Massachusetts Daily Collegian

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A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

South Sudan Gothic

On July 9, after 21 years of civil war, South Sudan claimed its independence. Although this is great news for the Southern Sudanese, it comes with the problems of having to re-start the development of what is now a separate and new country.

One of these problems is how to secure access to education. Just over a quarter of the population (27 percent) is literate and 37 percent over the age of six have never attended school.

What passes for school in South Sudan are informal, outdoor meetings with a tree providing shade for a lone teacher with a tablet chalkboard. The student body is a medley of children from different communities, some walking for miles just so they can get to school. The homes of the students vary, which also poses a problem. The classes are generally taught in English, but some of the students are coming from French-speaking states, and others have previously been taught only in Arabic.

The poor infrastructure of the new state only adds to educational woes. In the whole of South Sudan there are only 50 kilometers of paved roads that, during the rainy season, are rendered impassable. Also, because of the area’s history of conflict, there are still landmines and undetonated explosives strewn about at random, making travel and construction hazardous. The presence of so much concealed ordinance is especially dangerous considering the large amount of refugees pouring back into the region with the hopes of a better life.

Another obstacle facing the rise of the education system in South Sudan is the lack of teachers. In 2009, there were 129 students per classroom and 52 students per teacher. Educators in North Sudan have little desire to move to South Sudan, as the country’s budget doesn’t include funding for universities or educators. As for the teachers in South Sudan, most are unpaid volunteers with limited education, rarely extending beyond the high school level.

There is also a gender disparity in the South among the children and adults who are getting educated. Of all the children who are lucky enough to get an education at all, the large majority is male. Of those females enrolled, less than 1 percent complete secondary school. And of the teachers that teach at these schools, 14 percent of them are women, showing that educational disparities along gender lines does not only occur among the young.

One of the reasons there is low school attendance for girls is because the girls are spending hours grinding corn by hand. Another reason is that many communities have a negative attitude towards females getting educated.

While the problems facing South Sudan are various and multifaceted, there are practical solutions.

First, there needs to be more investment in infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals. It would also be beneficial if part of the educational budget were used for gender issue training. The good news is that many of the returning refugees are educated, and are returning to South Sudan with a variety of new skills and attitudes.

But the worst is not over yet. These children and the people of this country are in need of buildings with stable electricity and Internet connection. They need buildings for their schools so that when it rains, classes don’t have to be cancelled and, most importantly, females should not be denied their right to what limited education is available.

Being educated on what is happening to others around the world is the first step to making a difference.

Stephanie Ambroise is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].

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    David KingJan 23, 2012 at 10:53 pm

    Jonglei Peace Initiative
    For Immediate Release
    January 23, 2012
    Washington, D.C. – Twenty-five South Sudanese diaspora community leaders from
    across North America, including both Canada and the USA, gathered in Washington,
    DC January 21-22, 2012 and focused on helping bring peace to their native state of
    Jonglei in the new country of the Republic of South Sudan. We are known as the
    Jonglei Peace Initiative (JPI) and include men and women from the Anyuak, Nuer,
    Murle, and Dinka people. Officials from the Embassy of South Sudan and international
    resource people joined us. We have agreed to call ourselves JPI — USA.
    After two days of deliberation, assessing the current context, and exploring ways to
    contribute toward a sustainable peace in Jonglei state and South Sudan, we issue the
    following:
    WE CONCLUDED that the urgency and risk in Jonglei and South Sudan is extremely
    high and has the potential to:
    1. Further entrench tribal tensions that are counterproductive to building the world’s
    newest nation.
    2. Continue to result in the death and injury of innocent South Sudanese, including
    women and children.
    3. Undermine the future of the new country of South Sudan and its economy by
    deterring investors and making peace through development impossible.
    4. Create food insecurity by endangering farmers, cattle raisers and supply chains.
    WE CALL for:
    1. The Government of South Sudan, making use of its military and police and
    working in conjunction with the UNIMISS peacekeepers, to immediately create a
    disengagement and separation between fighting forces between tribal groups in
    Jonglei state and to assure all communities and citizens that they will be
    protected by the Government of South Sudan through the establishment of buffer
    zones and water points.
    2. The youth warriors to immediately end all raiding, abductions, violence and
    destruction of their neighbors and their neighbors’ properties and return to their
    own lands so that a legitimate peace process can be initiated.
    3. The placement of military and police forces near the water and toich lands of
    Jonglei to insure that renewed conflicts will not be allowed to escalate during the
    dry season and to provide a ceasefire environment that can create an opportunity
    for community leaders to mobilize people for a just and sustainable peace.4. The President and Commander-in-Chief of South Sudan to make it clear that
    there will be strict military discipline and action will be taken against any
    deserters from the SPLA who seek to use their weapons to join raiding parties
    from their tribes in attacks on neighbors or who join militias which fight against
    the Government of South Sudan.
    5. The UNIMISS forces, in their international mandate to protect civilians, be diligent
    in investigating any violent communal raids, gather credible evidence on the
    violations and violators, and turn that evidence over to the justice system of both
    the State and National governments of South Sudan for action so that the current
    environment of impunity can be transformed toward the rule of law and justice for
    all.
    6. The full engagement in peace promotion of those who carry moral authority
    within all the Jonglei communities, including church leaders, chiefs, elders,
    women’s leaders, and youth leaders who are committed to peace. And the full
    engagement of the Sudanese Diaspora in supporting a just and lasting peace in
    Jonglei and South Sudan.
    7. The full support of the international community and non-government
    organizations in:
    a. Relieving the suffering of the people of Jonglei who are in the midst of a
    humanitarian disaster caused by the cycles of conflict and revenge, and
    b. Funding, facilitating and supporting community, youth and government
    leaders who provide leadership for the communal peace process that
    must be comprehensive and must be fully implemented after it is agreed
    upon in conference.
    8. The immediate planning of international donors and investors to be ready to work
    with communities for sustained development of all Jonglei communities, including
    roads and infrastructure, economic development, food and water resource
    management, the education of children, youth and adults, job creation, and the
    institution of good governance that includes the administration of the rule of law.
    9. Since most of us are dual citizens of both the USA and Republic of South Sudan,
    we call on the law enforcement agencies of the USA to fully investigate and apply
    the laws of the USA to any situation where fundraising efforts may be done by
    individuals living in the US for the purposes of supporting tribal raids that result in
    terror for citizens in South Sudan and could even be supportive of genocide.
    WE COMMIT to the following as the Jonglei Peace Initiative (JPI – USA):
    1. We will stand against any individual Sudanese American who issues statements
    on the Internet claiming to represent whole communities and calling for conflict
    rather than working for peace. If those individuals violate any laws in the USA or
    Canada, we will support the effort of law enforcement agencies to uphold the
    laws, and we will personally seek to bring community pressure against such individuals while inviting them to turn from their ways and join the peace and
    reconciliation process.
    2. We will send some of our own leaders during the coming months to Jonglei to
    work for peace among the youth and communities. We will go to the cattle camps
    to be with the youth. We will work with chiefs, elders, church leaders, and
    women’s leaders to teach, preach, and advocate for peace, to listen to the stories
    of pain, to identify the issues that must be resolved for a just peace to be
    established, and to identify the long term development opportunities that can be
    the basis of a sustainable peace.
    3. We will work with any and every agency of government, church, civil society and
    NGOS in South Sudan to help coordinate a peace process at both the communal
    and state levels that will lead within 2012 to a just peace, established by the
    communities themselves using our traditions, methodologies and rituals, and that
    can be implemented and sustained so that Jonglei will be ready for a major
    peace through development initiative.
    4. We will work within the Sudanese diaspora, especially those who are from the
    state of Jonglei, to keep them informed of what is happening on the ground, to
    mobilize them for support of a just peace for all tribes in Jonglei, and to build
    support for investors and international donors to help the citizens of Jonglei to
    build peace through development that gives hope for all our communities, both
    now and in the years to come.
    5. Once a stable ceasefire is in place, protective forces are insuring the security of
    the communities, and a communal peace process is established, we will support
    the mobilization of all the communities of Jonglei to warehouse their weapons in
    government or UN managed armories so that the destruction that our
    communities have experienced will become a thing of the past.
    For More Information:
    JPI-USA Chairman:
    Paul Mator Manyok (Dinka)
    [email protected]
    +1.615.300.1977
    JPI-USA Deputy Chairman:
    Lero Odola (Anyuak)
    [email protected]
    +1.507.276.0970
    JPI-USA Youth Leader:
    James Manyabol (Murle)
    [email protected]
    +1.615.589.0035
    Rev. James Goanar Chol (Nuer)
    [email protected]
    +1.515.4907743

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