The South Sudan experience ...

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