Adventure in Magwi County

Recently I went with the Ministry Team to undertake an “Assessment” of schools in Magwi County.  Magwi is 36 miles southwest and a 2 hour journey from Torit.  After the humdrum life of Torit this was quite an adventure.  The Assessment was led by the State Minister of Education both he and the Director General were very supportive as we were camping in tents mostly at school sites and sometimes sleeping without mattresses. It was quite an expedition with four vehicles and over 20 Ministry staff including cooks.   

Even though South Sudan does have an education database, the purpose of the visits to schools was to establish baseline data for Eastern Equatoria.  Issues include teachers being on the payroll and not turning up for work, many teachers are not qualified and at least half are volunteers who are not paid at all. Basic and accurate information is needed on the nature of school buildings, toilets, access to water, whether food is provided and if the school has a PTA.  All schools are supposed to have a PTA which in some ways operates like a school governing body.  Although education here is free, the state pays the teachers’ salaries, all schools should collect 15SSP per term per child from the parents, this pays for yearly examinations, school development and proportion goes to the County Education Office to support administration and the remainder is spent at the discretion of the PTA.  The good buildings are often provided by donors.  Sometimes a community will set up a school with whatever funds it has.

Some schools

The journey took us southeast from Magwi to Obbo, through the foothills of the moutains past Palwar and onto Labone, which incidentally used to be in Uganda. The climate in this region is much cooler due to being so close to the mountains and no mosquitoes!  The roads were shocking, often just a narrow track.  The drivers were fantastic, I’m not sure how they kept the cars on the road at times.  Driving on mud is pretty much like driving on snow and ice.  I will never moan about potholes in Bedford again!  We had to go into Uganda as there were some broken bridges on the South Sudan side before coming back into South Sudan.

Some views from school playgrounds

We were joined on our trip by two local MPs of the State Assembly.  One of them brought me back to Torit.  On the way we stayed over in his home village of Obbo and I attended the last day of a wake for an elderly relative of his.  We went right out in the “bush” as it is called.  There were about 50 people including children, sitting around three fires quietly drinking local coffee and eating breakfast.  It was a special experience, very calm and tranquil in a fertile agricultural setting.  The three of us who were guests had to address the gathering. The third guest, a friend then had to act as chairperson to both families as they made a settlement following the death.  When a married female dies her family have to agree compensation with the husband’s family.  The female in South Sudanese society has no legal rights to her husband’s assets.  Upon his death, all his assets pass to his most senior male family relative.

The roads in South Sudan and Uganda

Recent highlights include drinking Spanish Red Temparanillo one evening under the porch of a school building (very surreal), the fantastic night sky in Magwi (not quite as good as Sri Lanka but nearly), views of the mountains, sleeping with an AK47 rifle in the room (never done that before!), witnessing the slaughter of a goat at the wake, drinking ground coffee in the bush (fantastic!), the Minister of Education receiving chickens from a school, breakfast by the Nile in Juba and a royal python on the road from Juba to Torit.

Assorted other pictures

For Peter