Chief Fig (Figlioli) was my ROTC instructor in 9th grade. Sometimes I wonder what people from my past are doing; usually it's something mundane. In the case of Chief Fig, that couldn't be less true. I just learned today that she left her pseudo Drill Instructor position at the high school and opened an orphanage in South Sudan. If you didn't know (I didn't, I don't usually watch the news), there is a war going on there. On top of the poverty, savage guerrilla war. The U.S. Embassy has warned all Americans to get out of South Sudan, and all but two listened; Chief Fig is one of them. She refuses to leave her 147 kids to fend for themselves.

SA Woman Puts Life in Danger for Orphans

Chief Fig and I didn't get along well when I was in her ROTC outfit, probably because she had just ended 20 years in the military and I was an idiot. 20 years in the military lessens your tolerance level for idiots. She was an authority figure at a time in my life where in my infinite brilliance I had decided that all I needed was one less authority figure. I think I remember citing her as the reason I didn't re-enroll in ROTC 10th grade; "she had it out for me." I didn't make her life pleasant. You see all those grey hairs on her head? Some of those are from me. I didn't like her much, and I didn't look back when I left ROTC and high school. I never thought about her again until today when I saw her on the news. I realize now that I had chosen to see only the bad in a really good person and I had likely squandered the opportunity to heed some sage advice. Oh well, now she has found people who are more deserving of her than I was. While I can't remember anything specific that she told me, good or bad, if I look at the timeline, I see that after leaving her ranks I joined the Navy, which was a really good decision and I don't regret it. So I guess I can say she had a positive influence on my life (although I had other motivators too). I may have lost the opportunity to follow a good example then, but I have a second chance; the work that she is doing now is inspiring to me. I'm not going to Sudan, but I will help from afar.

You can check out her blog here. My payday is tomorrow and I'm going to send her as much as I can spare. If you feel like sending clothes or money, the instructions are on her site.

 

From her Facebook page, posted 30 min ago:

This just released:

On January 3, 2014, the Department of State ordered a further drawdown of U.S. Embassy personnel from Juba because of the deteriorating security situation in the Republic of South Sudan.

We continue to urge U.S. citizens in South Sudan to depart the country. On January 3, 2014, there will be an evacuation flight arranged by the Department of State to the nearest safe haven country.

The U.S. Embassy will no longer able to provide any consular services to U.S. citizens in the Republic of South Sudan as of January 4, 2014.

Don't stop praying for us please.

 

If she stays and is murdered or worse, what good will that do for the children under her care or the thousands she could help were she to leave and live to help another day?

 

If she stays and is murdered or worse, what good will that do for the children under her care or the thousands she could help were she to leave and live to help another day?

I think she's too close to see the big picture. She probably doesn't have the luxury that you and I do, of viewing things in numbers of children saved; instead she probably views them as actual children saved, as in this child and that child, by name. She knows personally and loves each of them, how could she view them as numbers and weight the value of their lives against the future lives of people she hasn't met and has no connection to? If she was capable of that logic, I doubt she would be in sudan at all.

 

I think she's too close to see the big picture. She probably doesn't have the luxury that you and I do, of viewing things in numbers of children saved; instead she probably views them as actual children saved, as in this child and that child, by name. She knows personally and loves each of them, how could she view them as numbers and weight the value of their lives against the future lives of people she hasn't met and has no connection to? If she was capable of that logic, I doubt she would be in sudan at all.

Exactly right! I want to add to what you say, but you put it perfectly, so all I can do is agree.

 

You're right, but I'm still worried. One definition of a successful mission is to come back alive.

 

You're right, but I'm still worried. One definition of a successful mission is to come back alive.

Oh, I'm worried too! I wonder if it's even a good idea to send clothes/supplies. They get flown in by plane, which no doubt draws attention.

 

If she stays and is murdered or worse, what good will that do for the children under her care or the thousands she could help were she to leave and live to help another day?

A wise man once told me there is no way to conquer a truly free man: at most, all you can do is kill him.

She knows the risks and has accepted them. And I pity the fool who tried to come between this women and her charges.

 

I think she's too close to see the big picture. She probably doesn't have the luxury that you and I do, of viewing things in numbers of children saved; instead she probably views them as actual children saved, as in this child and that child, by name. She knows personally and loves each of them, how could she view them as numbers and weight the value of their lives against the future lives of people she hasn't met and has no connection to? If she was capable of that logic, I doubt she would be in sudan at all.

I'm sure you're right. The unfortunate reality is that under the prevailing conditions in Sudan an orphanage is just another center of gravity that can be exploited as a source of sex slaves, child soldiers or hostages for extortion of political favors from the first world nations. If things go badly for the orphanage, it may turn out in some retrospective analysis that the orphans would have been safer dispersed and starving than concentrated and victimized. Ironically, some of the combatants are likely the fathers of some of the orphans.

I'm not making a value judgement on the choices made by the Chief, just pointing out some of the potential consequences.

 

That is like saying "Damned if you do and damned if you don't!".

We are all pawns in the global struggle for supreme power.

We are all cannon fodder, collateral damage and slaves to the masters.

 

My hat is off to Chief Figlioli... People of her courage and resolve are indeed few and far between...

And I too pity the fool who tries to come between this woman and her charges.