Rays of light in the darkness of trauma in the South Sudanese conflict (Part 1)
4 min readBy Thiik Mou Giir, Melbourne, Australia
September 4, 2016 (SSB) — The vision I have come up with – Construct Our New Identity – has made me do and see things differently. I have made this fact known since the time of its conception in 2014 until this moment. I have been speaking about it, argued in defense of it, discussed its pros and cons with others, and, above all, writing about it. I have done all I could to relate it to whoever is out there to listen and to read.
One of the best ways people have been responding to this vision was when the two peak organizations in Melbourne, South Sudanese Community Association in Victoria inc. (SSCAV) and Federation of South Sudanese Association in Victoria inc. (FSSAV) leaders, decided to have their first meeting in my house in June 2016.
If there are five South Sudanese communities around the world that are considered as the most fractured as the result of violent events that started in Juba in 2013, certainly the community in Melbourne could be counted as one. The two peak organizations, to which each member of the community affiliated himself/herself to either one of them, stand as an evidence of how our community is divided.
In South Sudan it looked like there were two governments and two armies; South Sudanese community, more or less, was trying to mimic the dual nature of the system in South Sudan by having two rival organizations. Ridiculous as we look in the eyes of non-South Sudanese, this was and still is the real situation we have created for ourselves.
Despite the fact that each organization is said to be open to welcome anyone who wish to join, from any South Sudanese tribe, members of Jieng tribe in SSCAV outnumber any members of other tribes just as members of Nuer tribe in FSSAV outnumber any members of other tribes.
Vast number of people, on the other hand, have shunned both organizations altogether; they are content with their tribal communities, or rather, they are content to concern themselves with their sub-tribal community.
The leaders, who represented the two organizations, had emerged from June meeting with aura of optimism. It seemed the depressing and traumatic condition of our community was going to get dealt with.
Time was ripe that such a meeting should take place in June. The political situation in South Sudan was seen as achieving the desired peace, the Australian government brought pressure to bear on the leaders of these two organizations to work together and to serve South Sudanese in Victoria, and the sole individual, who had kept trying, and for so long, to bring all South Sudanese to work together in order to help construct our new community, was not leaving them alone.
“Why not let him host and chair a joint meeting?” the leaders of both organizations had thought of me in those days. And I agreed to host and to chair the meeting.
They came; they discussed; and they agreed to work in partnership; a process that was hoped to lead to the amalgamation of the two organizations. What the leaders did raised hopes within South Sudanese Community in Victoria. What they did was considered a turning point.
The spirit of partnership they had forged was thought to properly position them to enable them face the issues the community, as a whole, had been facing in this country.
Our people here have immediate issues: the issue of racism and racial profiling, the issue of lack of jobs, the issue of young people going into jails, the issue of crimes, the issue of broken homes, and the issue of despair.
We have our problems in this country and the mere thought that all the community leaders and all members of South Sudanese community, inspired and informed by the community vision of Constructing Our New Identity, are going to join hands in order to tackle these issues was like seeing a ray of light in the Darkness of Trauma.
But then came a wave of hatred and washed away what the community leaders had agreed upon during the meeting in my house in June 2016. The violent events in Juba, in July 2016, were the starting points from which this worldwide gigantic wave of hatred had sprung.
This seemed to have brought us right back to square one. The ray of light in the darkness of trauma has trailed off and is seen no more.
RAYS OF LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS OF TRAUMA, Part Two, will be posted in the near future
You can reach the author via his email: thiik_giir@hotmail.com
The opinion expressed here is solely the view of the writer. The veracity of any claim made are the responsibility of the author, not PaanLuel Wël: South Sudanese Bloggers (SSB) website. If you want to submit an opinion article or news analysis, please email it to paanluel2011@gmail.com. SSB do reserve the right to edit material before publication. Please include your full name, email address, city and the country you are writing.
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