The South Sudan experience ...

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.