Lakes state brewing ban leaves widows unable to feed children
June 13, 2013 (RUMBEK) – Women across Lakes state are complaining that the ban on alcohol introduced by controversial military caretaker Governor Maj-Gen Matur Chut Dhuol, has deprived them of their livelihood, meaning that they are unable to feed their children or pay school fees.
Governor Duol ordered the alcohol ban after a series of violent clashes between rival cattle raiding groups but it has been resisted by some bar owners with political connections.
However, women without connections in the government have complained that they have no other option but the government has so far overlooked their concerns.
Rebecca Yar Ijong, 32, who lives in a small tukul – traditional thatched hut – in a remote part of Anuol payam [district] in Yirol West county told Sudan Tribune that since her husband’s death she has been forced to brew alcohol to provide for her two children.
The government’s decision to ban the “selling of local brew alcohol was taken to advance rich families”, while “poor families will die”, she said.
Since the ban her children have been thrown out of school as she could no longer afford the fees.
Yar asked South Sudan’s ruling SPLM to reconsider the decision.
“I have no another option in this world, the only way is for me to commit suicide. I loose my husband and I have nobody in the government to support my children.”
Yar has no relatives to support her as she chose to marry a man not approved by her family.
She broke into tears as she described her anguish that her children were being denied an education.
Sudan Tribune witnessed her dinner which was wild fruits and leaves she had collected from the nearby forest. She explained that her cultivation had been interrupted by cattle raiding and other violence other the last year.
(ST)