By Theem Isaac Machar Akot
When things went out of hand between Chol Muong — the long-ago renowned glutton of the Bahr el Ghazal region, particularly from the Rek, a sub-tribe of the Dinka, who was also a bit of a thinker—and his wife Anyang, he requested his wife to indulge in their mutual retrospection.
A request came in at times when the couple had matrimonial problems. Choldit, whose wife during the courtship showed an everlasting submissiveness, was in a complete state of disarray with his angel.
The man contemplated the solution to their lost joy at home — but the heaven and the earth could not meet either. After a long time of deliberation, he slipped the idea of choosing a day to hold a heart-to-heart conversation with his wife. Moreover, in a forest — to purposely renew his broken heart after years of a troubled marriage pops into his mind. The wife treated the idea with disdain. Persuasive, Choldit summoned his wife before the elders and made them know what his deliberation was. Luckily enough, his request was granted an emphasis by the elders. This time, Anyang was instructed to take a mat under a big shady tree in their garden. The wife, without an objection, did it, and the broken, troubled, and depressed hearts got mended once again.
Comparably, our nation shares one thing in common with Choldit: “misery.” His expectation was to live a happy life with his queen, but it turned out to be more of a misery. While the SPLM’s objectives for self-determination and fair governance have undoubtedly turned into resentments. The liberators who currently lead the country joined their ranks and files in the course of the liberation phase. The aims were crystal clear — to gain the lost independence and good governance whose anticipation was to give rise to the promotion of human rights, democracy, transparency and accountability, fair justice, and equality.
Like Choldit, who partly satisfied his wife’s needs, eventually lost the joy and faced a huge loss of matrimonial submission. A similar case is to the SPLM, which pledged a great deal of compensation for the losses incurred. Meanwhile, the members had practically missed the ultimate fulfilment of their pledges. Hence, it is without a doubt that they will always continue to have continuous resentment, wars, and depression. In contrast, the tenacious Choldits was able to recover his lost happiness due to his warm heart for their past. Meanwhile, our politicians for years have struggled with the nation’s stability because of their wrong strategies: the culture of intimidation and dictatorship, which cannot and will never bring about a stable South Sudan.
For this matter, I wish our leaders would, in this critical moment of political unrest and enigma, deliberately sit down and try Choldit’s remedy. I suggest it simply; the leaders have totally forgotten their incredible past cooperation and unity, which helped them achieve independence. This country wasn’t liberated to be turned into a war zone after a protracted period of struggle that claimed millions of lives. In my opinion, the remedy can practically work out as an alleviation, as it once helped the owner renew the heart of Choldit’s wife to feel like a young girl again.
Thus, when all the politicians, liberators, and every player in political sit down and respect their past, it really gives them a ground to discuss the common agenda for the twenty-one years of struggle and the way forward to the nation’s progress.
Have a blessed day!
The writer is a third-year student at the University of Juba School of Education Department of English Language and Literature.