St. Michael's welcomes back Bishop Samuel
The St. Michael's community is delighted to welcome back Bishop Samuel Peni from South Sudan, following on from a very successful visit to the school just over 3 years ago. Bishop Samuel serves as the Bishop of Yambio and also as the Archbishop of the Church of South Sudan’s Internal Province of Western Equatoria and was visiting the area as part of the long-standing link between the Diocese of Salisbury and the Christian Church of South Sudan.
During the visit, Bishop Samuel took a collective worship session where he talked to the pupils about the difference between daily life in Colehill and in South Sudan. He talked about the difference in transport and the way the community supports each other in South Sudan, for example, cooking and eating together. He talked to pupils about the difficulties in his country following a period of war. Pupils also had a chance to ask questions about his work and how he came to be a Bishop.
He focussed on the value of education and talked about how many pupils walk over an hour every day to get to school. He has children staying at his Bishop's residence during the week when it is too far to walk to school on a daily basis. He explained that his country does not have compulsory free education and that most people pay for education, although some is provided free by the church.
We remember from his previous visit that pupils in schools in South Sudan have very little in the way of basic equipment and often break any pencils into three so that more people can use it. We put out a request that families might donate a small item of stationery to send back with the Bishop. We were overwhelmed with the response, truly demonstrating the school value of kindness. There was such a high number of donated items that the Diocese team had to book extra luggage allowance for the return journey. A huge thank you to our school community for all they were able to donate.
