The two warring sides were given a deadline of August 17th by the international negotiators, IGAD, to end, at the time, a 20 month conflict. The leader of rebel groups, Riek Machar, signed by the deadline but the president of the country, Salva Kiir, did not sign until August 27th. But within days the ceasefire was broken again (as many South Sudanese predicted) and fighting has continued in the conflict affected states of Unity, Upper Nile and parts of Jonglei, where South Sudan’s rich oil reserves lie. Uganda has had a military presence in the country since the conflict began with the mandate to maintain peace. However, but for some, particularly the rebel forces, its military presence has created more hostility amongst South Sudanese than it has secured security and peace. Thus as part of the peace agreement, the Ugandan government was given 45 days from the 27th of August to extract their military personnel, which is scheduled to happen next week. In addition, all armed actors must lie down their guns by mid-October. Until then, we are all sure the fighting will continue and many more lives will be lost to violence and hunger.
Most recently President Kiir has called for the further division of South Sudan’s states increasing from 10 to 28 states, with Abyei, the contested administrative area between Sudan and South Sudan, potentially becoming the 29th state. The President draws his authority to do this from the country’s transitional constitution with the decree taking effect November 1st. The rebel forces have stated that the decree is in violation of the signed peace deal. Perhaps, the creation of states was meant to meet political and economic demands in the short term, but because the divisions were made along ethnic lines and in fact, have divided a number of ethnic groups between states, threat of sanctions for violating the Transitional Constitution and the peace deal, have been made. In the meantime, in the world of me, I struggle to find reasons to stay in South Sudan.
Since I arrived, I have been operating a program that has experienced a funding gap. In the most simple of terms a funding gap means that we had money, the one donor we had said “no more money for you” but we continue to operate on our other program funds while we find new donors to fund a fully operational GBV program. Most of my year has been hustling and begging to find funds to rebuild our program. And writing grant proposals. Not what I signed on to do and not that much fun quite frankly, but it is part of the life of development/humanitarian aid work.
I have had some great moments learning, observing, and just…experiencing. The experiences range from seeing history being made and trying to grasp the painful growing pains of a people building a nation and navigating the twists and turns of democracy (which for South Sudan can be traced back to the 1980s or even earlier); camping during field visits eating only goat meat with some hard Jesus bread for a week. But best of all, I had the opportunity to work with strong, resilient South Sudanese women who carry on with the task of living and growing, as many of their men have died, abandoned them or continue fighting in a conflict they are tired of and want to end.
When I tell people that I am in a war torn country, their first thoughts are that I am at risk of dying in the conflict. South Sudan is not like Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria---where kidnappings and suicide bombs are part and parcel of the conflict raging there. Here, the conflict occurs in areas that are pretty rural and quite distant from where the main offices of NGOs are based, although in the conflict affected areas NGOS are in the vicinity of tank and gunfire and need to take special precautions. For us in Juba, the capital, our greatest threat is the economic crisis that has accompanied this conflict and thus has ignited a crime wave that puts many of us in danger from such crimes as petty theft to carjackings and even rape.
The South Sudanese government is running out of money (if it has not already done so), all food is imported from Uganda and petrol from Kenya or Ethiopia. The cost of living has sky-rocketed for everyone here, but as you can imagine those who are least educated and thus are unemployed or have very low paying jobs, it is making life almost impossible for them. Every night there are gunshots heard, women and children violated and even killed for their meagre possessions. The conflict triggered the economic crisis which has triggered severe food insecurity which has led to mass malnourishment of both children and adults (which I have seen with my own eyes in the more rural areas). This makes NGOs the biggest targets as we have safes with US dollars and stuff that people can sell: land cruisers, laptops, American and European cell phones, and our personal money, usually U.S. dollars as well because the South Sudanese pound is losing value every hour if not every minute. We also do not have weapons on the premise (not even our security guards) in order to be in compliance with our code of conduct as a humanitarian aid organization (no guns, always politically neutral). We are therefore vulnerable to robbery. Thankfully my particular organization is particularly safeguarded from targeting because of our location (difficult to enter and exit without being seen or cornered) and I think people do not realize we actually live and work in the same space….we are so quiet our neighbors and others do not realize that human beings are moving around inside the compound. One of my former employees called our living residence The Cemetery. Yep. We are a pretty boring, dry bunch—bad for social interaction but good for safety.
I am happy with what I have been able to achieve under my constraints and circumstances. I have almost completed my personal mission: one year doing GBV work in a conflict setting...well just like peace in South Sudan....I have sort of completed my mission. Of course, if I decide to move on, I have no idea what comes next, which, if I let it, can be nerve racking and scary. Or I can embrace it and take it as an opportunity to do what my life path has always forced me to do: to look outside the box and try something different. In the meantime, I am cherishing the time I have had with some great colleagues and staff....and of course learning about the way South Sudanese women live their lives, and doing my best to support them.
Here are some photos from my work with South Sudanese Women:
Women farmers (women started farming due to food insecurity…but they aim to make it a profit making enterprise)…..
Women are making tie dye cloth for their tailoring business---they plan to make traditional style African dresses for sale…
Women small business owners after completing their simple bookkeeping and business management training were provided with in-kind goods to start their shop:
Women’s traditional beadwork: they make necklaces, earrings, bracelets for wrists and ankles, and even shirt-like pieces. Some of their necklaces are pictured below:
My fierce women leaders…..
