Rebecca South Sudan
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Nelson Mandela
Who, What, Why Rebecca Mallinson
This is a new phase in my mission and I am hoping that the impact on the local people will be great, so that children from the bottom of society are given opportunities to improve their and their families' lives. These schools will need support so that they can continue to assist our children.
In 2018 I started to take deaf children to school in Uganda as there are no disabled educational facilities in South Sudan. Disability is generally seen as a curse or a burden on the family, so that the disabled are left to stagnate at home. Some die of preventable illnesses or are left on the streets because their families see no use in keeping them alive. My advocacy for disabled children has met with complete astonishment that it is possible to educate them. My future plan is to start a Hearing Impairment Unit in Nimule so that the deaf children will no longer need to attend boarding school in Uganda. It will be the first of its kind in the whole country.
In the meantime I will continue to teach in one of the schools joined by my children so that I can monitor and assist them. I will also continue to visit the deaf schools in Uganda to check on the pupils there. From 2024 two blind children will also attend school in Uganda.
I have been helped wonderfully by the generosity of donors through Opportunity through Education. If you would like to find out more about my work please contact me on rebeccamallinson1@gmail.com or visit my blog.
I am a British lay missionary living in a small town in South Sudan called Nimule. I arrived in September 2013 as a volunteer teacher at a local orphanage, three months before the latest civil war broke out. Fortunately Nimule has not been too badly affected.
The local community in Nimule are very hide-bound and traditionally minded. Like the whole country they struggle with poor education, health care, food shortages and trauma caused by war. Peace building is sorely needed at the grassroots level as families have no other discipline method than caning their children. I witness this on a daily basis. Children coming to school need to be taught through peaceful methods so that they can pass these on to their families.
There are many families who are displaced by war or natural catastrophes from their home areas. This has left them in desperate need of help and at risk of tribal conflict in their struggle to survive.
In 2015 I cofounded a school for children from marginalised groups in the Nimule area who would otherwise be unable to attend school due to lack of school fees. The children all came from families with HIV, disabilities or orphans. The school unfortunately closed at the end of 2023, but the former pupils have been allocated places at other schools with the understanding that there will be no school fees charged.