had reassured her parents she would be home in Ireland by the end of the year. However, the 33-year-old nun arrived at the site outside the town of Rumbek only to find an empty field with no buildings.
“We were told not to worry, that everything would be ready by Easter. It took two years for the building to reach the point where we could actually start, and then we discovered we were also supposed to open a primary school and clinic for the local community.”
Sr Treacy also faced the challenge of convincing local families to send their daughters to a secondary school in a country where only a third of girls enrol in primary school. Of these, just 7 per cent finish their primary education and only 2 per cent make it into secondary education. Less than 1 per cent actually graduate. More than half of girls in South Sudan are married before the age of 18, and 17 per cent before they turn 15.
“If you live in a culture where marriage is more popular than school, it’s very hard to change that mentality. The girl is married for a dowry of cows so she’s considered a wealth to the family. She’s also the property of the extended family, not just the mother and father.”
Sr Orla Treacy
Sign an agreement
The Loreto sisters decided fathers would sign an agreement with the school promising to allow their daughters to complete their education. However, extended family members such as uncles would often turn up at the gates demanding their teenage niece be released for marriage. “We have been threatened at gunpoint, we have been insulted, all number of problems because she is a woman and should be sacrificed for the sake of the greater good. Technically it’s a boarding school but I call it a women’s refuge because you’re constantly trying to protect these girls from forced marriage.”
When Sr Treacy first decided to become a nun, she never imagined she would end up the principal of a school in a war-torn state in east Africa. In fact, when she first told friends and siblings about her decision to enter the church, they told her she was crazy.
“I thought I was crazy too. I realised it wasn’t fashionable or popular to become a nun at that time. I talked to one of my brothers and he told me to travel the world and then see how I felt.”
Sr Treacy put the decision on hold and studied to become a religion teacher at the Mater Dei Institute. During the summer after her final year in college, she worked in Calcutta. “That was a real changing point for me. There was a lot of hunger and poverty in Calcutta in the early ’90s and that really struck me. I had accepted a job to teach religion with the Presentation Brothers in Cork City and worked there for two years but by the age of 23 I realised that life wasn’t for me and I joined the Loreto sisters.”
Loreto School Rumbek – Class of 2017
New mission
It was only when Sr Treacy returned to Calcutta eight years later that she began to consider working overseas. She discovered the Irish Loreto sisters were setting up a new mission in Sudan following the country’s 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. It was believed the agreement would bring peace and stability following decades of conflict. “There was a sense that great things were happening in south Sudan. And so three of us set out there in February 2008.”
Ten years later Sr Treacy is still running the Rumbek secondary boarding school, the primary school and the local clinic. The past decade has not been easy.
In 2011 South Sudan gained independence from Sudan. However, in 2013 civil war broke out in the new country, with some 200,000 people forced to flee their homes and more than two million displaced.
Hunger continues to be a huge problem in this country of 12 million people.
“When we started the primary school we used to not feed the kids, but we’ve found over the past two years there’s a great hunger, so now we feed everybody. We also need to provide healthcare because many of them can’t afford medicine or access to good treatment.”
As it celebrates its 10th anniversary, the school is struggling more than ever financially. However, Sr Treacy remains hopeful for the school’s future and the education of girls in the Rumbek area. “I work with people who live very much on the margins: life and death, hunger and despair. Every day they live on the edge. And yet in that you can still glimpse love and hope every day.”
After more than two decades as a nun, Sr Treacy is also confident she made the right decision by joining the Loreto sisters. “In life you’re always wondering what if or what might have been. Being a nun is not always perfect and there are moments when I wonder what the hell did I do? But I don’t think any relationship is perfect and I have certainly found a peacefulness in myself. I don’t worry about the future too much and I’m very happy in the role I’ve chosen.”
The MSC are very proud supporters of the amazing work carried out daily by Sr Orla and the Loreto Sisters in South Sudan. If you would like to offer financial support to the Loreto Schools Rumbek you can do so by clicking the box below.
PLEASE HELP US TO SAVE LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
Jan 22, 2018
The following piece is an article we recently received from Sr Orla Treacy (Principal) and the Loreto Sisters who are working tirelessly at the Loreto School Rumbek, South Sudan.
Susan* does not know her actual age, but she thinks she is around 23 years old. At the moment, her age is the last thing on her mind. Susan and five children came to Loreto as a refuge from the violence facing their home community of Cuei-cok. When fighting ensued between two rival clans, the Ruop and Pakam, many homes in Cuei-cok were razed, leaving vulnerable women and children displaced. Susan’s home was razed during the fighting and now she fears for the safety of her mother who was too weak to travel with her.
“It is really a bad situation, the house is burnt down. [My] mother is sick and she cannot even manage to walk. I have been walking for two days on the way.” – Susan
Because Susan is from the Ruop clan, she was targeted for violence as she travelled towards Loreto, which is situated in Kuei territory, allies of the Pakam clan.
“The situation on the road is very bad. They were going to beat me and take clothes [and belongings] from the children and me, but a man from here [Maker Kuei] helped me. We have not been eating for 2 days.” – Susan
Susan was hopeful that she would find refuge at Loreto because the school is neutral territory. Her younger sister, Amok*, is a Loreto graduate and university scholarship recipient currently studying in Kenya. Susan and the children were warmly welcomed by Ajak*, a Senior 3 student who volunteered at the school to help women and children to survive the crisis. Ajak welcomed them and ensured that they received food and water, and a safe place to sleep. This family has a special place in her heart. Although, Ajak is from the Nyang clan (Kuei allies), she feels strong bonds of kinship for Susan and the children. At Loreto, Ajak is part of the same ‘Chukudum’ School Family as Amok, Susan’s sister.
For Loreto girls, the School Family bonds extend across clans and bloodlines, even outside of the school’s walls. Ajak laughed with relief as the children received biscuits, their tired faces brightening with smiles.
“I am happy to help [them]. Amok is my great grandmother, we are family.” – Ajak
During this crisis in our host community Loreto Rumbek opened its gates for ~350 community women and children who were in desperate need of safety and support. Over the 5 day period of intense conflict before the government declared a state of emergency, Loreto delivered over 5,000 meals to these vulnerable community members, performed countless clinical consultations, and provided basic health and sanitation training to many of the community members.
*Aliases used to protect the identity of women and children featured in this piece.
PLEASE HELP US TO SAVE LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
If you would like to read more about how the MSC donations have been spent to date at the Loreto Schools, Rumbek click here.
You can also follow the Loreto Schools progress via Facebook or on their website.
