(Photos for my profile picture and this post were taken from Google's Image stock photos for South Sudan. They will be changed when I am able to exhibit my own photos. Most photo taking in South Sudan is prohibited unless you have been authorized by the GoSS.)
Last week, I was swimming in a very large pool, pretty clean, except for the layer of dust that coated its surface. I did laps according to my version of the breast stroke, which probably was more like a frog kick with bits of a doggie paddle thrown in. I was completely alone for a good part of the day—which was lovely. The other pools I have visited have had 10 men to every woman, and each set of eyes did a good job of violating us. There were also a few business men meeting to chat—no food or drinks, just huddled together on bamboo chairs under swaying palm trees. Chatting and nodding. Gardeners in long, blue coveralls clipped slowly and methodically the bushes and shrubs decorating the pool area. The waiter wore a crisply pressed white dress shirt, a shimmery gold/yellow vest and yellow linen pants. He sat at the bar that was decorated with red and silver tinsel, on a stool. Every time I looked up or mistakenly made any kind of “Please come” gesture, he would rise with a pad in his hand and walk over to the fence close to where I was recline don a lounge chair, until I would, embarrassed, say “No, not yet, thanks.” There was a fake white Christmas tree sitting in the corner. When I got really hungry I did order. He brought me a ham and cheese hamburger with fries and small side salad, along with a mango juice, with the napkin in some sort of origami shaped animal wrapped around it—to protect it from the dust. I made sure to leave a big tip---his smile could of bridged continents.
In the states northwest of the state I live in, only kilometers away, thousands of people have been killed, maimed and millions have fled to other parts of the country seeking refuge from soldiers and rebels with assault rifles, grenade and rocket launchers and millions of bullets. They seek not only safety but also shelter, food and access to basic services like health, education, water and sanitation. They also require psychosocial support from the psychological traumas they have experienced. I am in South Sudan working as the coordinator of a gender based violence (GBV) program. Many forms of GBV are used as a weapon of war in conflict situations, particularly rape. In South Sudan, the crisis has been made one of food insecurity and famine, but based on my short time here (2 months) learning the lay of the land and just listening to South Sudanese, this crisis should have equally been characterized as one of violence against women and children. The U.N. General Secretary’s Special Envoy on Sexual Violence, Zainab Bangura, has visited South Sudan and has stated that violence against women and children in the South Sudan conflict is the worst she has ever witnessed. Hopefully her report will shift the attention onto women and children and the violence they experience.
So. This is the part I give you a bit of a historical context so if you already know about the conflicts in Sudan and South Sudan or are not interested you may want to skip the next two paragraphs.
Most people know about Sudan because of George Clooney and Darfur. But what many people may not have realized is that in July 2011, Sudan split in two creating the world’s newest nation: the Republic of South Sudan. The split occurred after the last phase of a six year peace agreement ended decades of civil war and a referendum was put to vote for cessation. Much of the civil conflict was based on control over Sudan’s large deposits of crude oil exacerbated by grievances between the northern Sudan’s predominantly Arab-Muslim population and the South’s Black-Christian population. Through a 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) there was a deal at the time to split the revenues from southern oil evenly between the north and south—and that agreement, for the most part, was held up after South Sudan’s independence. The areas of Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei, in what is now South Sudan, has the crude oil but South Sudan has to rely on Sudan’s pipelines and port to extract and export the oil. In 2012, South Sudan began its oil extraction, but shortly thereafter disputes over fees as well as border demarcation lines kept tensions high and fighting ongoing with thousands of refugees flooding into South Sudan. South Sudanese who were born and raised in Sudan were targeted and persecuted. In March 2013 Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, made agreements on trade, oil and security deals: oil production resumed with a demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries.
The conflict soon turned from one between countries to one between ethnic groups. Internal conflict broke out in South Sudan in December 2013 when a year-long power struggle between President Kiir and his Vice President Riek Machar resulted in the latter being accused by Kiir of attempting a coup d’etat and Machar was fired. Kiir is Dinka, the largest ethnic group in South Sudan and Machar is a Nuer, the second largest ethnic group. Since then, fighting based along ethnic lines between Dinka and Nuer has been ongoing with many ceasefires being broken or not adhered to at all. Atrocities against women and children have been committed by both ethnic groups: men gang raping women sometimes with foreign objects and then murdering them, forced early marriage of young girls and child recruitment into the conflict. Thousands of people have been killed and millions have been made internally displaced persons (IDPs) or refugees in Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda. The conflicts in both Sudan and South Sudan is complicated, messy and needless to say it is taking a psychological toll on the people of South Sudan as well as those who work here. I of course have given you an abbreviated version of the conflict as I have understood it. If you want a brief timeline of events, please visit’s BBC’s South Sudan profile page and I found the Newsweek article George Clooney, South Sudan and How the World’s Newest Nation Imploded by Alex Perry an interesting perspective on humanitarian aid and the ideals that foreign governments and aid workers have in stopping conflict and building nations.
Peace talks began in Addis Ababa in August and adjourned for the Christmas holidays. All of us living and working in South Sudan are praying for a peaceful and fairly immediate peace resolution when they resume talks. We pray because the dry season has arrived on the African continent. Why is this significant? Because during rainy season, flooding destroys dirt roads which makes it difficult for everyone, soldiers and rebels included to travel or to fight. But with the impending dry season, it means if fighting will start--- it will start during this time. A combination of an economy in dire straits, hungry bellies and angry hearts that are not being soothed by political leaders can be the spark to continued and even escalated violence. My hope is that the will of the people of South Sudan will overcome political and ethnic divisions. Namely, a people that has experienced two generations worth of war and conflict, are exhausted. The overwhelming refrain of South Sudanese I have spoken to has been “We are tired of the fighting.”
I have been working alot these past two months. The line between working, socializing and just living is blurred. My residence is in the same compound that our office is located in. But thankfuly, I have a strong support network in B and my family. I have good music, Kindle books and pictures of the smiling faces of my months old nephews, which always makes me smile. I eat healthy and exercise—I either do yoga or I jog and on occasion I dance (my iTunes and me). When I go jogging, just after sunrise, on a short strip on the main road where I do laps--- I’m greeted by U.N. tanks and pick-ups with blue helmeted soldiers heading out on their patrol—my early morning reminder of where I am, just in case I should momentarily forget.
I’m also greeted by two puppies from a nearby hotel who jump on me, enthusiastically full of life--- their happiness makes me happy and my heart is filled with their exuberance. A heart filled with such a small dose of exuberance is something that I am grateful for---on any day, in any part of the world I may be.
