How South Sudanese can shape their very own future?
By Chuar Juet Jock*
November 12, 2007 — If Sudan was ever in good hands through its modern history it could spare its innocent people all the bitter suffering that they have undergone and still. It could spare the world from being sick from the daily inhuman scenes and news of the current systematic killing and uprooting of its African citizens, it could be one of the richest, peaceful and prosperous countries in the world due to its hugh natural resources, unique location in Africa and the world plus its big fertile land that is blessed with the longest river in the world, the river Nile. Unfortunately you can’t expect anything then the current poor, miserable situation in a country where young children are taught nothing but hatred, racism and tribalism.
Good citizenry is not just a work of chance as our de facto caretakers in Khartoum may think, it is an outcome of well designed programming and installation of the good into the would be the future and the face of the country- the children. It is a process of shaping the very minds and conscience of the young children so they would be good and loyal citizens to their country and their worldwide family of humanity, but our de facto caretakers decided to do the opposite, by programming the future of Sudan on violence, racism, tribalism and religious intolerance and unfortunately as a result, Sudan has failed itself as well as the humanity.
As Southern Sudanese, we must avoid by all the cost to fall and wind in the same end, and that is by accurately and adequately investing in our children future if we really want them to be good citizens that will work for the betterment of the future of our country as well as the future of Africa and the world.. Southerners who are really keen to build a new prosperous and a brighter future for their country must very well engage in a long process of programming their children to be good elements for the desired positive change and prevent our enemies who really want to control and shape our future into their own direction through our children.
There is no doubt that Southern Sudanese real keys for a brighter and peaceful future for their country are their children. Children are always the would bes, they would be whatever the adults want them to be, positive or negative elements to their very society and humanity in general, they would be whatever they are being told or taught or shaped upon. The world that is being shaped into their very visions is the world that would be theirs; therefore we shouldn’t be surprise why children and women are the most vulnerable victims and targets of the Khartoum racial wars, simply because they are easy to be change and transformed into different worlds. In fact, the systematic killing of men and the abduction of children and the rape of woman are not but just some of the tools of racial extermination that the regime in Khartoum is conducting to shape and change the future of Sudan demographics, as the raped women will breeds children of aggressors’ race and the abducted children will be brainwashed and programmed into different people that won’t know their history roots let alone their language and culture of origin while the killed men will vanish forever, though, a clear race elimination process.
However, how to shape or make the future of our country out of our children that is what we are here about and let us together reflects on the vital institutions, the right substance and the necessities that should be involved in this important process. I believe providing the right environment for our children to grow up in good mental, emotional and physical health should be given a priority because neither education nor technology or science could be of benefit if they are being digested by people let alone childern who live in a hostile environment. Therefore we need to work together to provide the right environment at home and the other institutions of learning and development so our children can grow, learn and develop to become good future citizens.
Educational institutions as well as spiritual and social ones are all institutions for integrated development and correction of children as well as adults. For children, what is being provided in those institutions is what shape their minds, behaviors, attitudes and at the end characters and personalities. Therefore, we must emphases on the food that our children eats on daily basis from those institutions, I mean by the food here the curriculum and the materials that are being digested by our children’s minds and souls, and the substance that is being taught in those schools, churches and other social centers, simply because this is what make the difference and that is what shape the future of our country young citizens.
Our children can’t live and interact with the world when they are set or left behind in term of technology use in every aspect of modem human life, therefore southern Sudanese, government and people alike, must heavily invest in field of technology and that is by bringing fresh and up-to-date technologies and train their children on the Know-how techniques of these technologies and systems, if Juba university or any southern Sudanese universities are not equipped with modern computers technologies than how the students and instructors alike will interact with foreign universities where having a good knowledge of computing is a required just to do any assignment or research, hand written assignments or research are no longer acceptable. Neither our children can’t have a sound knowledge in unhealthy bodies, therefore southern Sudanese, government and people, must invest adequately in private and public healthcare sectors and make healthcare services available and affordable to all citizens and on both counties and states levels. Health education must be included in school curriculum in early years of elementary education, making early awareness possible for endemic diseases such AIDS/HIV, the new tool of the early African death phenomenon and that is bringing Africa down to its knees.
On the other hand, Physical education is very important for creating healthy and creative future generations of southern Sudan; this must be encouraged through building viable physical education facilities within educational institutions as well as standalone and separate physical education and wellness facilities that will transform the whole nation to a healthy and creative nation and that will have a great impact in the quality of performance of future human resources, also teaching values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence are crucial for southern Sudan of peace, respect and dignity of everyone, our own hard learned lessons from slavery and discrimination of Khartoum did show us how destructive is to put someone down because of his/her color, gender, tribe, religion and else.
Discrimination is not Godley and is a sin that is no less than sin of murder itself. The worst murder at all is the emotional killing that is caused by discrimination, injustice and inequality; our children must change the world and that by having the strong education of the very pillars of democracy, freedom, justice and equality. Any citizen of southern Sudan must take his/her right place based on free will not because he/she is forced to, our constitution must guarantees the rights and freedoms of all its citizens and those rights and freedom can’t be changed by the outcome of any elections or government.
There must be strong and solid laws and rules that guarantees and works for the unity of southern Sudanese society and that prohibit any kind of national trends to encourage negative tribalism and clanship and that threats the national interests and security of southern Sudan. Negative tribalism must be regarded as a national security threat, this should be in defense of our country from outside enemies that uses our tribal differences as tools to destroy our national security and unity through our shortsighted brothers. We must teach the value of positive nationalism to our children not those of destructive tribalism.
Time has already make the unity of southern Sudanese stronger, tribes that did abolish the tribal marks, tattoos, piercing and so on of features that distinguishes this tribe from another, has become more closer, and now-a-days, it is very hard to differentiate between Sudanese from Darfur, southern Sudan or Nuba Mountain let alone within the southern Sudan tribal structure. Intermarriages also have made our unity more solid, African woman in Sudan and elsewhere in Africa has a divine role in bringing these shattered tribes of Africa into one related and united nation. in shaping the future through the next generations, it is really important that government and people of southern Sudan work together in changing some of our tribal traditions and customs that make our unity weak as well as those that encourage us to be discriminated within our society let alone other societies
Southern Sudanese have a high degree of homogeneity that can make them the most cohesive and united nation in Africa if it did find the right nation’s constructive builders of politicians and intellectuals. Our country is blessed with more precious blessings but those blessings could turned to be a curse if it didn’t fall in the hands of the constructive southern Sudanese and instead in the hands of destructive ones. In Africa bad politics and governance always plays on the strings of tribalism and clanship unconsciously and consciously sometimes. Both negative tribalism and clanship are viruses that eats slowly our strong nation body and if not dealt with in proper manner, it is likely that we wind in the same venue of the unforgotten African tragedy of 1994 in Rwanda, where the entire world has witnessed again how really could human destructive ideas and behaviors could harm and destroy the humanity very co-existence and peace
It is of important that the people of southern Sudan know that they are ultimate decision makers of their future not governments, those governments that don’t work in the interest of people must not be allowed to stay, they must be change. People of southern Sudan must make it happen for their life to be peaceful and prosperous and their rights and freedoms guaranteed and protected by protecting democracy and its very pillars of freedom, justice and equality for all through their precious votes, wise nations never gives their votes to incompetent leaders that sooner or later will deny their very own electorates rights and freedoms.
We belong to our motherland, Africa, and as matter of fact we are connected to this beautiful continent by heart and mind. It is of imperative that, government and people of southern Sudan strengthens this connection in hearts and minds of next coming generations by making it possible for information and communications between us and the rest of Africa be of priority. As part of East Africa, we are require to interact economically, socially and politically and the most useful methods to make that possible is to teach Kiswahili as a language subject to our young children in all their schooling years, these will make them more connected to their brothers in east African countries as well as in the rest of Africa.
As Southern Sudanese, our future is in our hands, only when we works tirelessly to make it possible for our children to live in a world that is different from ours, a world with no war, discrimination, inequality and injustice and where all humanity can work together and put their focus on other issues of common interest, such a world is only possible upon our realization that all men are created equal.
* The author is a Sudanese that resides in USA; he can be reached at [email protected], to read more topics by the author go to http://chuarjuetonline.blogspot.com