INTERVIEW: Tribal culture offers unifying hope in strife-torn Lakes state

By Manyang Mayom

October 10, 2009 (RUMBEK) – As the Panyon tribes came together in Lakes
state alongside pastoralists from other tribes, Lakes State Director
of Culture Joseph Mabor Marial affirmed in an interview that the
gathering is a great move toward implementation of peace in Sudan.

“Let us speak the truth and build confidence amongst ourselves, work
for betterment of our values which shall make us a peaceful society,”
Marial exhorted at the end of our interview.

In the four years since the CPA, Lakes state youth groups from
different clans have been at loggerheads, clashing violently. This
past week, cattlekeepers came together to perform their traditional
dances in Rumbek Freedom Square without any sign of violence – an
event largely without precedence. Thousands of inhabitants came to
Rumbek Freedom Square on Tuesday evening to witness the heavy turnout
of Lakes state pastoralists.

Although all of the pastoralists belong to the Dinka (Jieng) ethnic
group, cattle-raiding and divisiveness along sub-tribal lines have
rent apart the main local polity, the state administration of the
Government of Southern Sudan, established in 2005.

“We are not benefiting from the basis of tribal lines fuelled by our
local leaders – it is now the time for our government officials to
clean their hands of corruption and to build ourselves a better state
of peaceful coexistence – one state and one tribe,” said one youth
member.

Participants on Tuesday sat in a circle with short wooden pieces in
their hands, clapping and voicing aloud their thoughts in song,
composing phrases about girlfriends and the color of bulls. Women were
dancing in salsa-style in mute happiness. As a matter of happiness,
women and children were throwing a lot of Sudanese pounds upon any
youth member who composed a nice song that praised a girlfriend or
a particular tribe.

Lakes State Director of Culture Joseph Mabor Marial discussed the
importance of such cultural traditions with Sudan Tribune.

IMPORTANCE OF SACRIFICES

“In every society, there are traditions and values that govern them as
a matter of fact; people tend to obey and safeguard the norms that
bring forth answers to their sufferings. Very many people say we have
to offer something to our ancestors because their soul lives amongst
us. The body is only flesh according to Monyjang (Jieng) or Dinka
beliefs; and the death is a curse or a God’s given situation and
nobody is greater than God. God gives and he can take! This phenomenon
is also deep-rooted in the Dinka Jieng spiritual life,” he said.

Mabor noted that it is well known in MonyJieng (Dinka) life that when
the deceased soul requests something to give a name to a newborn child
or have a wife married in his/her name in a dream, it is received with
care and respect and it is a demand that should be fulfilled.

“According to the Jieng way of life, sacrifices take a centre stage in
every step done. They slaughter a bull on the graveyard or in the
performance of prayers in order to cast away bad spirit in the family.
Therefore sacrifices are very important in their life so that God and
the departed souls are reassured of their right place in the society
and respect owed to them,” Mabor explains.

Mabor added that in practicing sacrifices, people believed they would
be able to talk to their ancestors and God. This would happen just in
simple language of asking for forgiveness and exercising positive
powers of ancestors, which may prove the continuity of humankind at
large and one’s family in particular. Sacrifice is good; whatever one
asks God, if one puts forward a positive and humble request it will have positive results.

He concluded that a real traditional believer does not cast evils on
others; those who do so may get unsettled when God punishes him or her
due to devil behaviors.

CORRUPTION – A DISEASE THAT COULD BE ERADICATED

Joseph Mabor Marial affirmed that corruption is a process of becoming
a looter in one’s own terms, irrespective of rules and monitoring: “you
intend to have some easy methods of cheating an ordinary man. First,
morality derails and spiritual weaknesses come which are believed to
be a moral corruption.”

“Secondly, one seems to be involved in wrong dealings in such a way
that one of one’s junior staff gets less pay when he/she is supposed
to have legal dues equivalent to the work executed. Also one takes the
name of a corrupter when one uses authority to appoint one’s kinsman
or a friend to the position which he or she does not deserve.”

He also added that we may not be expert in defining the word
corruption, but in short it is amoral decay.

“Somebody says he managed to gather some cattle from his own tireless
efforts that he used to do day and night in Khartoum; but the sort of
work he did could not be detailed (though many people know). It is the kind of
hand-outs and the money received from selling one’s own principles, which are
not considered to be clean. Imitating others’ way of life and killing
innocent lives would actually determine and confirm one’s full
engagement in illicit practices,” he said.

“Corruption has always taken a chance to reside in wicked and weak
hearts. If you do not resist the temptations you are liable to live in
the same room with corruption one day in your time,” he affirmed.
Mabor posited that the government institutions are expected to teach
morals and make rules of the game. However, the prevailing sentiment
in these institutions needs to be corrected to allow the people to
have what they deserve before those in the institutions embark on stealing for
themselves.

“Can the concepts ‘equality’ and ‘justice’ be first aid to the
symptoms of corruption in our locality? Well I believe it is a disease
that could be eradicated,” he said.

TRADITIONAL MARRIAGES

Mabor said that “Traditionally, Jieng marriage was made simple in the
contexts of building a family and preserving human existence. It was
based on love and pure beauty; the two families from both the bride
and bride-groom had to agree on their behaviors and positive
background that is expected to be clean spiritually and having a good
way of life.” Then followed a requirement of wealth, inherited
property and family-grown wealth.

“Nowadays it is totally different, when you look at the processes
involving marriage. People began to engage in paying some gifts and
materials if not money to the in-laws before conducting final
arrangements and getting the wife.”

He also explained that there is now much competition over who shall
win the affirmative vote from the girl’s parents, but not the girl
herself. “It is now the order of the day. Though the number of men
competing may not be less than five or so, there is evidently only one
expected bride. Therefore why waste a lot of money, vehicles,
motorbikes and living wealth materials before marrying the girl?”
[Editor’s note: Dinka dowries pass from groom’s family to the bride’s,
rather than the other way around. A man may give gifts to family
members of the intended bride, which are thus potentially considered a
‘waste’ if he fails to win her].

Joseph Mabor Marial noted that the inflation of bride price may be a
“deadly cultural practice in our society” if it is not abandoned,
since prices such as 200 head of cattle for a dowry can just be a
boastful way of saying ‘I am the boss,’ i.e. the wealthiest figure in
the area. He disapproved of such marriage proposals from men who may
have some relatives without even a single bull.

PROBLEMS OF MODERN MARRIAGES

“Modern marriages have discouraged traditional norms and the family
ties,” contended the Lakes official.

“They are not reliable, because the results expected are more luxuries
(expenditure), disrespect from either side of the family or outside
the wed-lock (meaning those family members who close their minds in
getting their interest resolved). They are based on a show rather than
sincerity.”

He also added that they encourage selfish attitudes, i.e. whenever
somebody fails to win the marriage, he tends to reclaim back all his
loses during the campaign including all the money that he once paid to
the people as gifts in order for him to be accorded a chance of having
a wife.

In order to solve this dilemma, he advised, we should reconsider the
traditional behaviors and let them shape our way forward.

IDEALS

Mabor affirmed that Sudanese should adopt a lifestyle that values
protection of human lives. “This has appeared not to be so easy for an
immature generation like ours. But the best ideals remains to be seen
in the development of cultures and values that transplant our roots to
grow stronger and stronger.”

“Our country, ‘New Sudan,’ requires able-minded persons and determined
youth who are possessed with wisdom and a spirit of nationalism,” he
said.

“There is a great need to fight backwardness and selfish attitudes in
order to build up a statesman-like spirit, so let all go to school and
register for proper learning with aspirations of becoming a good
citizen. Through education, our country shall develop and create so
many chances for development of human skills and provision of useful
services, including health facilities.”

‘MAKE GOOD FRIENDS’

Mabor affirmed that having more friends makes one’s life easier in
everything but one has to be cautious for oneself. He said in one’s
capacity as a social animal (a reference to a philosophical definition
of humankind), one’s relations are very important to the community in
doing kind things and providing a helpful hand when needed. The young
and the old alike should have one common ideal as a people of one
locality.

He also pointed out that it is a genuine duty to be honest to
ourselves when our way of living and traditions is expected to be
reasonable and rated under high-ranking communal values known all over
southern Sudan.

“But it appears that the acts of an ordinary person [as an individual]
detract from the whole body of the community; until that evil became
an instinct in the community,” he lamented.

Marial ensured that the ailments and symptoms engulfing societal
behaviors never come out of the blue but the wrong elements need to be
told that bad deeds could spoil the good future of the community. “Let
us speak the truth and build confidence amongst ourselves, work for
betterment of our values which shall make us a peaceful society,” he
said. He concluded saying, “finally I wish this message to be
considered by everybody, the old and the young generations.”

(ST)