Jonglei returnees organize cultural show to help reintegration

By John Actually

February 26, 2011 (BOR) – Hundreds of returnees from Khartoum who have settled in Twic East, Duk and Bor counties of Jonglei state organized a cultural show at Bor secondary school, February 26, through Bor Youth Association, to show they were still in touch with their ethnic roots, in order to win the a acceptance of local people.

The Bor Youth Association (BOYA) was formed by South Sudanese living in Khartoum in August 16, 1994 to unit people and keeps Dinka Bor cultures alive while in exile. Sudan second civil war (1983-2005) saw four million people displaced. Many fled to Sudan’s capital, where many lived in settlements and camps on the outskirts of the city.

South Sudan voted to become independent in July as part of the 2005 peace deal that ended decades of conflict. Tens of thousands of South Sudanese have returned to the South in the last five years and have had to adjust from living in an urban to rural or less developed environment.

Different groups of women and men performed cultural dances of various kinds and wrestling. Wrestling was recently commercialized by the government of South Sudan in Juba in January. Jonglei’s ‘Freedom Stars’ were the winner of the South Sudan wrestling competition, beating Central Equatoria and Lake state teams.

People from South Sudan and Jonglei in particular fled their homes between 1983 and early 1990s when the war between Khartoum government forces and South Sudan rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), was at its worst.

Bor was under heavy aerial bombardment in 1989, after it was recaptured by northern forces, killing many people.

Most of the returnees arrived from Khartoum ahead of January’s plebiscite in which South Sudanese overwhelmingly voted for independent South Sudan, which is soon to be in July 9.

Young women who have returned from Khartoum have received little or no courtship and have found looking for husbands difficult. Men who have returned from East African countries have also found there to be cultural differences upon their return. Language barrier is one of the main problems.

One young woman, Ayor Akech Kuai, told Sudan Tribune she has been shocked by the lack of engagements among young people. She urged young men to forgive girls who had bleached their skin while living in the north.

Having lighter skin is popular in the north and many girls use creams to make their skin lighter. The politics, media and culture of promoted by the Khartoum government is predominantly pro-Arab and Islamic.

Kuai said that young men should look past their whitened skin, saying that the girls will regain their original black color as time goes by. Identity was one of the issues that caused Sudan’s north-south civil war.

The commissioner of Bor county, Maker Lual Kur, welcomed the returnees to get reintegrated into their families and clans. He urges them not to commercialize marriage. Marriages in South Sudan often involve valuable dowries of cows and livestock.

The minister for Jonglei state local government, Diing Akol Diing, a disabled former member of the SPLA expressed his gratitude to returnees for voting for independence. He also called upon the government to give returnees residential plots in the state to make them feel at home.

(ST)