South Sudan: A Young Victim’s Inspirational Words of Wisdom
By David Mayen Ayarbior, Juba, South Sudan
August 28, 2016 (SSB) — Last week I was listening to Miraya FM when I heard a little girl speaking some words of wisdom that must have fallen on the deaf ears of the war mongers who have held the country hostage. She was contacted by one of Miraya presenters (Sunny Martin) as a follow-up on her earlier interview about the recent breakout of another senseless episode of bloodbath in Juba. In her earlier interview she narrated her ordeal before saying some heart-hitting words, assuming we all have hearts.
The ordeal: when the bullets started spraying she was separated from her mother and started running to the church for shelter with a group of scared and helpless civilians. She later contacted her mother as she memorized the phone number. On their way to the church some unknown gunmen in uniform stopped them at gun point. They ordered them to hand in their belongings and, of course, they obliged. They were lucky in some ways.
When contacted by Miraya she said that she thought her life was going to be cut short at that small age. She then passed the following message to the ‘leaders’ of South Sudan, which I will try to paraphrase, even though I wouldn’t match her eloquence and spirit. She said: “We the children of South Sudan are suffering because of the war. Let this war stop. Let our leaders know that we want to be proud of having them as our leaders. We don’t want to regret having them as our leaders.”
When contacted again (last week) she repeated similar sentiments with the same eloquence that is way far beyond her age. She spoke from a refugee camp in Uganda and when asked about school she informed Miraya that she’s not schooling.
Even though the girl (Jane was her name, I believe) managed to air her personal views, it was as if she spoke with divine inspiration to represent the voices of the millions of children who have lost their parents in the current senseless deadly power struggle in our country. Those are the children who no longer go to school, the flesh and bones found in those statistics which almost mean nothing to the powerful warmongers of South Sudan.
We now have a million refugees in East Africa alone, almost more than the time of the Jalaba. Most of the refugees in East Africa, Sudan, as well as IDPs have forgotten about going to school. They just cannot afford it. They are being asked to come out of their camps even before the civil war is concluded by true peace. They are told that it is ‘safe outside,’ just like the story of the hyena and the little goats whose mother had gone to the market.
As the first step towards sustainable peace, leader must first be honest with themselves before blaming the victims. Leaders must have the courage to recognize that those millions who are now on an unprecedented exodus have genuine reasons to flee the country. It is no longer the same country they wished to be proud of. Instead, it has become a country plagued by predators who are trying hard to conceal their claws and red canine teeth.
It takes more than courage to end civil wars, no matter how bitterly they were fought. It takes even more than the courage needed to fight in them. It will take immense courage from the leaders on all sides to genuinely and hall-heartedly embrace peace, even if that peace is personified by their arch enemy whom they believe to be devil incarnates. Leading the people to war and destruction, whether you are in government or in opposition, is undesirable leadership.
It is time to isolate warmongers and embrace peacemakers for there is no honor, valor and glory in civil war, not a grain of it, no matter where you search. Those who think they will ‘win’ in civil war must be unpatriotic because a flag hoisted over the bones of children and civilians is unworthy of being erected. Because peace can never be won on a battle field no matter how hard the ‘victors’ try.
As a way forward, peace in our country must be made a common denominator towards which the people must be taken. To further paraphrase the girl’s sentiments: Leaders must lead us to peace or step aside, there is no other choice except that which draws the hostage taking analogy into this unfortunate times we are going through. Maintaining the status quo of violence cannot be an option, especially when the hostage takers are destroying both infrastructure and the country’s social fabric.
As I started with our blessed wise daughter who has been victimized by those whom she wished in vain to be proud of, I chose to end with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, whose deeds have continued to inspire the world.
King contended that: “Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”
Mayen Ayarbior is a Lawyer, Political Economist, and International Security specialist. He is the author of: House of War (Civil War and State Failure in Africa). He could be reached at mayen.ayarbior@gmail.com.
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