Sudan Update 3

Renk
Renk is a small town which boarders north and south Sudan and the communities here were amongst those hardest hit by civil war. Because of its geographical position it has been a gathering point for many internally displaced persons or returnees and people continue to be particularly vulnerable on account of human and food security issues.
After receiving the Bishop of Renk’s blessing to visit we went for 3 days to see the schools and facilities that currently exist in Renk town and to speak with those who work for the diocese. It is looking likely that Renk diocese will receive funding for further school building and when the project starts we hope to assist them in managing the process.

Providing schools is a priority for the church, a consequence of Sudan’s long civil war is that southern Sudanese have the lowest access to education in the world, there are so few schools that the government is struggling to build enough to meet the massive need. Gross primary enrolment is at 20% with less than 2% of people completing primary education. An estimated 60% of the Southern Sudanese population is under 18 years old.

We had a very productive time and felt we were able to identify some key needs with the people we spoke to. I think people were surprised by how young we were, we kept being referred to as ‘the boy and his madam’. We stayed in a lovely mud hut at the ECS Renk Guest house and eat some fairly unusual meals (one being packet custard and rice). Every building in Renk town centre for some reason is bright green, desertification seems to be an issue – I’ve never seen so much dust, when the wind is up you get ‘haboob’ – sandstorms and I barely managed the walk into town before breaking into a coughing fit.
You can see some pictures of Renk in the picture gallery.

We have just completed our first session which was mostly focusing on assessing keys needs for the two dioceses. We return to Malakal on Thursday for a month before travelling to Renk again, we hope to be able to move into our accommodation in Malakal soon but for now will be staying again with the Bishop and his family.
Will be in touch again soon

Best
Keren and Simon x