Fighting fear with friendship in South Sudan

Fr Avelino with visitors in Ave Maria parish office

Source: New Ways

When floodwaters sweep through a village, or sudden attacks rain down by rogue militia, families are forced to the flee their homes at a moment's notice. There is no time to pack, no gathering supplies, no taking a long last look. There is only time to grab your loved ones and run. Between wars, civil unrest, and natural disasters, more than two million people have been displaced in South Sudan. When tragedy strikes and you've lost everything, where do you go? How do you start over?

Ave Maria parish, supported by the charity New Ways, is an oasis of hope near the western border of South Sudan. Situated near the Central African Republic and the Congo, the region has seen its share of unrest. Thousands of weary families have come to Ave Maria parish seeking shelter.

Originally a refugee camp for displaced victims of war, the parish has become a community of its own. The church at Ave Maria stands as a beacon in the western jungle, offering refuge to the homeless and the war torn.

The man at the centre of all this is Fr Avelino Bassols, who recently updated New Ways CEO, Angela Docherty by email - excerpts from his report serve to highlight the challenges faced:

"We have passed once again some very stressful months. First, in April we had again insecurity in the area. One of the priests in the Deanery disappeared - by now he is assumed dead. This caused another wave of internally displaced people to Ave Maria."

Avelino goes on to explain that there is a serious shortage of manpower with the priests, who run most of the support programmes, covering vast areas, as new recruits are reluctant to take the risk of working there. He also talks about the economic situation:

"At the same time, the South Sudan Pound is plunging into the ground. In 2011, at independence, 100 USD were equivalent to 174 SSP. Today the South Sudan Pound was trading at 100 USD = 420,000 SSP, that's after 13 years independence. For the third year South Sudan is the last country of the world in question of development and wealth, after Burundi. However, even Burundi has more than double income per capita than South Sudan."

Now to the projects in Ave Maria, where the community is running three nursery schools, two primary schools, one secondary school and a vocational training centre.

One of the primary schools is located in the area where violence erupted and most of the people had to flee. The secondary school is male-dominated with only 71 girls out of 223 students - which sounds unbalanced but represents considerable progress.

The vocational training centre is also really promising. This started with a carpentry section and has now extended to include electrical & plumbing and mechanical & arc welding. A fourth section is about to be added, this being tailoring & dressmaking. As Avelino puts it: "It may sound surprising, but in an area such as ours, the first luxury people think about is a new dress for Sunday, or new clothes to dress on Christmas."

Avelino also refers to the Health Centre which really operates as a small mission hospital: "We have tried to stabilize it, as it is the only referral centre in the entire region. The closest hospital where we can send patients is in Nzara, 9hrs drive. It's crazy."

There are ongoing problems in getting supplies - a lorry expected in February was delayed until March, and then May. And was still stuck 15 miles away when Avelino wrote in July. The lorry was carrying, among other items, diesel for the tractor and generator and building materials for the security store - and secure storage is important in an area of conflict where food needs to be retained for the seasons of scarcity. To make matters worse, the solar power blew off after lightning struck the inverter. A difficult backdrop against which to provide education, health services, and the security which is so much needed - and yet they continue to make a significant difference.

South Sudan was classified (by the United Nations Development Programme) as the second to last country of the world in terms of development. This implies that three areas are completely lacking or neglected: education, health and professional training.

The availability of health cover in this country is devastating. In Europe, there is one doctor for approximately 250 patients, in the UK about 300. The World Health Organization recommends one doctor for 400 patients. In Africa, the situation is much worse. In Kenya, for example, there is one doctor for 3,600 patients and one nurse for 1,200 patients. But even this can hardly be compared with the Republic of South Sudan, where there is one doctor for 65,000 patients and one nurse for 39,000 patients. These figures themselves speak of the current situation of health cover in this country.

The St Peter Health Centre in Ave Maria was opened in 2019, initially as an emergency room. Later, a proper health centre was built, effectively becoming a small hospital, with the nearest facility for referrals being Nzara Mission Hospital - as Avelino says, a nine hours' drive away. For most people this is not an option, as many patients will have died before arrival at the hospital.

The staff at the St Peter Health Centre consists of one clinical officer from Congo, two nurses (from Kenya and Uganda), four locally trained health practitioners and one counsellor. There are no fully qualified doctors. Medicines have to be sourced from Kenya and Uganda and funding is tight.

The area covered is extensive, with patients from a radius of 40 miles around and the health workers try their best to do home visits, especially for very sick and elderly patients who cannot get to the health facility.

With only two consultation rooms, one examination and treatment room, a laboratory, pharmacy and one male and one female ward, the St Peter Health Centre does not have a maternity facility, but this is something the team is working on. Other developments are the purchase of bicycles and a motor bike to enable more home visits to be made and to increase the funding available for the better provision of medicines. Although there is support for medicines from Spanish hotel-chain Hoteles Barceló, increases in the number of patients mean there is still a shortfall.

In addition to the regular work, an annual eye-health campaign is conducted at the St Peter Health Centre. This is a service offered free by a team of Spanish ophthalmologists. During the campaign, the laboratory is turned into a theatre and the last time they visited, they saw more than 600 patients and conducted a total of 149 successful eye operations.

This is a story of progress against the odds. Clearly, the St Peter Health Centre cannot provide the standard of healthcare provided elsewhere, but given the remoteness of the region, the surrounding conflict and violence, and the limited facilities, a great deal is being accomplished. And with New Ways' help, thanks to our supporters, donors and volunteers, a great deal… even a great deal more, can be achieved.

Please watch our video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0qjjDsxLOg&feature=youtu.be

If you like to donate to the vital healthcare needs at Ave Maria see: https://app.goodhub.com/southsudanhealth

Buy the New Ways calendar here: www.indcatholicnews.com/news/50886