55. A Candle Flame - By Br. Bill Firman

55. A Candle Flame

It is six days now since we have had town power. The referendum may be two months away but already there are shortages beginning to occur in Malakal. No service station is selling diesel. So we can only run our generator for short periods. As I type, I am sitting in my room with a candle flickering in the background. Just a little light but it makes all the difference. The candle gives light but it also warms the darkness – not literally but metaphorically. Candle light is cosy light; candle light brings comfort; a candle flame is a powerful symbol of hope and a future.

What was it George Bernard Shaw stated so graphically?

"I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I've got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the next generation."

Yes life is a splendid torch, an opportunity to burn brightly, to make a contribution, to make a difference – for the better. Life does not last forever. Like the burning candle we are consumed. We are all consumed in death. The real issue is what do we do when we are alive? What will we pass on to the next generation?

Elsewhere the irascible Shaw wrote:

“Life is a flame that is always burning itself out, but it catches fire again every time a child is born.”

Shaw is also the poet, the conveyor of vivid, verbal imagery. ‘A child is born’. Jesus is born in Bethlehem and God is among his people. There are many children in Sudan. They are the future of this country. The people of Southern Sudan may be poor economically but they are rich in family life and optimistic for their future. They see light after the darkness of war. Many express an overt faith in Jesus who said ‘I am the way the truth and the light’. (John 14:6)

Jesus is the light that encourages them in their joyful celebrations of mass. God is revealed in their faith, gratitude and good will to those of us who have come to live with them. Here it is normally good to be seen as part of the Church – untainted and respected - because the Church stood with the people during all the war years. But a couple of days ago as I was getting into our vehicle after shopping at the market, a small, untidy-looking Sudanese woman, who was carrying a child on her hip, picked up a stone and flung it into the windscreen. Fortunately it did no damage. Very unusual. Did she resent what I have and she does not? What was the darkness in her life that led to this action? I have no idea but it reminded me that how I feel may not be how I am perceived. What is the light I give out?

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 to 1894) told a story from his childhood when he gazed from his window on a dark night as a man came down the street lighting the gas lamps. Robert called out to his mother:

‘I see something wonderful. There’s a man coming down the street poking holes in the dark’.

Sometimes it is beyond us to take away the dark. There is so much still to be achieved in Southern Sudan but we can punch a few holes in the dark. It is always ‘better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’ as the proverb states. In anyone's life, there can be dark times when burdens, disappointments or depression seem overwhelming. One small light, a candle of hope, is all that is needed to ensure the darkness does not become overwhelming.

– Br Bill

Pointed


Naomi and Sara


Juba Children


Father Alberto, Construction Supervisor


Brothers from Australia


Sister Betty & student teachers

54. Tested and Tarnished

54. Tested and Tarnished

It takes a lifetime to accumulate wisdom. Those of us who are lucky enough to live long enough have been granted the opportunity to become wise by experience and a personal search for knowledge. Wisdom is not a quality always appreciated by the young who burst upon the world with great enthusiasm and endeavour.

But part of living is always the ‘terribile quotidianum’ (Latin) which translates as ‘the terrible daily grind’. Many saints such as our Lasallian saint, Brother Mutien Marie of Malonne, have become holy by their fidelity to the ‘terribile quotidianum’. (pronounced tare – rib – ill – ay)

I recall some media reports expressing shock that the saintly Mother Theresa had moments of depression and feeling faithless. Yet she remained cheerful and determined. In Southern Sudan I have come very clearly to appreciate her example. Life is never handed to anyone on a silver platter. It can appear to be but each person must cope with the personal struggle of his or her own limitations as a human being. We may like to act like gods but we have feet of clay. I may be a confident, competent person, but life teaches me my limitations. That is the beginning, I trust, of wisdom.

What a gift it is to be cheerful and enthusiastic! Our Claretian Father Joseph is such a gift as he welcomes people with enthusiasm and warmth, be they Sudanese or expatriate. To shift the image slightly, he is a ‘pied piper’ to the local children, greeting, encouraging and gently chastising when required. I often reflect on the parable of the talents: ‘To whom much is given, much is expected.’

Recently, I spent two hours here talking to an ordinary but extraordinary couple from Canada who are here to follow up on their generous work with, and for, the poor in this country. Their work of love began eighteen years ago in Eritrea where they became friends with one of our dynamic Brothers, Amilcare Boccuccia, an Italian who has devoted much of his life to empowering the African people. Amilcare became a Brother almost by accident. He did not attend a Brothers’ school as a boy but somehow found himself in the situation and the challenge of making a difference as `Brother’ to those whom he meets. It usually takes time to make a difference. It always takes courage to believe that we can make a difference. It is a gift to be cheerful; it is a gift to believe we can make a difference.

To be honest, I have to admit I do not find life in Southern Sudan to be easy. It takes me out of my comfort zone; but I believe it takes me on a journey into God. I see many young people here working for NGOs, among them girls who look even younger to me as each year passes. Why are they here in the full flourishing of their womanhood? Most seem to me to be vulnerable yet they are cheerful, courageous, confident and, overwhelmingly, ambassadors of hope. Courage and vitality are alive.

It is okay for a tarnished and tattered, ageing man to be here but what brings these enthusiastic and energetic angels of peace to Sudan? I find myself thinking that life is there to be grasped, to be made meaningful by what we give, not be what we gather. Life is about giving rather than accumulating. I am inspired by the number of ordinary people I see doing extraordinary things in Southern Sudan. They are not escaping the ‘terribile quotidianum’: they are grasping it and energising it.

Winston Churchill once wrote:

‘We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.’

At times I am astounded at the resources the world is pouring into Southern Sudan through the UN and NGOs; but more importantly I am encouraged by this manifestation of the conscience of this world. It is more blessed to give than receive. - Br Bill

Sr. Ninet & teachers

Memory test

Sr. Luchita having fun

Fr. Joseph with friends

Faces of the Future

53. Unite or Divide - by Br. Bill Firman

53. Unite or Divide

It seems to be a simple choice: stay as one country or divide into two countries: unity or secession by the Southern Sudanese people. While the final outcome may be a stark choice of one nation or two, the reality for those in this country is far more complicated and the referendum scheduled for January 9^th, 2011, is already impacting on the lives of many people. The most important outcome for which we pray is peace, not war, but even if the peace is maintained, considerable disruption looms to the pattern of daily living.

A few days ago, I met Father Caesar, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Juba. He said:

‘I am always optimistic for peace: we don’t want war. I came from a family of nine. Now they are all dead, except me. There is no-one behind me and no-one in front of me as a result of that stupid war. I am totally on my own!’

So are many of the street children who put out their hands pleading: ‘One pound, one pound!’ to any passing ‘kawadja’ (white person).

Registration of voters begins mid-November. It is critical that those who register do actually vote. There seems to be an almost unanimous conviction emerging in the south that to vote for secession is the way forward. Even if there is an overwhelming vote for secession, there is also a stipulated condition that at least 60 percent of those registered must vote for the outcome to be valid. So not only can results of voting be manipulated, so can registration. It would be relatively easy to assist people to register but then, later, to impede the same people from voting. Further, in the elections held earlier this year, there were widespread reports of people selling their registration cards.

Ultimately, there is the possibility that most will vote for secession but that outcome will not be achieved through the formal voting procedure. This would create a very volatile situation that could ignite a renewal of war even though all are enjoying the increasing, new opportunities that five years of peace have created. It seems, however, that not enough has been done to prepare for a transition period leading to peaceful and co-operative co-existence of two parts of a divided Sudan.

School in the north this year are closing in November rather than December to allow southerners in the north to return to the south before the referendum. It is expected that there will be a huge influx of Arabic-speaking school age children seeking entry into the already overcrowded schools of the south. In places such as Malakal and Wau where the commercial infrastructure is conducted almost totally by Arab traders, there is likely to be critical shortages of supplies as Arabs move back to the north, closing many businesses, at least temporarily. Relationships between the Arab traders and the indigenous southerners is normally quite good but even respected people can become targets in times of hostility.

Only a few days ago here on the outskirts of Juba, a priest saw some agitated young people running. When he asked them what had happened, they explained that a woman was in a field with her ten year old son when men from another tribe forcibly stole the boy. The priest told me the boy will probably be sold and become a house slave. The Sudanese people seem very secure among their own tribal group and within the large cities but, where tribal boundaries blur or overlap, there is often insecurity or fear.

The South consists of many tribal groups who identify more with their own tribe than with a potential nation of Southern Sudan. Even if there is peaceful secession, there remains a clear possibility of conflict between southern groups competing for power. Some analysts suggest the north deliberately foments tribal conflicts in parts of the south. While this may be true, it is a fact that many tribes of the south have regarded other tribes as traditional enemies rather than fellow Sudanese. It may take a long time for a Southern Sudanese consciousness to emerge and supplant tribal loyalties as the dominant force in this society. We must work to heal divisions and build mutual respect. - Br Bill

Walking for peace


Road to peace


Police for peace


People for peace


Longing for peace


Children for peace


All for peace


We need peace