Azande of South Sudan Principle of Life
Azande of South Sudan Principle of Life
Azande of South Sudan Principle of Life
Deterioration!
Dedication
This article is absolutely dedicated to the entire Zande
Community on our planet. It is dedicated to the voiceless,
helpless and patient members of this Community for their
persistent endurance and struggle against hardship, wars,
oppression and exploitation since the time of our ancestors
(ancient civilization) and dated back to the beginning of oral
and written history. It is also dedicated to them for their
effort to co- exist together as an entity and keep our beloved
community together up to date.
Preface
The topic referred to here as “Community and Cultural
Deterioration” is sensitive, important to discuss and vital to
find an appropriate workable solutions to the issues presented
and discussed in it. The original title of the article posted on
Sunday 09/19/2010 was “Azande Women and girls on sell to other
tribes – a morale decadence for the Azande”. Later on, the topic
was changed to “Law to govern dowry”.
Terminology: Decadence = moral or cultural deterioration;
immoral behavior.
The title of this discussion paper has been changed in an
attempt to neutralize the tone of the debate and the atmosphere
during the debate. Our moral conscience tells us that doing so
will draw more female members of our community into the
discussion.
Acknowledgement
To begin with, it is of paramount importance to recognize a few
people here for their role in this discussion.
Sixth, I will recognize the man who did not waiver to ask the
most strategic question during the discussion --- Mr. Paiyo
Charles Angelo. Mr. Paiyo’s momentous question compelled the
debaters to focus on the way out from the said decadence “=
moral or cultural deterioration”. His one single question “what
is the way forward then?” asked for a clear outlet or exit
strategy that can be used to walk out our people from the human
catastrophe they are in. Mr. Paiyo please do not hesitate to
ask important questions when need arise. Please you are reminded
that your community is proud of your line of thought and you are
strongly commended for that.
The seventh person I will recognize here is the man, who cited
an example from the Dinka community in Khartoum during the civil
war, what their distinguished elders did to retain the existence
of Dinka, prevented the dilution of Dinka culture and ensured
that they continued to exist as a single entity in all walks of
life whether it rains fire or ice. The man to recognize here is
Mr. Ayoub Elie. Please Elie keep up with your curiosity, good
observation and timely analyzes. That is another method of
learning and Mr. Ayoub Elie we commend you for that.
Lastly but not least is the person who did the most wonderful
thing to the community---Ms. Judith Agi. Her effort will not go
unnoticed. We will recognize her for generosity, consideration
and effectiveness. Thanks to God, we have such wonderful ladies
in our community in modern history. When our people were
unclothed and need immediate help, she was there to cloth them;
when our people were thirsty and needed water, she was there to
water them; when our people were hungry and needed food to
survive, she was there to feed them; when the LRA were chopping
our people, raping our daughters, sisters, mothers and aunts,
she was able to send rain coats, boots, cameras and other items
to the Arrow Boys to follow them. That is what Jesus requests of
you, Judith. That is what He wants each and every one of us to
do. We may not be able to serve Him directly but through His
people we can. Ms. Judith Agi, God bless you and we thank you
very much for your swift move to aid your people.
Contents
Prostitution
Reckless behavior
Lack of interest in marriage
Irresponsibility, self interest, wrong guidance, bad advice.
Dowry
Inferiority complex
Religion
Initiative, motivation, curiosity, sacrifice, egocentrism
Poverty
Addiction
Pride
Wrong upbringing
Shyness
Peers
Joblessness, boredom, loneliness
Learning disability
Neglect
War
Homelessness
Family history
Imbalance of power
Poor Communication
Culture
Media Coverage
My view and conviction
Suggested solutions
Conclusion
Topics for future discussion
Articles from Sudan Tribune.
Introduction
This topic is one among many that have contributed enormously to
the setback of our community. Abstaining from discussing matters
of importance to our community is not a good option but a
limitation that will continue to have severe consequences on our
people. We are a community of intellectuals, elders, leaders and
youth. It is our duly obligation to bring about favorable life
conditions to those from whom we originated.
Dowry: Although high dowry can scare and prevent poor men and
women from marriage, yet it is thought of as a negotiable
arrangement. It is a naked fact that dowry is never paid all in
one day, one month or one year. Dowry is paid over decades if at
all possible. Though high dowry does not factor properly into
the reasons for reckless behavior and lack of interest in
marriage, it remains well among the daily excuses of people who
show less or little desire for marriage or improved behavior.
Such weak factors can be eliminated if the community chooses to
do so.
The Intellectuals, Chiefs, youth and community leaders can
organize a conference in which such issues can be tackled and
resolved fruitfully.
The Dinka, the Nuer and many other tribes in South Sudan did it
during the civil war and so can we. They introduced a system
where a Dinka man can marry a Dinka girl on credit. That type of
marriage is simply done on the bases of documented agreement. It
means the bridegroom owes his in-low all the charges agreed upon
in the marriage and he has to pay it over a certain period of
time when condition becomes favorable. If Mr. X wants to marry
Ms. Y and Mr. X does not have money or its equivalent to pay,
then Mr. X will have to sign a document of obligation
(promissory note) undertaking the responsibility to start paying
the money within a given period of time and in a reduced form if
and only if Mr. X is a community member. If Mr. X is a non –
community member, then Mr. X will pay 20 to 100 times the dowry
a community member can pay depending on what the relatives of
the bride wants. The Dinka and Nuer did that to save their
population from extinction. We too can do it for the same
purpose. It is disappointing to see a majority of Zande youth
completely uninterested in marrying Zande girls in order to
uphold and upkeep the traditional values of the Azande.
The inability to compare the past and the present and then use
the comparison to predict the future is lacking among our
community leaders, intellectuals and elders. Given that we the
Elders, Intellectuals and Leaders do not put our role into play
and we tend to concentrate blame on the young and the victims of
the undesired misfortunes, there is a glimpse chance that the
equilibrium can shift to the right side any sooner.
Peers: Young people who live with peers/ friends, poor parents
or relatives are frequently pressured or forced into premature
sexual relationship with other peers for fun or with grown up
men for favor or with the aim of material gain. One example of
that is the tragedy of the young Zande girl who was said to have
been married to an old Arab man in Ezo County just before the
elections last April. Sometimes the relationship can end up with
partnership in sex only, cohabitating, marriage or anything to
that effect. Other girls or young men are forced into the act by
friends or partners and eventually, they get accustomed to it.
That sort of arrangement collapses sooner than later since it is
only conditional and not love based. The victim can move on from
one sex partner to the other regardless of age and other
constraints that may impede fertility in the long run or even
lead to early death. Parents, communities and elders shouldn’t
allow that kind of thing to happen under any circumstance.
Most young girls and women who have no alternatives always make
it to big cities thinking they will find better life there and
perhaps help themselves and the family. Without any skills or
profession, they end up in wrong crowds and caught up in
prostitution. Some of them are mothers of young or old kids;
they are used to money and they have no means of raising the
children on their own, perhaps abandoned (family breakdown) by
the fathers of their children; mom and kids need money badly for
survival. As the future looks dim or dark, moms begin to look
for empathy rather than sympathy from anyone anywhere any time
regardless of its implication to the family and the community
they come from. .
We all know that in business, demand = supply. Therefore, when
the demand goes up, the supply will go up too, and in this sense
more and more beloved ones will disappear into that ugly system
and especially if the public attitude warrants it and endorses
the media coverage that have it as easy or quick money.
In a situation where there is no support net works, no
rehabilitation programs, no training, retraining, or any
monetary support to uplift status of individuals or groups of
women, they tend to be drowned in a situation of hopelessness
and they feel isolated, ignored and marginalized. For their own
survival, they get co-opted into the world of prostitution where
they can survive and cope up with life.
In the actual sense, we must sit down, discuss our problems with
the help of our intellectuals, leaders and so on in the
villages, towns, and cities and thereafter, we can register a
visit to the Governor’s office to present our problems there or
raise the problem to the Parliament through our mouth pieces to
the State or national Assembly. Those mouth pieces are the MPs.
We too can find some solutions to problems and implement them
immediately. Unfortunately if we care very much about our mouths
and care less about the future of our children, we will keep
sinking deeper and deeper making it very difficult for our
children to come out of the deep hole we have dug for them.
That way we can get things going rather than firing blame on
specific people and not aiding them to overcome the difficulty
our people are passing through. It is also effective than
adhering to the monkey business of hide and seek whereby we stay
aloof and watch what others are doing, wait until the moment is
right and then we jump in to cease that opportunity. It is about
nation building and not trick building or self building. Don’t
be confused about that. Nation building needs collective effort
and for that reason yours and mine are needed.
Conclusion:
Dear respectful leaders, fellow Intellectuals, elders, women and
youth, our community is ablaze. It is in a state of shamble. It
is at the verge of shattering. Rambling while our beloved
community is shattering will be bogus for all of us. It will be
a regrettable history. Both oral and written history will not
forgive us for the neglect of our community and the suffering of
our people. Not doing something will clearly demonstrate our
lack of conscience. We cannot have it both ways. There are
numerous challenges that need a lot of good ideas for a bright
future. Lack of action and too much blame can only worsen the
situation rather than solving them.
We can reform our minds by changing the way we think, talk and
do things. To reform the community, we need to power the
community with new ideas. That is the innovation we need to
reform community at this difficult time. That is the only
guarantee for an effective reform in our community. That is what
our people need right now. Our people have waited so long for
this type of change or reform. Their patience is immense and
immensurable. Our selfishness has barricaded them from the
minimum standard of reform they need to elevate themselves to a
position well enough to sustain their normal daily living
without too much worry. That isn’t what they deserve. With all
these in light, I argue you to wake up, rise and contribute with
ideas for modernization in order to rescue your people from
extinction.
Now is the time when history will begin to hold us accountable
for all our actions and inactions. Now is the time when we need
to roll up our sleeves, pull out the problems facing our people
from the villages, towns and cities, dissect them, examine them
one by one and come up with workable plan of action to fix them.
Now is the time when our education, experience, sacrifice and
courage can make the difference. Now is the time when blaming
others is of less significance but an additional fuel to the
already burning situation. Now is the time for team work and
quality leadership. Now is the time all of us have to come
together as the sons and daughters of one community to build WES
and the nation so as to make them a better place for living for
our children. Now is the time petty politics or retail politics
must be separated from reality for the sake of humanity, mankind
and God’s creation. Now is the time the truth cannot be ignored,
but said loud enough to wake every one up. It is up to you to
decide what you can do or don’t do for your people, but don’t
always decide what your people should do for you. If we know
something and we choose to do nothing that means we have acted
inappropriately towards our community. It means we have acted in
bad faith towards our people. Doing nothing means we have chosen
to hammer the last nail into the coffin of our community. That
will be the worst history since the creation of mankind. We need
not to allow that come our way. We must be mindful about the
future of our children and the generations to come.
Unconcerned Intellectuals
Ineffective leadership
Development
Wrong vision
Wrong strategy
God bless you all!
Kassiano, Bill
USA, 651-235-1257
These sexual trade workers are mostly foreigners while others are
Southern Sudanese girls and ladies as well as northern Sudanese ladies
who decided to move to the South and access sexual freedom away from
the Islamic law prohibiting sex in the North. Such Sudanese girls who
involve in commercial sexual intercourse are those girls who have
adopted East African cultures and Arab girls who escaped Islamic law
in Khartoum and flew to stay in Juba leaving behind their families.
Ugandan woman, Ms. Lora William, confirmed that she came to Juba to
get wealth through prostitution. “There is no love – only money can
make you everything you dream to get in Juba. Only relatives working
in government would get you everything you would like to achieve in
the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) system. Few of my friends are
working in government offices as employees as well as few of them are
private secretaries," she revealed."I was just a school girl in
Kampala at Kampala International University (KIU) but unfortunately I
got pregnant. I was deceived by my classmate and after he knew that I
was pregnant, the guy disowned me immediately and my parents dismissed
me from family house. I have nowhere to go then I decided to go to
Sudan. As I just reached to Arua [Ugandan town close to Sudan border],
I got a tall Sudanese man who loved me at a lodge and I started to
have sex with him that night. On my way to Juba, he told the migration
office that this is my wife and I was allowed to enter into Sudan
through his approach to Sudanese migration authority," the Ugandan
lady narrated.
An Ethiopian sex worker, Ms. Fruiti Magabsi, said the proximity of her
country made it easier to travel to Sudan. "I came to Juba in 2009. I
managed to arrive Sudan through my friend who was a South Sudanese
soldier who [previously] got trained in Ethiopia. He told me to visit
Sudan. I was a married woman in Ethiopia but this Sudanese man
influenced me to leave my husband. He always told me that he was not
married and he was also a big man in Government of Southern Sudan. The
guy had a lot of money in his wallet and all the money were Dollars
with Euros. I decided to leave my two children and joined this man in
hotel and I followed him to [southern] Sudan through his instructions
using Kenya road by land while he traveled by air leaving me
behind."Since I arrived to Juba, I did not see him and his contact
numbers which he gave me were all fake. I wondered what to do; I
started to sell myself to men in lower price for me to sustain life. I
sold myself to sleep with man with 50 Sudanese pounds. I managed to
get two thousand Sudanese pounds in one week. I do use condom when I
go for [sexual] intercourse with men because I see them so much thin.
Many of men always rejected to sleep with me using condom during
sexual intercourse. I told them to use condoms but they rejected my
advice, they demanded [preferred] to pay a lot of money to have [non-
condom] sex with me," she said”. ”There is no love in Juba, only
money can prove [buy] everything," she said.
Ms. Entisar said that "I left Khartoum when Lubna Hussein was harassed
by Khartoum public police in trousers dress case. She complained that
life in Khartoum as a girl is bad. "You are denied by parents not to
go out with your friends. You can love somebody in your heart but
difficult to express yourself and for me I believe this is an insult
to God. There is body need and you are denied to do it – this is
injustice," she said."I do stay here in Juba and I am happy the way I
am treated by Southern boys. There is no harassment. I do go to Custom
Market at night to have sex with men in price of 20 Sudanese Pounds. I
do have sex so that I can pay house rent and sometimes I travel back
to Khartoum," she explained.
Southern Sudan is experiencing rising sex trade where you can find sex
workers in towns including Wau, Rumbek, Juba and Aweil. The Government
of Southern Sudan has overlooked the issue of sex workers while
community leaders are complaining that cultures are changing since
sexual workers introduced commercial sexual intercourse in the
country. Southern Sudan is governed by cultures and they believe in
their respective traditions but since the signing of Sudan’s
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Southern Sudan got swallowed with
foreign cultures imported by Sudanese children who were brought up in
Western life. Health authorities in the region have warned of serious
threat posed by the killer disease, HIV/AIDS, which is feared to have
been infecting people at an alarming rate, particularly in the states
bordering Kenya and Uganda.
Sudan Tribune
South Sudan launches HIV/AIDS awareness campaign
By Julius N. Uma
Dr. Nyilok emphasized the importance of VCT and urged the population
to fully utilize the existing facilities put in place by government
with support from development partners and donors.