Blogs from South Sudan, Africa - page 4

10 Mar 09 My time is quickly coming to a close here and thankfully our project is also nearing completion. I visited the school today and they are finally plastering the inside and outside walls (you can see the bags of concrete you purchased in the background). Last week the door was also installed. When I visited yesterday the temperature in Dilling was 47 degrees Celcius! Thankfully, in the shelter of the classroom it was a lot cooler given the side ventalation of the building and the high ceilings. This classroom will provide excellent cover for the kids from the heat and the rain and provides much better shelter than straw lean-tos which do not have the high ceilings and trap more heat. I am told that they should finish pouring the floor this week and ... read more

3 February 2008 The weather today was +38 degrees again without a cloud in the sky. It gets down to a bone chilling 22 degrees at night though! I cannot believe that it has not rained since I arrived here in October. The parents of the Al Gous were busy while I was away on my three week break. The roof of the school is now 90 % complete. After visiting the school on 1 Feb 09, I talked with the principal and the administrator and we decided to move ahead with puchasing and installing the 6 windows and doors for the school. We first visited a local shop just 200m from the school who makes windows. The principal also got another installation "quote" from another window maker on the market. We have now selected the ... read more

Just prior to Christmas a flyer went out at Woodroofe Public school asking the parents and kids to donate money to help complete the classroom at the Al Gous school. Over a period of just two weeks, over $2700 was raised for this cause. When Dawn told me the good news I met with the School principal and we went to the Dilling market to commence buying some building supplies for the school. On 15 Dec the school principal, our language assistant and I bought 10,000 bricks which were needed to complete the building of the roof for the classroom. That weekend, the parents and community members living near the school got together to start the construction of the roof. The parents were incredibly happy that the parents and students of Woodroofe school had taken ... read more

From Craig--- Hi All, The mission has gone off with nary a hitch ... until yesterday. All the little potential disasters piled into one hectic day. But we beat the odds ... "escaped" from Sudan with mere seconds to spare. We are now resting and eating well in Nairobi. 48 hours into our homeward bound journey. Half way there. (Actually, Colin and I are homeward bound. Ari leaves this afternoon/Sunday, on a bus to Tanzania for her 3rd month/4th chapter of her African Adventure. We'll see she gets on the bus safely, knowing that she has become a very savvy, veteran traveler who is popular everywhere she goes. Yesterday was a challenge. Our previous day/Friday, we began the first leg of our overland journey traveling only 75 miles from Wangulei to Bor town. It took us ... read more

When I signed up for this assignment, I was supposed to come and see how the local Development Committee organized by CARE was doing, and propose a few ideas for moving forward. Turns out there was no Committee yet. It had not been even discussed. We organized so Mama Hellen, head of the compound, could propose it to the local leaders. During breakfast the morning of the presentation, Mama Hellen made me a confession. She had struggled to get a hold of the concept of the Development Committee, and was not sure if what she was going to present was what she was supposed to. She politely asked me if I could direct the workshop. My immediate response was ‘Sure!’. Now, I have seen these Development Committees at work in India, and read extensively about ... read more