Experiences of a Dinka in the Sudan War
Africa is one of the contents that are plagued by immense political, economic, and social issues in the world. On this note, I have had some experiences that have altered some of my social perspectives of life. Living in Sudan was one of the issues that have led to a change in my perspectives. I was born and brought in the Abyei area of Sudan, which would later be part of Southern Sudan, a country which seceded from the main country. As a Dinka, I was born in a pastoralist community were herding animals and other livestock was a primary role for the young people in the community. I am a millennial and has been brought up in a household that believes that religion and traditions do not define the achievements of a person. Precisely, my family had foregone some of the traditions of the community while I was growing up and the consequent Sudan war led to my family immigrating through the Kenyan border. Nonetheless, my family structure has incorporated some of the traditional elements of Dinka People.
Some of the historical and social events that have shaped my current life are related to the Sudan War. In this regard, it is essential to note that the Dinka were some of the minority races in the country when compared to the predominant Arabs. Moreover, the Dinka were considered a religious minority because a significant number of them are Christians in a country where Islam is the main religion. Noteworthy, they occupy land where the primary resource of the country is located. Succinctly, the Dinka occupy the location where some of the significant oil resources of the country are located. Thus, one of my worst experiences in the country was when the military engaged in a war with the local militias over the occupation of the land. According to my knowledge, our ancestors were born in this land and regardless of the resources that the land held, the land was rightfully ours (Pendle, 2017). Besides, I was subjected to the experience of being forcibly evicted from my home and lost a significant number of relatives and friends because of the confrontation between the military and the insurgents. On this note, the two experiences have had a significant impact on my social life because some of beliefs and values that I have held in my life have been negatively affected by the results of the actions against humanity.
Although the Sudan War has varying narratives, the war of the oil-rich regions and the eviction of many innocent civilians is one of the factors that has had a significant impact on my social life. On this note, it is essential to note that all existence in this world is reliant on the natural resources available. However, without having the ideal means of sharing and appropriating the resources, humankind could not survive because it means only the strongest will survive. On the other hand, being evicted from my traditional homeland has had a negative impact on the way I view society. In this regard, one of the factors that define people is identity. Identity is composed of both the social and cultural aspect of an individual. On this note, when I do not have a place I can call my ancestral home because it has been occupied by stronger forces, I cannot relate to my social and cultural background. Precisely, this is one of the factors that have led to my believing that I have been denied some of my basic rights and freedoms as a human being because I cannot base my roots to a location that is primarily occupied by people from my own social and cultural background.
The social and historical forces associated with the Sudan War and the forcible evictions of the individuals have been instrumental in the determination of the shape of my sociological autobiography. On this note, one of the factors that I have come to value is the association of people who are closely related in different aspects. For instance, when the fighting started, some individuals decided to join the militias. In this regard, they had come to realize that they did not have any hope if they were forced to leave their land for the benefit of the government. Interpersonal relationships were predominant in the determination of the action that people took when faced with the threat of being killed. Some of the people who had strong family ties tried all their best to ensure that they took their families to the safe areas that were accessible to them. In this regard, I was one of the individuals who was from a family where some of the members sacrificed their lives to ensure that others survived. The Dinka have the sociological and cultural beliefs that sacrifice for the younger people was beneficial for the development and sustainment of the community lineage. However, the community was also divided into different tribes, which meant that some families did not share the common attitude of the Dinka (Nascimento, 2020). Nonetheless, the fact that some of the family members sacrificed to go to the bush and fight to enable the young people to escape to neighbouring countries as refugees as an indicator that I am willing to sacrifice anything to ensure that safety of my people. In addition, my sociological autography is ingrained in the fact that I have some traumatic experiences and therefore have some mental issues that may affect my relationships with other people in the future.
Besides, the fact that I was among the evicted Dinka people in my own country has led to a situation where I feel disoriented about my cultural and social identity. On this note, although I have come to accept myself as a refugee in a country where the majority of the individuals are not aware of the circumstances of my presence within their community, I am conscious that I do not belong to the community because I have some unique values and beliefs. For instance, although religion is not a major concern in my current community, in our ancestral land, we were very religious. Also, my social identity has been affected by the fact that I am not sure if I can find my ancestors after the war is over. Precisely, the community has been affected by the need to be more financially and materially prosperous while in the past most of the people were concerned about the wellbeing of the community members. In this regard, I feel disoriented because I do not believe that my culture and society will ever go back to its normalcy before the war. Noteworthy, the country had been at war for decades but the recent trends were instrumental in ensuring that the community was destroyed and people turned to care for only the people who are close to them. In some instances, some family members have abandoned others in their need to find security in a country that has been ravished by various calamities most common being the war although famine and poverty have afflicted numerous households in the community. As a Dinka, my social identity has been associated with numerous factors that have led to the belief that my community will never the same again.
References
Pendle, N. (2017). Contesting the militarization of the places where they met: the landscapes of the western Nuer and Dinka (South Sudan). Journal of Eastern African Studies, 11(1), 64-85.
Nascimento, D. (2020). Christianity and Catastrophe in South Sudan: Civil War, Migration, and the Rise of Dinka Anglicanism by Jesse Zink. African Studies Review, 63(1), E16-E18.