Though South Sudanese were at war, they were happy. They were happy for nothing other than the hope that they would have a country of their own. Every South Sudanese has contributed in one way or another.
I myself had contributed to the liberation struggle. I had given my meals to the SPLA soldiers who used to station near our house. One time, the soldiers caught me and gave me a magazine containing bullets to carry for a 3-hour distance. My father used to contribute goats to SPLA high-rank officers in the barrack near our house.
It was not my father alone, even fathers of other young men had contributed as well. Some fathers had given their only sons to join the movement and fight for the liberation struggle. Other South Sudanese who were in Khartoum, Sudan were seen like coward people, but they were playing a pivotal role in leaking the information to the South Sudanese who were in the bush. They were also acting as a deadening force to whatever harm that was framed against the South Sudanese.
Other South Sudanese who had travelled abroad were seen like they had fled the war, but they were engaging the international community to back up the movement. Some of them financed the movement on an individual basis. Every South Sudanese was happy in the fight for the liberation struggle.
When the CPA was signed in 2005, the happiness climaxed as the future of South Sudan was foreseeable. Declared as an independent country in 2011, South Sudanese rejoiced beyond rejoicing. They had gotten what they fought for. Is there another exciting thing than being given your right?
As South Sudanese converged in Juba to look for ways of how the youngest nation would be nursed collectively, the very people who sacrificed their youthhood to liberate South Sudan disagreed among themselves and fought one another. The war was expected to be between the South Sudanese who were in the bush and those who were abroad.
The 2013 and 2016 wars have made the present the worst era to remember. It will take South Sudan years to compensate for what the wars have destroyed. Though peace is signed and being implemented, the fact that it has coincided with the economic crisis has reduced its embracement by the people. This economic crisis can even ignite another war and this will further jeopardize the lives of South Sudanese.
It is sad that the present is marked by unending economic crisis, injustice, lack of service delivery, indecisiveness, violation of human rights, tribalism, corruption and unpatriotism. Looking at the future, one would not predict it at all. The 72% is in the pocket of the 28%.
Wrestling with unemployment, suppression, poverty and illiteracy, youth are too vulnerable to design the type of future that suits them. To make it worse, many youth are playing a role in dooming the future as evidenced by the fact that they are the ones who take up guns, go to the bush and fight on behalf of those who do not care about the future. So, it is clear that the future is not going to be bright.
The future begins today. When today is sick, tomorrow is not only sick, but critically sick. As obvious as the fact that today is sick, no one is preparing tomorrow. Even the owners of tomorrow themselves are sick together with the owners of today. So, the future is unpredictable. This is a hurting truth to tell, but it has to be told. The future is chained up.
Thanks for reading “Sowing The Seed Of Truth”.