Fr. Richard D’Souza, SJ writes from Wau, Sudan for the East Africa Province News:

The Loyola Secondary School opened on May 1st as planned. So far 135 students have been accepted to join the school this academic year. The school will have two classes to begin with: Preparatory Class and Senior One. Each class will have two divisions. This means we have four classes operating this year. Fr. Victor Luke Odhiambo is the new headmaster of the school. Frs. Dick Cherry, Vitus Sedlmair and Scholastics Joe Karanja and Andrew Omondi are working in the school. Fr. Albert Said did his bit of work by supervising the entrance tests before the school started. Bro. Joe Shubitowski was responsible for the renovation of the school buildings. In spite of the non-availability of building material and high prices, he managed to get the classrooms, library and offices ready for the opening of the school. We thank him sincerely for his services and availability.

The school accepts both male and female students. At present, we have 37 female students and the rest are men. It is difficult to find teachers in maths and sciences. For this year we have recruited two teachers from Uganda to teach these subjects. They should be arriving next week. If there are Jesuits qualified to teach math and sciences. There is ample opportunity for pastoral in the school. Wau has a big Catholic population. Our future plans are being slowly formulated. The Provincial and bishop of Wau would like us to increase the number of students in the school. Our target for the future is a 1,000 students. At present we have only six classrooms which were built in 1984. There is a shortfall of 20 classrooms and other facilities like science labs, computer room, and offices for administration and staff. The whole education system is being revamped by the Government of Southern Sudan. But things are moving at snail speed. There is no proper syllabus or text books for the schools. The teachers have not been paid for several months until they refused to supervise the primary school examination.

The vision of the school is really to form students who will be the light to the nations. Sudan has gone through 20 years of war and suffering. The whole nation has been traumatized by this war even non-Sudanese who have been working in this country. The bishops of Sudan want a different Sudan which is built on peace and reconciliation. Many southerners are slowly returning to their villages and counties. Loyola school hopes to prepare young men and women who will become the light not only to Sudan but to all the nations of the world. This is our vision for Loyola Secondary school.

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