DINKA & NUER PEOPLES - Support for Tribal Peace Building Through Sports

HOW COULD THIS BRUTAL SAVAGERY HAPPEN AMOUNG THE NUER AND DINKA TRIBAL MEMBERS WITHOUT OUTSIDE INGERFERENCE?

The result we see today in South Sudan is a country operating with a brutally abusive military regime, which relies on extortion for funding, a failed agricultural sector incapable of feeding its own people, no immediate water source, rampant disease (HIV/Malaria/TB/Dengue/Yellow Fever/Hep A-B-C) and so on. They have not had an educational system whatsoever since 2013. The hospitals we visited had a few hours per day of power from generators using “imported diesel” from distant refineries since their power grid is sporadic at best. Many patients we observed were either on the sidewalks sleeping or on the hospital floors or on cardboard on 50 year old metal bed frames. A new hospital beds there cost only $50!

While this grossly dysfunctional government is pretending to lead, there are billions and billions of dollars of rich oil just beneath their feet, which no one can agree on how to extract and share reasonably among the citizens of this newly formed country. This is simply pathetic and disgusting, all the while their people are malnourished at dozens of official UN and unofficial and unsupported refugee camps we visited. We heard first hand from the UN truck drivers of how even the UN food delivery trucks were extorted from by the South Sudanese Military every several hundred meters, multiple times as they approach the UN camps to deliver needed food. Police are constantly pulling people over in traffic, simply to extort whatever they can get to support themselves. This happened to us several times within a one week period.

My late grandmother used to say…”There are three sides to every story, your side, my side and the truth”. So right she was, as we drilled down and did additional research only to find out a number of international players in the region and abroad, helped instigate, empower & embolden and weaponize the parties in this conflict. During this same period, the majority impoverished “simple people” from all of the remote villages only wanted to be left alone to tend their herd of goats or farm their land, then genocide was thrust upon them like a gasoline soaked rag lit on fire.

In as much as we arrived with objective minds and hearts, we could not but feel the sadness, pain and paranoia, which permeates the South Sudan country and people. The people are loving and kind, and are just like you and me; however, those in power have sucked the blood and life from their people and should be ashamed they cannot work together and stiff-arm outside influences with their pursuits and greedy goals of oil riches under South Sudan.

WHAT THE INTI RAYMI FUND DID

The Inti Raymi Fund supported the Generations for Peace non-profit organization based in Amman Jordan with $25,000 towards their local efforts with peace building specifically in South Sudan. Their efforts were implemented through dialogue among the two majority tribes of the Dinka and Nuer Youths through sports as a common thread. There were workshops and interactive fun sports related activities which were specially designed to break down the prejudices and hatred learned along both sides of the conflicts, replacing negative memories of what they painfully witnessed and experienced with respectful friendships with the other tribe. These are not just distant memories from the past, many of them especially those defeated through genocidal acts have painful scars which must heal, not to mention financial ruins to be rebuilt while living in oppressive and suffocating refugee camps. With no jobs, minimal food, scorching heat in tents with no way out, it’s no wonder why militaries around the world recruit from refugee camps. The most disadvantaged peoples of the world are the “low lying fruit” for the hired militaries & militias of the world. These hopeless souls are doing most of the fighting for the elite who are pushing the pawn pieces from afar, which you only read about and never see. Well we have seen the collateral damage once again while in South Sudan.

The Goal of the Inti Raymi Fund is to provide the Dignity and Respect to each of the 10 Nuer and 10 Dinka Youth Delegates who participated in this week long program as well as real specific coping and communication skills to be carried forwards. These communication, mentorship and leadership skills are then replicated and repeated over and over by these 20 Peace Building Delegates within their refugee camps or communities. Additional financial support is given to these members allowing them to continue basic survival; however, their efforts are primarily on a volunteer basis with the model replicating itself through a volunteer base over and over to affect thousands of tribal members on both sides.

Narrative from Generations For Peace Field Work can be viewed below:

Overview of Generations For Peace Sport For Peace For Youth Programme in Juba