April 2008

Friends,

The road from Juba to Yei, southern Sudan as seen from the front seat of a pickup truck.

The watermelon-sized leaves of the teak trees lining the Juba to Yei Road hung low to the ground, ladened with dust from one of the dustiest and bumpiest 110-mile stretch of road! Squeezed into the back seat of the Stromme pickup was our luggage (mine, Rev. Elly’s of Across’s Church Empowerment, and Richard’s, the program manager of Stromme Foundation, one of Yei Teachers Training College’s (YTTC) biggest donors). It was piled high beside me on the seat to avoid being bathed in dust in the back. The road transferred its every bump into my body. Between watching the three gerri-cans of petrol tied securely in the back of the truck with the last bit of string I had with me, (string I take with me for the clothes lines I make in my tukuls) and trying to keep my body in just the right position to withstand the bumps, I actually managed to enjoy this trip. No doubt this was due to the praying in tongues that ensued in my spirit after I hit my head on the top of the truck on our first big bump.

Along the way, Richard, the Rev. Elly, and I discussed the “challenges” of making this journey from Juba to Yei and back: the land mines that still lie buried beside the road, of which we were reminded by the large red, black-and-white signs with the skull and bones figure, written in English and Arabic: “Danger: Mines: Stay on the Road.” Then, during the rainy season, people get stuck on the road for up to three days; sometimes, people leave their cars, their pants legs rolled up, without sock and shoes, their luggage on their heads, and walk up to four kilometers before they get another lift. Luckily, it was the dry season, so all we had to worry about was surviving the bumps, having our car stay on the road, and our driver, Richard, having the power to drive alertly.

The principal of the Yei Teachers Training College’s addressing the graduates.

The challenges of southern Sudan were the focus of speeches delivered at this first YTTC graduation: the occasion that had brought us all to Yei. This wasn’t the first time teachers had completed training at YTTC; indeed, over 781 people had been trained at YTTC during the seven years of its existence; this, however, was the first graduation of teachers completing a full two-year study program using the Uganda curriculum, as southern Sudan is still working to establish a standardized curriculum—another challenge, to be sure!

Since these YTTC teachers were some of the first in southern Sudan that I had a part in training, I didn’t want their graduation. One wise saying of the executive director of education for Yei was this admonition: “Don’t let change change you; change the change;” this he said to the 34 graduates, 27 males and 7 females, encouraging them to “strive for excellence” (the college’s motto) in eradicating illiteracy rather than letting it—especially when encountered in those who would be in authority over them—impinge upon their ability to be teachers in the New Sudan.

Graduates celebrate.

Some of the wisest sayings, though, were from the college principal: “The key to success in life is understanding, and the key to understanding is humility. Teachers are a national asset of priceless value because they have the ability to unlock the potential of the rest of the society, including every future member of other professions.” These pearls under-girded the teachers’ hope so they could later overcome the “hopeless” speeches of the two representatives of the Government of southern Sudan’s (GoSS) Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST).

Proud Yei Teachers Training College graduate.

Three days later, after a few nights of heavy rain, during which I played hide-and-seek with the rain falling through my thatched-roof tukul, we were back on a significantly altered road; those huge teak leaves were changed too: there were more holes, and plenty of mud, and the deep green, white veined leaves of the teak were now gloriously displayed. I sat up front, while Maban, an Ax staff driver from Rumbek, sat in that enclosed back seat. As we drove, we encountered an impromptu road block of tree limbs and branches; we slowed down, and a man, dressed in blue overalls, wearing heavy soldier boots, and looking desperate came up to Richard’s window and “humbly by force” requested: “You, take me to Juba; I’ll move the block; you take me to Juba.” Ignoring Richard’s no, he began removing the block, and as we drove through, he hopped into the back.

Later, when the left rear wheel flew off abruptly into the bush, and we came to a jolting stop in the middle of the narrow, muddy pot-holed road, with big trucks from Uganda laden with items for the Juba/Yei Markets, and speeding motor-bikes and  various, cautious NGO land cruisers passing beside us, we were thankful our Father had provided that soldier to help us find that tire that had escaped into the bush, and with Richard and Maban, put it back on with 4 bolts taken from the other tires; the wheel had flown off because all of its bolts had somehow gotten loose and fallen off!

Do join me in thanking our Father for His goodness to us, and to the graduates of YTTC.  Bless Him for continued funding support for YTTC. Give thanks  with me that when we soon return to MoEST , they will agree to sign and make the YTTC teachers’ graduating certificates official state documents, and that they will work together with Ax and Juba University to make YTTC an extension of Juba University; bless our Father also for giving us wisdom and favor to work with MoEST and other teacher training colleges and universities in southern Sudan to establish a standardized training curriculum and an independent accrediting body that will grant certified certificates to all teacher college graduates in southern Sudan.

All for His utmost glory,

Ingrid

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 10