01/31: Technology in Wunlang News
Ron writes:
"In a place where people are still struggling everyday to get clean water, it is difficult to turn my attention to computers and the Internet. Nevertheless, I see many opportunities ahead, and I hope we can develop a sustainable, appropriate technology solution for remote villages.
"On this trip, I trained our field staff to set up a satellite modem, connect it to a laptop, and send e-mail. This will improve communications between the field and our management team in the U.S. Soon even this will become easier and less expensive for locations within reach of the growing cellular network: mobile USB Internet access devices are to be on the market within the next few weeks, I am told."
We use solar power to charge our modem and laptop; as long as everything is charged up and the modem is oriented to the satellite, we can e-mail at night from Wunlang, as this blogger did in 2008.
We're looking forward to improving our Internet connections so that someday the teachers and students, as well as our field staff, can e-mail us about life in Wunlang.
"In a place where people are still struggling everyday to get clean water, it is difficult to turn my attention to computers and the Internet. Nevertheless, I see many opportunities ahead, and I hope we can develop a sustainable, appropriate technology solution for remote villages.
"On this trip, I trained our field staff to set up a satellite modem, connect it to a laptop, and send e-mail. This will improve communications between the field and our management team in the U.S. Soon even this will become easier and less expensive for locations within reach of the growing cellular network: mobile USB Internet access devices are to be on the market within the next few weeks, I am told."
We use solar power to charge our modem and laptop; as long as everything is charged up and the modem is oriented to the satellite, we can e-mail at night from Wunlang, as this blogger did in 2008.
We're looking forward to improving our Internet connections so that someday the teachers and students, as well as our field staff, can e-mail us about life in Wunlang.
01/26: Exploring All Alternatives
Ron's most recent meeting was with Daniel Akot Deng, Director of Alternative Education in Aweil. This blogger is impressed that there even is such a position, and we're eager to learn how we can help provide educational alternatives for those who can't attend a regular primary school.
Our multi-purpose cultural center would easily fulfill the mandate of alternative education by providing literacy, vocational, agricultural, and animal-husbandry training to men and women who already have the responsibility of a family.
One of Mr. Deng's focal points is cattle-camp education, a concept that addresses a cultural and economic dilemma head-on. Franco, in response to a question from Pastor Ron Goodman of St. Paul Lutheran Church, reports that village elders have been discussing how the culture and economic dynamics of the cattle camp would survive if all children left the camps for school. It appears that a plan to educate those who stay in the cattle camps is being formulated. Another opportunity for VHSS to bring education where it hasn't been before!
Our multi-purpose cultural center would easily fulfill the mandate of alternative education by providing literacy, vocational, agricultural, and animal-husbandry training to men and women who already have the responsibility of a family.
One of Mr. Deng's focal points is cattle-camp education, a concept that addresses a cultural and economic dilemma head-on. Franco, in response to a question from Pastor Ron Goodman of St. Paul Lutheran Church, reports that village elders have been discussing how the culture and economic dynamics of the cattle camp would survive if all children left the camps for school. It appears that a plan to educate those who stay in the cattle camps is being formulated. Another opportunity for VHSS to bring education where it hasn't been before!
01/24: Good meeting, good meeting
Ron writes that he participated in some good meetings and plans to schedule some more. His meeting with one of the members of the Education Sector of UNICEF yielded valuable information on how the Ministry of Education was targeting education needs in Northern Bahr-el-Gahzal. "The MoEST determines the priorities, and communicates that to UNICEF. Together they try to find a partner to do the work." We're on the radar of the Ministry of Education and UNICEF -- let's see if we'll be a candidate for some of their upcoming projects.
A good meeting, too, in Wunlang. (Ron drove the team there in a car lent to him by a nearby church group.) He toured the brickmaking; construction should start in March. We have a new contractor, from RhumAthoi. "I’m hoping to meet him before I leave, but Angelo and Yel have everything under control and there is really nothing specific I need to discuss with him." What a testimony that is to the growing skill of our field managers!
"We had long meeting with the Wunlang elders, including the water and health committees, including the women. (The teachers were not around {it is school vacation until Feb. 1}, so the education committee was not well represented.) The head of the water committee in Wunlang will help organize the water committee in Machartit, the intended site of the next bore hole where people are still suffering badly. I will take more time later to brief you on the elders meeting, but suffice it to say, the village is very energized and mobilized and
thankful for the changes done and still to come.
"The women were amazing. Several of them are traditional health workers who have been trained by MSF. They are so eager to have the clinic to make their work easier and
more effective."
Later, "we visited the land donated for the orphanage and women’s multi-purpose
center. It is very beautiful and so much more expansive than I had imagined. I met the elders who donated the land to us, and expressed my gratitude."
More meetings planned, and more photos. We wait for news of both.
A good meeting, too, in Wunlang. (Ron drove the team there in a car lent to him by a nearby church group.) He toured the brickmaking; construction should start in March. We have a new contractor, from RhumAthoi. "I’m hoping to meet him before I leave, but Angelo and Yel have everything under control and there is really nothing specific I need to discuss with him." What a testimony that is to the growing skill of our field managers!
"We had long meeting with the Wunlang elders, including the water and health committees, including the women. (The teachers were not around {it is school vacation until Feb. 1}, so the education committee was not well represented.) The head of the water committee in Wunlang will help organize the water committee in Machartit, the intended site of the next bore hole where people are still suffering badly. I will take more time later to brief you on the elders meeting, but suffice it to say, the village is very energized and mobilized and
thankful for the changes done and still to come.
"The women were amazing. Several of them are traditional health workers who have been trained by MSF. They are so eager to have the clinic to make their work easier and
more effective."
Later, "we visited the land donated for the orphanage and women’s multi-purpose
center. It is very beautiful and so much more expansive than I had imagined. I met the elders who donated the land to us, and expressed my gratitude."
More meetings planned, and more photos. We wait for news of both.
01/21: Reunion in Wau
Angelo and Yel met Ron at Wau airport Thursday afternoon, delayed by a flat tire on the matatu from Aweil. They are staying the night in Wau (at Jur River Lodge, where we stayed in 2008) and are planning to meet with UN officials in the morning. Meanwhile, as Jur River Lodge has internet, the new laptops got set up.
Our field staff was full of news. They talked about the placement of our next borehole, something Ron hopes to bring up at his meeting with UN officials. They brought photos, which Ron will upload as fast as his appointments and the internet connections will let him.
And they talked about the impact Wunlang School has had in the area. Ron writes: "the school has recently been used for overnight accommodations for the voter registration in Wunlang! It was also used to put up the malaria campaign people when they were in the village a while back. We have always said the the school would be a multi-purpose facility for the community, and my heart leaped a
little when I heard that it had been used to accommodate people doing such important work as elections and health treatments."
Look for photos soon.
Our field staff was full of news. They talked about the placement of our next borehole, something Ron hopes to bring up at his meeting with UN officials. They brought photos, which Ron will upload as fast as his appointments and the internet connections will let him.
And they talked about the impact Wunlang School has had in the area. Ron writes: "the school has recently been used for overnight accommodations for the voter registration in Wunlang! It was also used to put up the malaria campaign people when they were in the village a while back. We have always said the the school would be a multi-purpose facility for the community, and my heart leaped a
little when I heard that it had been used to accommodate people doing such important work as elections and health treatments."
Look for photos soon.
01/19: Happy CPA Day
As Ron writes on his personal Facebook page, January 19 is a "holiday in southern Sudan celebrating the 2005 signing of the CPA - Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the 22-year civil war that killed more than 2 million people. My heart goes out to the soldiers who fought for this peace, the millions of refugees forced to flee their homes, and the countless villagers who died in the violence."
That also means all offices are closed. Some meetings will have to be rescheduled. Anyone who does business in a country that celebrates its own holidays, and with American officials that celebrate American holidays (the US consul was closed Monday because of Martin Luther King Day), needs a combination of patience and persistence.
However, on Monday Ron did some important banking. Moving money around to pay contractors and laborers is a huge challenge in a country with a nascent banking system. Kenya Commercial Bank has an office in Juba, and will open offices in Wau and Aweil. So Ron and Jackson stood in line to get Ron set up as a signatory. "The bank required a copy of my passport and 2 passport size photos," Ron writes, "It just so happens that a photo business was located a short, but hot, walk away.The photo business was literally a table beside the road with a camera, a printer, a heat sealer, and a photocopy machine. 'Don't show your teeth,' the photographer said as I posed against a blanket hanging on the wall nearby."
Kenya Commercial will also be able to issue electronic statements when Ron is stateside. This means we will be able to file accurate and timely financial reports. Financial accountability is one of our strengths, thanks to Ron's creativity and discipline.
But Ron is relaxing today, and as far as we can tell, eating well -- fish from the Nile one evening, and shredded chicken and kisera another!
That also means all offices are closed. Some meetings will have to be rescheduled. Anyone who does business in a country that celebrates its own holidays, and with American officials that celebrate American holidays (the US consul was closed Monday because of Martin Luther King Day), needs a combination of patience and persistence.
However, on Monday Ron did some important banking. Moving money around to pay contractors and laborers is a huge challenge in a country with a nascent banking system. Kenya Commercial Bank has an office in Juba, and will open offices in Wau and Aweil. So Ron and Jackson stood in line to get Ron set up as a signatory. "The bank required a copy of my passport and 2 passport size photos," Ron writes, "It just so happens that a photo business was located a short, but hot, walk away.The photo business was literally a table beside the road with a camera, a printer, a heat sealer, and a photocopy machine. 'Don't show your teeth,' the photographer said as I posed against a blanket hanging on the wall nearby."
Kenya Commercial will also be able to issue electronic statements when Ron is stateside. This means we will be able to file accurate and timely financial reports. Financial accountability is one of our strengths, thanks to Ron's creativity and discipline.
But Ron is relaxing today, and as far as we can tell, eating well -- fish from the Nile one evening, and shredded chicken and kisera another!
01/18: Small is Beautiful
Ron had a long talk in Juba with a Sudanese official who asked that his name not be used on the Internet, but who is in a position to assess the work that Village Help for South Sudan has done. We're a small group, with no big names attached to our organization, and we look for honest feedback on our effectiveness. It was a gratifying conversation, Ron reports. "He made comment after comment about how we have succeeded where others have failed, and he had very specific examples of our effectiveness."
A major reason for our success could be seen as a lacking on our part: we don't have the money to hire a big staff and move into an area with a big operation. But that has turned out to be a virtue. "Providing support from a distance to a local staff has gotten vital work done much faster and more sustainably than others, including large organizations with highly visible and highly credentialed outsiders."
Because we have empowered the local leadership, they have a sense of ownership not found in other projects. And they have come up with cost-effective and creative solutions we couldn't have thought of.
When Ron sets up our field office, it will not be so that we can bring in a lot of people to run our projects. It will be to enable the leadership we have to better document and report to us stateside. Ron will be training our local leaders in photography, uploading photos, and sending e-mail. We'll continue to work together to provide education and opportunity to remote villages in South Sudan.
A major reason for our success could be seen as a lacking on our part: we don't have the money to hire a big staff and move into an area with a big operation. But that has turned out to be a virtue. "Providing support from a distance to a local staff has gotten vital work done much faster and more sustainably than others, including large organizations with highly visible and highly credentialed outsiders."
Because we have empowered the local leadership, they have a sense of ownership not found in other projects. And they have come up with cost-effective and creative solutions we couldn't have thought of.
When Ron sets up our field office, it will not be so that we can bring in a lot of people to run our projects. It will be to enable the leadership we have to better document and report to us stateside. Ron will be training our local leaders in photography, uploading photos, and sending e-mail. We'll continue to work together to provide education and opportunity to remote villages in South Sudan.
01/17: Ron arrives in Juba
Ron reports that he's arrived safely in Juba. He's staying at the Kush Resort, where we stayed in January 2008.
He has a ticket for a plane to Wau that departs Thursday. In the meantime, he and Jackson will be meeting with leaders from the government and other NGOs.
Jackson had arrived when Ron was in mid e-mail; we'll pass along more updates when we get them.
He has a ticket for a plane to Wau that departs Thursday. In the meantime, he and Jackson will be meeting with leaders from the government and other NGOs.
Jackson had arrived when Ron was in mid e-mail; we'll pass along more updates when we get them.
01/15: Ron is off to Sudan!
Our treasurer Ron Moulton left this morning for Sudan; a long trip via Addis Ababa. He has several goals: to meet with our field director Angelo, field manager Yel and his assistant Deng, and our Alal Community Project manager Malong and to see the progress made on various projects; to meet with local, regional, and national government officials; and to set up our field office. Village Help for South Sudan has grown that much. He's taking three laptops with him, and will train our field staff in keeping our internet communications up and running. He also plans to go to Mariel Bai, to visit the secondary school and teacher-training college established by Valentino Achak Deng. Guess whose graduates and whose teachers might end up there?
Last we knew, Ron was in Washington, DC. We know we'll be hearing from him as much as possible. We'll send you all the news.
Last we knew, Ron was in Washington, DC. We know we'll be hearing from him as much as possible. We'll send you all the news.
Several people, including our treasurer, noticed the Nicholas Kristof's New York Times column on Valentino Achak Deng's secondary school in Mariel Bai. The protagonist in David Eggers's book What Is the What, Valentino has established a beautiful campus in his part of Bahr-el-Ghazal.
Our executive director, an elder in the Bahr-el-Ghazal community, has been a quiet assistant in this effort. Franco helped organize David and Valentino's first trip together to South Sudan. He's served on a discussion panel with David, and is on the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation's speakers' list. Kristof's column discusses Valentino's ambition to enroll girls in his school in Mariel Bai. Valentino has turned to Franco for advice on the best way to recruit and retain girls, and to reassure their parents that their daughters will be safe.
Right now, Valentino's secondary school in Mariel Bai is the closest one to our primary school in Wunlang. We hope to supply some of the best-prepared primary-school graduates to Valentino's school. We know they'll be proud to announce that they studied in Wunlang.
Our executive director, an elder in the Bahr-el-Ghazal community, has been a quiet assistant in this effort. Franco helped organize David and Valentino's first trip together to South Sudan. He's served on a discussion panel with David, and is on the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation's speakers' list. Kristof's column discusses Valentino's ambition to enroll girls in his school in Mariel Bai. Valentino has turned to Franco for advice on the best way to recruit and retain girls, and to reassure their parents that their daughters will be safe.
Right now, Valentino's secondary school in Mariel Bai is the closest one to our primary school in Wunlang. We hope to supply some of the best-prepared primary-school graduates to Valentino's school. We know they'll be proud to announce that they studied in Wunlang.
12/03: A happy Happy Birthday gift
Back when Village Help for South Sudan was getting started, my daughter had a boyfriend named Brandon Zimmerman. He's been one of our staunchest supporters. When he was received into the Catholic Church, he asked well-wishers to donate to rebuilding the church in Wunlang. It was falling down when I visited in 2008; now it's rebuilt in beautiful traditional style.
Last year my daughter and Brandon were married. Brandon's birthday is in January, and he's having a party. His birthday-party invitation reads in part:
"If you feel so moved, bring some money to donate to the non-profit that my Mother-in-Law helps to run - http://www.villagehelpforsouthsudan.org/. This organization helps to build and fund schools in rural south Sudan, using local labor. If everyone who comes donates $10, we can easily raise a few hundred dollars."
And you, too, will have a birthday in 2010. Or maybe there's a graduation or bar or bat mitzvah coming up.But let's not get ahead of ourselves: in 2009, the holidays are upon us. All are opportunities to follow Brandon's example and to put a donation for Village Help for South Sudan on your wish list.
Last year my daughter and Brandon were married. Brandon's birthday is in January, and he's having a party. His birthday-party invitation reads in part:
"If you feel so moved, bring some money to donate to the non-profit that my Mother-in-Law helps to run - http://www.villagehelpforsouthsudan.org/. This organization helps to build and fund schools in rural south Sudan, using local labor. If everyone who comes donates $10, we can easily raise a few hundred dollars."
And you, too, will have a birthday in 2010. Or maybe there's a graduation or bar or bat mitzvah coming up.But let's not get ahead of ourselves: in 2009, the holidays are upon us. All are opportunities to follow Brandon's example and to put a donation for Village Help for South Sudan on your wish list.
