{"id":4205,"date":"2018-04-26T12:42:13","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T09:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/combonisouthsudan.org\/?p=4205"},"modified":"2018-05-12T09:48:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-12T06:48:31","slug":"from-street-boys-to-the-primary-school-in-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/combonisouthsudan.org\/?p=4205","title":{"rendered":"From street boys to the primary school in Kit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Children<\/p>\n

By, Roy Carlos Z\u00fa\u00f1iga Paredes.<\/p>\n

Juba is the capital of the newest African country: South Sudan. Here, a kind of miracle happened recently. And though it could not be appreciated by all, those who witnessed it valued the event in its real import: 17 abandoned children were rescued from wandering around the streets and started the trip of their lives on the last day of February 2018. They are part of a long awaited educational project which hopefully will take them far off into a different future. That is their dream, but they are conscious that their efforts will also benefit their country, as well as, their very selves. God\u2019s designs of peace and justice for the suffering peoples of this impoverished country can easily be recognized in this sign of His providence.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Chelsea, uniform, education, Juba, Kit, South Sudan<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cMy name is Johnson\u201d answered, in Arabic, the slender and tallest of the group of children. Wearing the blue colours of the London Chelsea soccer team, Johnson and his companions were sitting at the back of an opened four-wheel-drive vehicle. A kind of transport you must have if you want to reach anywhere in South Sudan. Anyone seeing those children dressed in blue, would have payed attention to them: it was a weird sight in a country that was supposed to be ravaged by civil conflict and stricken by poverty. \u201cWho were they? Why were they uniformed in such a way? Were they a school team preparing themselves to beat a neighbouring school?\u201d The answers to those questions were not simple and went beyond the appearances. Paolino, in charge of their transportation, narrated a very diverse account: those children had lived sad stories of abandonment, drug abuse, juvenile crime, poverty and a chain of unending sufferings.<\/p>\n

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Paolino Tipo Deng, South Sudanese Comboni Missionary working in Juba.<\/p><\/div>\n

Paolino Tipo Deng is a South Sudanese Comboni missionary priest whom was deeply struck at seeing those children living in such an appalling condition. So, he took upon himself the task of doing something to change their situation and prayed that God may help him in his purpose. Now he oversees an educational project which hopefully will take at least a hundred children out of the streets and will give them back an opportunity to study and enjoy their childhood for the first time in their lives. The \u201cdine\u2013and\u2013out house\u201d from where Paolino rescues those boys is a half \u2013 ruined place. It used to be a religious formation house, but after several years of war and strife, the building is all but a comfortable home \u2013in fact, it lacks many services\u2013 , but for around a hundred street boys, it is the only home they know: a place where they may shelter by night, be fed during the day and, after some recent works of maintenance, have a decent shower as well.<\/p>\n

————— *<\/sub> —————-<\/p>\n

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Street children playing in front of the orphanage, Juba, South Sudan.<\/p><\/div>\n

Some days back, two Comboni missionaries had visited that \u201chouse\u201d and they were struck just by the look of it. They had found the children kicking around a deflated soccer ball and when they had seen the visitors, all the street boys had come to greet them surrounding their car:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d one of the missionaries had asked, very curious, in Arabic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the orphanage\u201d, one of them, smiling, had managed to answer him in English.<\/p>\n

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Street children at the orphanage need still proper accomodation. Juba, South Sudan.<\/p><\/div>\n