A letter from Ingrid Reneau in Sudan
June 2, 2010
Post Election, Pre-Referendum: Transformational Education in South Sudan
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly …” (John 10:10).
Earlier this year I was in Pibor for a teachers training, and I made all kinds of wonderful discoveries about my capacity, only through the Holy Spirit, to persevere under demanding circumstances — and realized, too, that education in South Sudan cannot just be about “reading, writing and arithmetic” or the acquiring of English literacy and fluency! Such are insufficient to meet the depth of the learning needs in places like Pibor and elsewhere in Jonglei State and the broader South Sudan context.
It is almost impossible to convey the extreme deprivation of places like Pibor. What might help is this description by a colleague and medical doctor who had ministered in Pibor and in Haiti after the earthquake: “The needs in Pibor are much more than even those in Haiti after the earthquake!” With such needs, it is never easy to leave or to return to Pibor! It haunts, tortures and angers me deeply at the same time to be there. And this is because it takes too long for so little to be done that can help people for the rest of their lives …
There are times when I wish I had wings like a dove, so I could just fly away and never ever go back, ever! And there are times when the deep need of the people make we wish I was a Murle and could stay forever and spread my healing wings over all, and make everything better, especially for women and children ...
Am I glad to have returned for yet another teachers training? Yes and no ... Yes, because it amazes and humbles me that God has seen fit to bring me, of all people on the face on this earth, to serve Him here amongst his people ... And no, because I feel a weakness in my physical body more than ever here, and this saddens me ...
Still, I am thankful to be there, if for no other reason than to be able to assure the teachers that even though it might seem that “Kawajahs are more clever than Africans,” this is not true in the least bit! (Kawajahs are all those not from South Sudan, Whites and Westerners, with the exception of Arabs.) As if it could ever be true — that Jehovah, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, could have given Kawajahs more intelligence that he gave Africans. Rather, if Kawajahs and Westerners seem more clever, it is primarily because of two reasons:
1. The long-standing peace they have enjoyed, fostering cooperation between “tribes” who used to kill each other. This enabled them to develop and prosper, making much use of other people’s resources, including Africa’s.
2. The teaching methodology used in some of their schools that makes learners believe in themselves — that there is nothing they cannot do or achieve if they just try long and hard enough!
Training, and in some cases re-training, Sudanese teachers, especially those who are Arabic-patterned, requires more than the superficial learning of techniques. In the trainings we do, Biblical or Christ-centered transformation must be at the center, so that even as we impart knowledge about teaching methodologies and to enable gaining fluency in English, we must also impart knowledge about what it means to have salvation in Christ. For within this human renewal/rebirth process lies the possibility of healing the ravaging, traumatic effects of 22 years of civil war on the human psyche as well as healing the disabling, distorting influence of decades of systematic oppression and deprivations on human relationships.
I say this especially in light of the recent elections and results: one of the teachers from our training rebelled when he lost his election bid and became the cause of much insecurity. While he was with us, he apparently received the knowledge we were imparting, and because of his English fluency was taken as a leader in the group. Yet there were issues that our training did not touch, so even while he was gaining an education, it was not sufficient to teach or enable him to learn differently about the use and effect of war and conflict as means of addressing situations not to his liking. Exposure even to knowledge from visiting professors from America during our training was not enough to give him a new way of thinking about himself as an emerging leader in his community, for that is what teachers are in the ever-evolving nation of South Sudan — those with any education, and even those without any formal education, are sought and regarded as teachers.
Accordingly then, education, in the form of the teacher trainings we do, must teach about being leaders in all segments of community. And while servant-leadership is the call of so many, this kind of leadership, while difficult for even Westerners to exemplify, is that much harder for those whose models of leadership have been militaristic. If it is education as a means of empowering and developing lives for the betterment of the entire communities that we promote through training teachers, then we must incorporate healing workshops that lead to wholeness in our trainings.
“Education” in South Sudan must become as seriously committed to the gospel of transformation as we have been to the gospel of salvation. While they are not exclusive, it is possible that in the business of saving people from their sin(s), we’ve forgotten that salvation itself is a developmental process that affects the entire human being: spiritually and socio-culturally … Therefore education in South Sudan must include teaching/training opportunities that heal the effects of trauma and systematic decades of oppression, and that lead to wholeness in people …
As ever, thank you so much for your most powerful prayers that sustain and empower us to live overcoming lives, and lives in which we learn, we change, and we grow daily from glory to glory into the image of Christ … Thank you for not ever forgetting to pray for healing in South Sudan, and for wholeness to become the norm of life there … For His utmost glory, Amen.
In the body of Christ,
Ingrid
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 47
