From War and Hunger Survivor to a Peace Builder and Environmentalist, the Story of Michael Tut

I am told that my siblings, the majority of whom did not celebrate their 5^th birthdays died due to myriad of challenges in our country as it is apparent that the Southern part of the then Sudan faced a lot of problem ranging from civil war, diseases, hunger among many other issues.

In 1991 we were lived in a place called Panaru, when the rift in the SPLM/SPLA erupted in Nasir. There was mobilization of youths (Gar Nuer and the Lou Nuer) to advance towards Bor and as a result, we were the first people to be affected by violence; our livestock and grains were looted and some people also lost their lives and we also lost some family members. Even though we lost almost everything that constituted our source of livelihood, we persevered and remained in Panaru, the only place we had known as home.

In 1992, there was severe hunger which affected both Bor, Lou and Fangak. As a result, my father decide to move the family from Duk to Lou Nuer, to my paternal uncles in Uror. Unfortunately, there was hunger there, and my entire family could not be accommodated by our extended family. As such my parents decided to move to Ulang in Uppernile, unfortunately my dad did not make it, he and my younger sister, the one who follows me passed on in 1992.

I would say I was born in conflict and I grew up in conflict and unfortunately up to date, I am still experiencing conflict; this is what drew me to engage in peace building initiatives and activities because I believe that based on my experience and encounter, I am able to influence other people into embracing peace by helping them change their attitudes and behaviors towards peacebuilding. My target group is a generation born between 1997 and early 2000, this group do not understand the kind of suffering some of us went through as a result of conflict and they can easily be carried away or be influenced into conflict activities. I hope that sharing my experience about the negative effects of violence can help change their perspectives.

The Birth Conflict Transformation for Development Initiative

Conflict Transformation for Development (CTD) is a peacebuilding initiative established in 2015 when I was studying at African Nazarene University. The organization was founded by three South Sudanese and a Kenyan. The three South Sudanese included Emily Nyamet and myself who were studying for a bachelor’s degree course in peace and conflict at Nazarene University together with Doris Poni who had just finished her law degree at Catholic University of Eastern Africa. I felt that it wasn’t fair to just sit and watch as our country is being consumed by violence and conflict, yet I am trained in peace building. It was time to put into action what I had trained for, therefore I teamed up with my colleagues and together we initiated peace building activities that were meant to change the attitude and the perception of the South Sudanese who were currently living in Kenya.

The organization was thus established to promote peace and so far we have carried out a number of peace building activities here in Kenya as well as back home in South Sudan. In Kenya we conducted a peace tournament in 2016, where we brought together over four South Sudanese soccer teams in an event that lasted for three days. The main objective of these soccer competition was to bring together South Sudanese youth from different ethnic communities to play together and forge unity since soccer is a game of unity and peace. It was also an opportunity to bring the youth together so that they can learn from one another. The motive behind this was for the youth to forget about their ethnic differences and social status and try to embrace each other as South Sudanese, regardless of where they come from.

In 2017, 2018 and 2019 we have been participating in a number of peace activities including celebrations of International Peace Day which is usually celebrated annually on 21^st September and we have also participated in empowerment training that is entrepreneurship training. So far we have trained a group of 47 South Sudanese women in Nairobi on entrepreneurship and mediation. On numerous occasions, we have also participated in tree planting campaigns to conserve the environment. This year, 2020, we celebrated the International Peace Day by bringing together youths from Jongolei through Zoom platform into a discussion on the role of youths in peace building, the role of women and factors affecting or hindering peace building in Jongolei State.

I grew up in conflict and my aspiration to engage in all these activities is based on the desire that I do not envisage my children to grow up in violence and conflict. I decide to be a champion of peace so that my children can grow up in a very conducive and peaceful environment where they can cultivate their potentials, where they can go to school and live a better life than I did. I was brought up in war, I experienced the ugly repercussions of war and it is not something I wish for the future generation of South Sudanese. The desire for a lasting peace in my country, the desire for opportunities for development and reconstruction of my country motivates me to work harder towards achieving that goal.

Concerning my motivation towards environmental conservation, it all goes together with peace building. For instance, among the repercussions of violence and conflict is the scarcity of resources. War and conflicts disrupts people’s ways of livelihood leading to struggle over the scarce resources. Apparently, we get resources from the environment, we get water from our livestock from the river and we get food from the ground which we cultivate. The forest for instance is a source of so many natural resources; forests bring rain, provide us with fruits, timber, and vegetables. The consequences of environmental degradation and destructions is destruction of natural resources, which consequently leads to violence and conflict as people scramble over the small resources available. The conservation of environment is therefore paramount towards forging peaceful existence among the people.

Challenges towards peacebuilding and environmental conservation

Both the work of peacebuilding and environmental conservation are quite challenging and requires commitment, perseverance and also patience. In our societies, people do not appreciate or recognize the need to conserve environment. People are yet to understand and appreciate the fact that when you conserve the environment the benefits come to you later. As such when you go talking to them about environmental conservation, you only sound like a broken record as people tend to think that trees grow on their own and can be cut down and life will continue as usual. What they don’t understand is that when you cut down a tree and don't plant another one, the effect on the environment will be severe in future. This is one of the greatest challenges to any effort towards environmental conservation. As such, awareness creation on the importance of environmental conservation is greatly needed among the many communities in South Sudan.

When you talk about peacebuilding, many people tend to think peace is the absence of war, which is far from the truth and this in itself is a big challenge. Peace is more than absence of war, it is about justice; if there is no justice in the society, there cannot be peace; if there is no respect for others, there cannot be peace; when there is no dialogue among communities or a group of people living together in a society, then definitely there is no peace. Therefore there is need for awareness creation among communities in South Sudan about that peace is about dialogue, it is about respect for others and about provision of services by the concerned authorities in addition to the lack of conflicts and violence. 

Divisive politics is also a major challenge towards peacebuilding in South Sudan. This has led to our communities being divided along ethnic lines. For instance, if I, a Nuer goes to an area inhabited by another ethnic community, they would be asking, why has he come to us instead of going to preach to his people and they will start calling me names. The issue of divisive politics has brought so much hatred that we no longer see each other as South Sudanese but as Nuer, or Dinka or Zande. This needs to change and the change is quite urgent.

Another major challenge to us in our effort towards peacebuilding is the issue of insecurity. Our efforts are only able to reach as many people as possible when we are able to move freely from Juba to Yambio, from Yambio to Reng, from Reng to Akobo and other places. This has not been possible at the moment because of the fear of attacks from rebels who are still in the bush along the major highways. In addition to the insecurity is lack of proper infrastructures. The roads network in South Sudan is almost nonexistence as many roads become impassible during the rainy seasons. Travelling around South Sudan is therefore a great challenge.

Last but not least, the issue of limited resources to facilitate peacebuilding activities remains another big challenge despite the willingness and interests to do more. If I do not have the resources to conduct trainings, or provide economic empowerment to these young people who are currently in the bush fighting, then my peace building effort may not bear much fruits.

My dream and aspiration is to see a peaceful South Sudan in the near future. However, a peaceful, prosperous and united country will not come by itself; right at the moment our country is divided, there is a great need to therefore unite all communities and all ethnic groups in the country .My aspiration is that in the next 10 years we will have a united , prosperous and cohesive country called South Sudan. We therefore need young South Sudanese to rise to the occasion and try to do what is necessary so that together we will be able to build a cohesive society. 

I would like to encourage our young people not to give up; it is high time we become united for a common purpose and that is to see a united peaceful south Sudan regardless of our ethnic differences, political affiliations, social status and economical status. Let us be united and together embrace dialogue because this is the road to prosperity.

By Stephen Darunga