Tsunami-liked Hunger and Starvation in Aweil

Ateny Wek · Beginner Contributor

Tsunami-liked Hunger and Starvation in Aweil

Kuot Kuot · Major Contributor

Thanks Ateny Wekdit for forwarding this info. to us. We have every reason to be worried about this looming danger because this is just a beginning of Febraury when people are suppose to have food in plenty. If this famine begins this early, one can only speculate what will happen to people as they enter March and April. I think Aweil people can play a big role in alleviating this looming danger. This will include such things as fund raisings and alerting the world about it. The government of south Sudan is just as helpless as most of us are. I hope history will not repeat itself this time. The 1988 famine has taught us many lessons; that we are living in a world which is governed by self interest. Aweil communities around the world should starting raising fund and awareness toward alleviating this famine. It will particularly be bad as thousands of returnees will go home this summer. Aweil people should simply remove their hopes on the so called "international community" world doesn't care about Africans, this was seen in Rwanda when close to a milliion people were massacred while the world stood and watch. The massive help that flew to Asia during Tsunami disaster should not mislead us, rich nations have more interest in Asia than they do in the forgotten continent of Africa. Once again, thanks Ateny Wek for the information. It is now up to Aweil people to think about it in their respective communities.

KK.

Tong Deng · Beginner Contributor

Thank you Ateny Wekdit. I don't have time now to comments. will do it tomorrow. Here is another link on the same issue.
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050202-052649-1965r

Best wishes

Tong Deng

Aquoll · Beginner Contributor

Dear all,

What a potential catastrophic situation! Where are the plans to prevent this tragic event? What can the leadership and other individuals do to alleviate the damage this would cause to the region of Bhar el Ghazel? How much could the international communities and other philanthropic organizations do to help the situation?

I just can't understand the magnitude of potential destruction to Aweil people. I wonder when Aweil people attain undisturbed life. They are always being hit by terrible social and economic problems. Famine is the most discreditable situation to humanity. Famine is really bad because it deprives the sense of humanity and its dignity. It would be extremely worse if our war-affected citizens enter another phase of famine war. Action needs to be taken seriously lest the war survivors would be massively consumed by the famine. This potential disasterous situation requires collaboration from individuals, families, communities, societies, and the nation.

Dear Ateny Wek and Tong Deng,

How much is the leadership doing and where are the possible efforts to mitigate this situation? Is there is anything the leadership is doing to control the situation and make it a less damaging to people? I would urge the leadership to arrange and contact individuals wherever they are to think about it. People like you Ateny Wek and Tong Deng could possibly contact Aweil leadership for those who have no access to our leaders, for instance, myself. We need leadership to tell us how much they can do and what it needs help with. As I said in my first paragraph, this can start with individuals, familes, communities, to mention only a few. Individuals can start helping their immediate families or relatives and then it goes like that until it reaches the whole community.

Indeed sad and disturbing news!

Thanks,

Aquoll Piezometric

acid anei · Intermediate Contributor

dear Ateny Wekdit and all

thank ateny wekdit for esential articles about revenous that will hit our homeland on coming season. i think will not depend on UN,but i will appreciate whatever they do to help. therefore, aweil personals in western world should instigated fundrising to help situation as soon as possible before the situation get worse. i don't know about other world, but in USA aweil has prominent leaders which can help in this situation such as youth leaders and communities leaders, we better contact and a ware them of this upcoming hunger or starvation.

i am much worries about kids and old people,because they are first and most to be affect by famine. 1988 history of drought and famine has depopulate in aweil. we can fight this upcoming famine if we join hand together as a communities.anyway ateny wekdit thank once again for bring up this vital topic early.

thanks all

awach anei

santino Ajith · Major Contributor

Dear Ateny Wek and Tong Deng,

Thank for bringing this devastating situation to our attention. It is absolutely sorrowful to see our people enduring huge suffering year after year and the two governments turning blind eyes to it. Aweil leadership should find immediate solutions to solve these persistents famine problems in Aweil community and two governments ought not to underestimate this catastrophic condition this time. I support Kuot Kuot idea so that Aweilians in abroad do a small contributions to help out this situation. I know it is not an easy one but together we can do it.

Thanks

Santino Ajith

Deng Santo · Beginner Contributor

Dear Ateny wekdit and all brothers,

This is a very sad news for all of us. Everyone is enjoying the peace but our people are still at war with hunger, it is really sad. What is the government of south doing to control the situation? I have not seen any press release from the SPLA yet, what is it waiting instead of informing the world about this danger? Back to Aweil community in the western world, this is the time we need stand together with our people at home. Aweil communities in the west should do immediately to our vulnerable citizens at home. We need to talk to our communities leaders here in the west to do someting quickly. That is why they were elected into offices. In 1988 we did not have the opportunities we have now, that is why thousands of our people died through hunger, now we are very alert, the same thing can not happen again. We should do it. Come up with good suggestions on how to respond to this problem.

Uncle Dengdit.

Aquoll · Beginner Contributor

Deng Santo,

I always maintain that we need some sort of better organization in term of leadership. And I clearly know the cogent reason why I ecourage the recognition or importance of the leadership. Though there more committed individuals like Ateny Wek and other people, I still recognize the importance and the instrumental role of Aweil leadership given the magnitude of famine threat. First of all I want to know what efforts are our leadership are taking if the famine threat indeed would be overwhelmingly catastrophic. I want to know what are the leadership concerns and responsibilities to their people. These things need to be done quickly if the situation is truely serious as I understand it. Organization in term of competent, caring, compassionate, responsive, and loving is of paramount importance. I want people to recognize this fact. We won't achieve anything by going around it with an assumption that it would possibly work better. No, it won't work that way. We need to be directed like other communities in the world.

More importantly, we also need facts from Aweil leadership in addition to media information or news. This could be more cogent and emotionally disturbing to most people from Aweil who are in Western countries. Aweil leadership must disclose the full information this potential disaster and the nature of the threat.

Thanks,

Aquoll Piezometric

Ateny Wek · Beginner Contributor

Dear Great peoples of Mading-Aweil,

Your responses are very promising – as you all recognize the fact that each of you owes a duty of care to his/her home, a duty that mustn’t be beach. However, I am working-out a plan and will soon response to you in due course, highlighting what we should do as direct family members of those affected by the looming hunger which is threatening our people to extinction. During the tsunami disaster, albeit, the world has positively responded by donating billions of dollars, however, the peoples of those affected countries who have had a chance to be in Diaspora felt to contribute whatever little money could afford to donate. So, let us keep our fingers cross.

Kind Regards.

Ateny Wekdit

Kuot Kuot · Major Contributor

Dear brothers,

Thank you all for your touching responses to this sad development. You are the eyes and voices of the defenseless, the voiceless and the innocent who have no otherwise but to patiently wait for their fate which is making headlines each passing day. We won't simply wish away this looming famine; some sort of action will need to be taken. The onus is now on the Aweil community in the West, they have the potential to help immensely. As most of you pointed out correctly, Aweil community leaders in the West are obligated to direct the masses on how best they can response to the forthcoming catastrophe. It is also worth noting that, responding to the coming famine doesn't necessarily require community leaders alone, they need our support in the form of ideas, organizing such events as fund raisings, alerting well wishers and organizations in our community of residence or campuses, etc. I also must stress that; we need to keep all form of politics out of this issue as much as we possibly can. We are talking about life and death here, so it is important that we distance ourselves from politics as it can easily hamper our people’s good will to help.

Finally, the Aweil community leaders at home and East Africa should write a press release to the Aweil communities in the West explaining the situation at home and how best they want the Aweil community in the West to help. Such message will first and foremost put pressure on the Aweil masses here in the West to take the situation seriously. At the same time, it will give Aweil community leaders in the West all the support they need in rallying community members to appropriately response toward alleviating the situation at home. It is also noteworthy mentioning that a letter signed by the Aweil community leaders at home will give a lot of weight to any form of awareness being conducted. Message written by the leaders is far more important than journalistic articles, since majority of people don’t really trust journalists as most of them are oftentimes not fully aware of the realities on the ground. I therefore encourage people like Tong Deng who are more or less the link between the people at home and those in the West to pass this message to the leaders at home. They have got to write about this, let them not be cheated that anyone is going to do the work on their behalf. Their writings also need to be relentless. They should bear in mind that their writings will make more impact here in the West than any information coming from other sources. They should learn from the 1988 "faminal genocide" which wiped out entire villages. Thank you all

Kuot Kuot.

-- Edited by Kuot Kuot at 01:01, 2005-02-05

Aquoll · Beginner Contributor

Kuot kuot,

You got the point fully elaborated.

Thanks,

Aquoll

Atem · Beginner Contributor

Thanks to uncle Ateny Wek and Tong Deng, for bringing into view this sorrowful news from home, am sure this had kept everyone alert and even ready to give a hand in this horrible situation. For those who might doubt this sad news, am living witness though not eyes witness, before i left Kenya in October 6, 2004 i had talked to my dad in Marial baai over the radio call and he had told me of coming famine and compared it to 1988 famine, moreover, my mum came in December last year and she had repeated the same information. I therefore, beg all Aweil leaders in Western countries to sacrifice their time and organised a way of helping our dying brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and relatives.

lets safe the dying souls as quickly as possible.

Ahok Atem

santino Ajith · Major Contributor

Dear Aweilians

Thank for your enormous contribution pertaining this dreadful news of hunger and starvation in our homeland, Aweil. You had unanimously debated the topic to death by laying down concrete solutions and answers. Now let us all work toward this tragedy because together we can make a different to it.

Thanks

Santino Ajith

acid anei · Intermediate Contributor

hi forks,

thanks again for your vital and apprehensive response of upcoming deadly season. i trully agree with miss atong wek, to put aside others topics and let put more efford on TSUNAMI-LIKE HANGER AND STARVATION IN AWEIL. i try to make few phones call and many forks response positively, althought nothing of them pay anything yet. i hope we will try our part in chicago to do whatever possible to help on coming revenous.

incase of community, don't take chance but take action.

thank all,

awach anei.

mayikaher · Major Contributor

DEAR ALL,

WHAT IS JOHN GARANG DOING WITH RESPECT TO THE DISASTER THAT IS THREATENING AWEIL AREA?

IS HE TAKING SOME PRECAUTIONAL MEASURES AGAINST THIS UPCOMING DISASTER?

I MEAN TO SAY THAT DOES HE HAS ANY PLAN TO WRITE PRESS RELEASE AND MAKE SOME PERSUASIVE SPEECHES TO CATCH THE WORLD ATTENTION.

OR DOES HE WANT TO IGNORE IT LIKE HE DID TO THAT DISTURBING SCENARIOS OF 1988 STARVATION AND TWO DECADE-SLAVERY?

I NEED SOME ANSWERS TO MY QUESTIONS.

I SUPPOSE JOHN GARANG SHOULD DO SOMETHING THIS TIME TO SALVAGE HIS POLITICAL REPUTATION IN AWEIL. A POLITICIAN MUST APPEAR DURING A DIFFICULT TIME TO FIND WAYS TO HELP HIS SUBJECTS UNLESS HE STILL THINKS THAT AWEIL PEOPLE ARE HIS OBJECTS.

THANKS,

GARANG AHER

Aruei Bol · Beginner Contributor

Hi brothers

It's sad to hear that. It has been our wish that chances of geeting deceased weregoing to be minimal after the signing of peace deal. Alas, it is never the case. It is our obligation to join hands, pray for Aweil people and possibly helping them if we could.

God help the great people.

Aruei Bol Aruei.

Tong Deng · Beginner Contributor

Dear all

Thanks for your very encouraging responses. First of all I would like to apologize for my too late reply to most of the things that required my attention. My silence to reply you does not carry any bad intention at all; I was busy doing a lot of coordinations between the people here, at home and abroad concerning the matter.

There are plans underway which I may not be in a position tell you now, but I will let know as soon as they are finalize.

Just one more thing, I do encourage all of us not stop from here. Let us continues with serious campaigns and do a better action by the end of the day.

For your information all your messages of concerning has been disseminated to Aweil leaders whom don't have accessible to internet facility.

Best wishes,

Tong Deng

-- Edited by Tong Deng at 23:15, 2005-02-08

Kuot Kuot · Major Contributor

Dear Tong Deng

Thank you so much for being such a vital link between the Aweil people at home and those in the "West". The lessons of 1988 famine in Aweil are still fresh in people's mind and so every Aweil person is very much concerned of the looming famine. From my own analysis, there is a general sense of preparedness among the Aweil people to response to the forthcoming famine in the best way possible. I therefore believe strongly that what we are discussing now is not going to remain here, but will translate to practical action. Already some people have begun making some preparations concerning this same problem example being State of Chicago as mentioned by Awach Anei. Just continue coordinating with the leaders at home then let us know what you guys have come up with. Aweil leaders here in the "West" have been alerted of the problem and are aware of the situation. This is not longer the days when communication used to be a problem, we now have great sources of communication including vairous Aweil websites and discussion boards. So we are well set. Any way, I just wanted to thank you for the good work. All the best.

Kuot Kuot.

-- Edited by Kuot Kuot at 23:38, 2005-02-08

Deng Santo · Beginner Contributor

Dear brother Tong Deng,

Even if I disagreed with you last time, I should give you your credit of patriotism. You are really a patriotic son of Mading Aweil, I am proud of you brother. Nobody should question your patriotism now to Mading Aweildit. You are doing damn good job down there in Sudan/Kenya. Your role of mediation is appreciated brother. Tell Aweil leaders that we want them to do good job for our people. We shall give our leaders here real headach, we shall make sure that they fulfill the role they were elected for. We expect them to force every Aweilian to contribute whether Aweilina like it nor not. Any leader who will fail to convince people to contribute will be kicked out of office, we do not want ineffective leaders. Our leaders must be capably, but I know all of them are very capable. Every man or woman is always capable. Thank you brother, you are doing good job.

Uncle Dengdit.

Tong Deng · Beginner Contributor

Dear Deng Santo

Disagreement is a part of live and it is a tool of improvement. Even in your own house if you want to improve something, you must disagreement and fight with your own people while the family can be together still. It is the same for us here, there some issues we disagree on them and still we share the same house “Mading Aweil”.

So let move on with campaign and awareness to fight against the upcoming coming famine in Aweil area.

Best wishes,

Tong Deng

Garang Dhieu · Beginner Contributor

DEAR, ATENY WEK ATENY

I THANK YOU, FROM MY BOTOM OF MY HEART, AND THOSE WHO MADE THIS WEBSIT POSSIBLE.

I HEARD FROM A GENEGLEMENT ASKING."WILL AWEIL HAVE A GOVERNER"? I THOUGHT THAT WAS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION.

IN THIS KIND OF CONDITION HUNGER AND STRVATION IN AWEIL. WHAT IS OUR GOVERNER'S ROLE IN HUNGER AND STARVATION IN AWEIL?

IS OUR NATIONAL PUBLIC POLICY MAKING PROCESS AS DEMOCRATIC AS WE DESIRE?

MADING AWEIL CITIZENS ARE THE ONES WHO ARE EFFECTIVED BY THE WAR, THEIR EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE, MILITARY AND LAWS ARE ALL AFFECTED. THE PROBLEM OF STARVATION IS ONE WE ALL MUST WORK TOGETHER TO SOLVE.

OUR LEADERS AND THEIR ADMINSTRATION SHOULD HELP OUR PEOPLE BY OPENING BANKS, MEDIA TO TELL US NEWS.WITH THESE INSTITIONS, WE CAN STEP IN AND HELP OUR OWN PEOPLE BY SENDING THEM MONEY, AND EXCHANGE NEWS.

IT IS MY HOPE TO SEE AWEIL CITIZEN FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH, TO DISAGREE WITH ONE ANTHER CIVILY.

THANK YOU

SANTINO GARANG DHIUE

U.S MID-WEST

mayikaher · Major Contributor

Dear all,

Aweil people lives worth much more than the property one of us has. You can get the lost property back but you can't the lost life back. We must realize this difference.

We all go to work or school to get better skill or profession to protect our vulnerable people and ensure their safety and quality of life. Thuse confronting this tragic looming hunger with anything at our disposal is of tremendous importance. It is a top priority to protect the most threatened masses in Aweil.

It is through honesty, integrity, trust, respect, and accountability in term of responsibility that we can create and nurture competent and caring leadership in Aweil. The objective of this contribution and distribution is not to make the rich richer and the poor poorer but to raise the poor above the line of survival. And I hope this will be the guiding principle in contribution and distribution.

Deng Santo,

That is indeed correct. Aweil leaders should not lose hope but they must be strong in facing these hard challenges. We are their backups and replacements and not John Garang anymore. And therefore I urge everybody to get out of this dangerous illusion.

Further, John Garang should be able to know famine facing Aweil people and his political reputation. He either loses votes or get involved in helping us to confront this problem.

Politics versus people life.

I will write on the weekend.

Thanks,

Garang Aher

Ateny Wek · Beginner Contributor

Dear brother Garang Dhieu,

First, thank you for the compliments. You are also a party in those peoples who made this website a sucess. Without, postive responses from majority of Aweil's intellectuals (yourself included) and possibly friends of Mading-Aweils peoples, like Manoi Athian, Mayom Bul, Awolich to mention but few, this website could have gone to wane before its grew to be the mouthpice of our voicless peoples. The choice made by people who do not hail from Aweil to join us, is not but one hundred step towards the unity of the peoples of South Sudan.

Concerning your other question, whether our Governors or Adimnistrators had at all any program for helping our starving population in Aweil, I would like to answer you in breif, in what I hope may be reasonable. As, you might have read the information I had already supplied somewhere under this board, the matter of having a real governor who can stand hand-in hand with peoples of Aweil still remains in proposal. Aweil does not at the moment had any peoples' governor yet - there are of course some hawkers to whom their alligence falls to Bashier, because he is the one who still have power to appoint the governors, not of Aweil alone, but of other ten States of the south Sudan. The SPLM/A did not have the systems of States before the agreement. What was in the SPLM/A is Region of which Aweil was an area under the Region of Bhar El Gazal. According to the recent peace Agreement signed in Kenya between the SPLM/A and the GOS, the governors of any State shall only be elected by the parliament of the State - however, the agreement still remain largely in paper and not yet implemented. The Current Governor of Aweil, the NIF's Wali Garang Deng Aguer, has been reported to be doing his best to collect as much money as he could, for his own use. Of course this thing is not new. The proverb which says" the bankrupt trader thinks of how to get back the money he had lost, so that he could learn from his past Mistakes" . Garang Deng Aguer, is just learning to avoid mistakes he had done in the past by allowing his pocket to dry. Now he is even taking money from Aweil to his bank account in the North. It is a matter of time before he accounts for all this mass.

On the part of our sons/daughters in the SPLM/A the looming hunger is in their thinking day and night. Brother Tong Deng had mentioned this few days ago, and I have no doubt they are taking care of the looming hunger, within their capacity .With very limited resourses or not at all, they are making plans, of which each of us who live in the West, must also prepare to do. I myself would soon be in Aweil to see it for myself.

Kind Regards.

Ateny Wekdit

Garang Dhieu · Beginner Contributor

DEAR MR. ATENY WEK,

THANK YOU FOR RESPONDING TO MY QUESTION, AND EDUCATING ME ABOUT THE SITUATION THAT AWEIL'S GOVERNOR IS IN.I WISH YOU GOOG LUCK ON YOUR TRIP AND MAY GOD WATCH OVER YOUR TRIP TO AWEIL

THANKS

SANTINO GARANG DHIEU

U.S. MID-WEST