The Story of Orasio

In one of the communities I work with there is one guy, he is not even 22 years old and although he didn’t even finish high school he is one of the most educated people in his community. He is working as the head teacher in the school and takes a very active part in the community. As the time went by I got to know him better and better and from an interviewee he became a facilitator of much of my research in the community and now he is a friend. He shows me around his beautiful country, introduces me to people and connects me with the community. He tells me about his life here, growing up during the war and the challenges and hopes the new independence brought. This is his story:

Orasio grew up in a small community in Jur River County in North-West South Sudan, living in a compound in a rural area with his father, the father's 3 wives, 6 brothers and 6 sisters; a small family in South Sudanese standards. As a child, he was mainly working in his family plot of land and grazing the goats. When he was 8 years old he got the opportunity to start school, he was really lucky as at that time and in fact also today most families are not able to send all their children to school as some need to stay home and work.

However, 3 years later, when he was 11 years old the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army, though at that time it wasn’t a recognized army, but a guerrilla movement) came to his village and demanded some men to recruit. Since the community was very small there were not enough men to go, so Orasio’s family needed to decide who would go Orasio or his father. They decided that even though he was just 11, Orasio will go so the father could stay home and take care of the family. Orasio left and walked with the rest of the people all the way to Ethiopia, around 1,200 KM, to an SPLA military training base. He spend 1 year there, training every day without an ability to leave or move freely. During the training he learned to use several weapons, ways and techniques to escape from the enemy, how to hide and how to dig holes for protection from the constant bombing.

A year later, when he was just 12 years old he finished his training and was sent back to South Sudan to fight. He spend the rainy season of that year taking part in the battles on Yirol, Rumbek and other places, which were controlled by the North. Because there were many young boys, the positions of the soldiers in attacks were organized according to the size of the combatants. While the older used the big weapons like RPG, the youngest use the small guns. One day, after around 2 month in the field, Dr. John Garang, the head of the SPLA, came by and said that all the Jiejamer – meaning young solider, should be taken outside the country so they can go to school. All the children who were 13 and younger were allowed to leave and they went to seek refuge in Kenya.  There, Orasio lived with the other children who escaped the war in South Sudan in Kakuma refugee camp and was able to go back to school. In 2006, shortly after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the North and the South, Orasio came back to his village. He found that his mother died and his community is left torn by conflict.

6 years later he is still working to put the pieces of his community together; he works in the school, runs the Community Based Organization, takes part in the community health committee and in the PTA and try to push his community forward. You can really see the motivations and goals in his eyes and it is amazing.

Last night, I showed him this story; I asked him if it is ok if I will publish it on my blog, he said yes but also said that I didn’t write the ending. I asked him what the ending is and he said the ending is his vision: a forward-looking, equal, prosper society, not just in his own community but throughout the country. So here it is, the ending of this story is in fact the beginning of Orasio’s new life and of the one of South Sudan.

                                                         Orasio and me

The communities

The course of my research take place in a few different communities and after 4 weeks of visits in the villages I got to know the people of the communities and they got to know me. It is great because the kids no longer stare at me, they welcome me with a smile and the people no longer call me Kuaja (white person) they use my name, well a version of my name they can pronounce… One community even decided to give me a traditional name, Michai, have no clue what it means but I’ve been told it is name to show affection, nevertheless, now every time I go there every one call me Michai.

There is one community I especially like, the community of Achot. Achot consists predominantly of Luo (or Jur, same tribe different name) ethnic group with a few Dinka living amongst them, they are a small community with very limited resources but they are the most united and collaborative community. I can’t really pin point to why they seem to be different than other communities, maybe it is the way the work collectively together, maybe it is the way the respect the alders but also the children and maybe it is because they are simply so nice to me so I can’t help but likening them so much.

In every visit, the chief and alders welcome me with respect while the children still giggles at me, trying to communicate. They people try to teach me their local language, and so far I have picked up some words. They invite me to eat with them and they laugh at my awkward way of eating with my hands (I still didn’t get the hang of it…). With every interview I make with one of the community members they thank me for my time and that I listen to them, I am really amazed as really I should be thanking them. On my last visit they bought me coke, and even though I don’t really like coke I was astonished by the gesture, they spend their little money and put in the thought and effort just to make me feel welcome and comfortable.

The villages are arranged in a way that there is a center, in which the school and the clinic are and the houses or compounds are scattered around it. The people live in the middle of their plot of land which could be 30 min or up to 2 hours walk from the center. On my visits I always go to the center of the village, but I never really saw where people live. So I was really happy when one of the guys invited me to see where he lives.

On the way to his house we walked through the lush greenery till we arrived into a circle between the plants where there were 3 tukules and a ‘living area’ in the open air in the middle. The biggest tukule belonged to his father (with his wives living somewhere else), the medium one to his brother with his wife and two children and the smallest tukule was his, because he is single and live alone. When we arrived the brother was in the field, while his wife was cooking and the kids were playing. It was truly amazing to get a real insight on how people live their everyday life.  

It has been three weeks since I have arrived in South Sudan and I can’t believe how fast the time went by. I spend most of the week days in the rural communities talking to people and learning about their lives. In the evenings and in the weekends I am in Wau, but I don’t go out much. At first I was fascinated by the city, but now it really can be emotionally draining. I found that I will often go back to my place and won’t be able to stop thinking of all the street children I didn’t give money to. Life in the village seems to be somehow better. I guess people have less, they live in simple straw huts and mostly live of what they grow in their plot of land, but they also seem to have a sense of community, they have each other, also the kids appear to be well looked after. In Wau, there is a large gap between those who have and those who don’t, while some people live in house and even have electricity, there are also many street children with warn out dirty cloths, collecting rubbish and plastic bottles to sale. The village seems to have a more egalitarian society. In one of my visits to a school I saw a young girl with one leg missing playing with the rest of the kids. In a society where being handicapped implies that you are less worthy, as you are not able to work, her being in school means that despite her disability, she as well has chance.

In one of my field trips I was quite lucky to arrive in Kuajiena, as by chance, on that day the minster of preliminary affairs was there to announce the building of a new health facility.  It was nice to watch all the school kids in perfect lines singing, and all the speeches.  It was also interesting to watch the soldiers dancing, they were dancing in circles with their guns up in the air while the women were dancing behind them making some sort noise, some kind of screams and yells. This was also the day I got to eat a goat, with my hands. It was an interesting experience, though I’m not sure I would like to repeat it. I found it quite difficult to eat hot rice full of watery sauce with my hands and as for the goat, I know here it is considered as a delicacy, but it is not really for me…

As for my research, it is going slow but it is progressing. With each interview I learn more and more about both the social and political structures that make this society. Issues of gender inequality, conflicts between different tribes and matters of power relation within the community, as well as people relations with the government are surfacing. I am particularly amazed by the different views of people, especially regarding their ability to take part and to influence. This research is really challenging my perceptions about so many things. I used to think that empowerment is an empty buzz word but slowly I’m starting to realize that actually it means something. I have interviewed quite a number of people so far and I have come to an interim conclusion that although factors such as social structure and education are important, the substantial difference between people who take active part in the community and those who don’t is that the some simply believe in their ability to do so. I guess there is much more to discover.