King Atoroba Gbudue Advocates Traditional Farming to Preserve Azande Heritage
King Atoroba Gbudue Advocates Traditional Farming to Preserve Azande Heritage
By Jackson Gaaniko
Azande king in Western Equatoria State, His Majesty King Atoroba Peni Rikito Gbudue, urged all the clans within the kingdom to promote and grow traditional crops.
King Atoroba spoke on Saturday, September 30, while addressing the Avungara clan of the Azande people.
He advised all the clans within the kingdom, especially those in Yambio municipality and other towns, to grow and promote traditional food.
His advice came after the Avungara clan paid a royal visit to the king at the palace over the weekend.
The king said that as Azande people, they should respect the culture of everyone living in the kingdom.
“We should be mindful of what Azande used to eat and grow traditional food. The restoration of the Azande kingdom was to restore, strengthen traditional leadership, and promote the indigenous culture of South Sudan,” said King Atoroba.
He underscored that it’s good to grow cultural foods like Mapese (rice), palm oil, papaya, cassava leaves (Gadia), millet, Simsim, Dura, traditional beans, sugarcane, and some fruits.
King Atoroba tasked the Avungara clan and other tribes in the kingdom to grow traditional foods to sell the culture of the Azande people or the people of Western Equatoria state as a whole.
The King promised to call all the Azande clans to register and support the necessary needs that promote the culture and its diversity.
“We should not forget to farm in order to produce more food to feed our people,” the king stated.
For his part, the Chairperson of the Avungara (Bakungba) Clan, Mr. Albert Maku, said the aim of the royal visit was to meet and greet the king of the Azande Kingdom with the little gifts they delivered.
He said they would heed the king’s advice as they remain committed to growing and promoting cultural food and are ready to obey the king and support it.
Since the restoration of the Azande kingdom, many tribes living within the kingdom have paid their royalty to the kingdom.
Many of our people have forgotten their cultural ways of life, especially how our great-grandparents used to live.
“I am appealing to the kingdom, especially our king, to restore our culture through traditional leaders, church leaders, and youths to how our people used to grow our traditional foods,” Albert appealed.
