What is the future of Sudan?

It takes a disciplined spirit to endure the monastery on mount Serat in Spain. One of the fundamental requirements of this religion is that the young men must maintain silence. Opportunities to speak are scheduled once every two years, at which time they are allowed to speak only two words.

What if you were one of the young men, and you are asked to share two words that describe your life? Would your focus be the lumps, bumps, and unfairness, or are you committed to dwell on those things that are good, right, and lovely?

I have not yet been in the Northern Sudan. But in the Southern Sudan, I have seen kids loitering on the streets as though they have no parents or guardians to take care of them. Now, should we put the blame on the devastating war that we have just emerged from? Of course not. But again what are we supposed to do in order to give hope to the children, who are the future leaders of this nation?

Seeing kids moving aimlessly in the streets or doing odd jobs, they ought not to do, in the towns around is a concern to me, and to some other people as well, I guess. Yesterday evening I met Rose Opani,9, Margaret Awate,8, and Jane Ataya,7, selling groundnuts. Ataya and Opani are trying to raise enough money to pay their school fees, since there is no one to support them in school. And Awate struggles to support her family. She has to provide food for her family of six people. In an interview with her she told me:

“Getting food is a big problem. My guardian does not get enough money to support the family in order to keep all fed. So I decided to do the business so as to supplement his efforts.”

The three girls come from different homes. They are neighbors of each other though. Although one could easily see smile on their faces, one thing was very clear to me: I could feel them hurting, as they told their stories. This made me assume the life they are living is too tough for them, and more so for children like them. They are just too young to face such a difficult situation they are going through. They seem to have lost even the glimpse of hope for a better life for them.

I asked Awate, how many meals they get a day. After a short silence of a deep breath she told me: “Of course we get one meal everyday. But at times when there is totally nothing to eat, we sleep on empty stomachs.”

We agree to the fact that Sudan is one of the countries that has faced a devastating conflict over a long time. People are facing deep poverty, diseases, hunger, among others. There is no doubt that people need to have their capacity built so they can begin to rebuild and start a new life – a life of hope. But again this will cost us a lot of strength to bring about. Because it is something to do with one’s will.

Due to the fact that most people still harbor hatred, despair, among others, in their hearts, it may not be easy to break the vicious circle – a life of hopelessness. But unless we set our minds on positivism, we may not break the vicious circle. There is a great need to contain new ideas on the back of our minds, in order to stretch out of our comfort zones.