In this 21st century world we inhabit, selflessness is often a forgotten attribute. Many argue that we have so many material possessions, that we have lost touch with the importance of people meeting their basic needs: food, education, healthcare and peace.

Sr Orla Treacy is the embodiment of selflessness. From Bray, Sr Orla, who immediately insists she just be called Orla, sat down with Irish Country Living recently after winning the Hugh O’Flaherty International Humanitarian Award, to discuss her work as principal of Loreto Rumbek, a primary school, girl’s secondary school and health clinic in South Sudan.

In 2011, South Sudan became an independent country and there was much hope of a better life for all. Unfortunately, having been engulfed in civil war since 2013, it is now one of the most fragile places on earth to live.

South Sudan has 90% unemployment, 10% of babies die before the age of three months, 14% of children are dead by the age of five and half of the country’s population are food dependent.

Originally, Sr Orla agreed to go to the African country for five years. She is now in her 12th year there and living through a war that would have had most running for the next plane home. The principal says she simply could not leave when she saw the difference the school makes to the lives of those who attended it.

“I offered to stay for five years,” explains Sr Orla. “Then I offered to stay for another five and now I’m in my 12th year. I’m very happy there, I’m at home there. Every fibre of my being is challenged in the work I do. It’s just fantastic to be part of something that will hopefully make a change to these women’s lives into the future.”

Agriculture

As well as running the school and health clinic, Loreto Rumbek has started a sustainable agriculture programme that aims to help local people make better use of their land. In partnership with Misean Cara, an Irish aid organisation, the school is bringing 100 local people on to the farm in their complex to teach them new agricultural techniques.

Currently, agricultural methods in South Sudan are quite primitive, and this six-month programme will help people to diversify their farming and in turn improve their health.

Sr Orla explains: “One of the biggest things we find in the clinic is malnutrition, but also iron deficiency.

“Their main crop is groundnuts and they grow some maize also, but in terms of nutritional value, we are trying to get them into green vegetables and other vegetables that will help with the iron deficiency.

“With one project; health, food, agriculture – you can see how they are all feeding into one another. Then the parents get an eye into school and they will bring their kids there.”

Sr Orla believes that the country has huge agricultural potential and, up until the beginning of November, when the school first started this programme, it was something they hadn’t tapped into within the community. However, out of the school’s 100 graduates, 10 have gone on to study agriculture.

Education

As with many other statistics associated with South Sudan, the figures relating to education are stark. It is the most illiterate country in the world. Only 27% of people are educated (that figure relates to urban areas) and 1% of girls finish second-level education.

Loreto Rumbek opened in 2008 as a girl’s secondary school and then expanded to include the primary school and other projects. Girls in South Sudan have to fight to stay in school, says Sr Orla.

As a result of the country’s dowry system, where a man and his extended family contribute cows to marry a female, many families want their girls to get married as soon as possible. It is not uncommon for girls to get married in their teens.

However, Loreto Rumbek is rowing against the tide and trying to get girls to attend university. This year the first set of the school’s students graduated from university.

“It has been a big boost in helping the younger girls see that the goal of attending university is achievable and that marriage is not their only option.

“Now that they see the older girls in university, they see the hope and the possibility. They have to fight against a lot of social pressure to stay in school, because every time they go home the question is: ‘Why aren’t you married yet? Why are you wasting your time in school?’

“They are strong and determined young women. Some people don’t like that: they think that they are a bit too strong and a bit too cheeky – but I think in order for a girl to survive in that cultural environment, she has had to develop those habits,” outlines Sr Orla.

Fear

With the civil unrest in the country it seems obvious to ask Sr Orla does she get scared?

“Whatever fear we have, the girls have it 10 times more. Whatever we experience, it’s only a taste of what the community experiences all the time,” says Sr Orla. “We live in a nice compound, we have a fence and we have a wall.

“If you’re out in a small hut at night and there are guys going around with guns, you are more vulnerable to attack and you are more vulnerable to abuse. Whatever we taste, it’s only a fraction of what others are tasting and that keeps us going.”

Despite the fragility of South Sudan, Loreto Rumbek is making inroads in many areas – education, agriculture, health – and is giving hope to people who otherwise might have none. CL

For more information on the work of Loreto Rumbek or to make a donation, visit www.loretorumbek.com.