By Betty Yom Mageer
![Activist Betty Yom [Photo courtesy]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Untitled-design-20.png?ssl=1)
If you look at the major cities and towns across South Sudan, you’ll see many needy children on the streets around the country. If you look at Juba, Wau, Malakal, Bentiu, Aweil, Rumbek, Kuacjok, Yambio, Torit and Bor for instance, you’ll see many small children living on the streets of those cities and you may wonder where they come from in South Sudan. Well those small kids are orphans whom their parents have lost their precious lives during the times of civil wars in South Sudan. They’re children whom their mums and dads had passed on as a result of both meaningful and meaningless civil wars in our country.
They’re children whom their homes were either burned down or they were displaced during the time of senseless civil conflicts in South Sudan. Additionally, how’re these war’s orphans surviving in the streets of South Sudan? Who’s supporting them in the streets? What’re the long-term solutions taken by the authorities to assist them and eradicate their suffering on the streets? Furthermore, as far as I know and heard from reliable sources across South Sudan. The orphans on the streets of South Sudan are struggling on their own to make a living. The orphans are coping with their hardships with resilience in South Sudan.
The needy and blameless orphans of nonsensical civil conflicts in South Sudan are enduring challenges quietly in our country. Moreover, there’re no many people who seem to pity them in their suffering in South Sudan. The few people who sympathize those war’s orphans and who want to help them lack resources to do so even though they’ve a strong desire to assist them and end their suffering in our country. Additionally, there’re some good Samaritans who’ve been trying to help them with food stuffs and built orphans’ homes for them and they’d love to continue with their Godly charity but unfortunately, those good Samaritans faced financial constraints and they can’t continue to do so for long time in South Sudan.
Furthermore, the majority of orphans in South Sudan are kids of our gallant soldiers who unfortunately passed away in the wars in South Sudan. They’re children of our country’s brave soldiers who sacrificed their precious lives both in the past meaningful old Sudan’s civil wars for freedom and self-rule and the useless South Sudanese civil wars. They’re children of our liberators who made life and death’s choices to liberate us from an oppression and servitude of past merciless, oppressive Khartoum’s regimes. They’re kids of our martyrs, heroines and heroes of our liberation struggle and independence of South Sudan.
They’re children of our men and women in uniform who courageously decided that it is better for them to sacrifice their precious souls for our liberty and liberation from Khartoum. They made those painful choices knowing in their hearts that their children will have a freedom, better lives and prosperity they didn’t have in their lives. It was an investment for the future. They’re children of our gallant and beloved soldiers who sacrificed their dearest lives in the fruitless South Sudanese civil war which has just ended and brought revitalized peace agreement in South Sudan.
They’re children of our brave soldiers who died while in the line of duty. They’re kids of soldiers who died while executing their constitutional mandate in South Sudan. They’re kids of former comrades of our current SPLM/SPLA’s leaders who’re in the government. So the question is ‘what is the government of South Sudan doing to help the kids of their former comrades?’ What is the plan of government about the suffering of these kids of martyrs, heroines and heroes? Is the government building schools for them? Does government recognize them as kids of former soldiers who died while protecting the nation?
Does government acknowledge the sacrifices made by their dads in the past civil wars of liberation from Khartoum? Or they’re not important to be considered in South Sudan anymore? Lastly, our government and citizens need to come up with a best solution to help these orphans and end their suffering in South Sudan. Those orphans are the future leaders, soldiers, policemen, policewomen, doctors, engineers, lawyers, journalists, bankers, business people, farmers, lecturers, preachers, teachers, scientists and pilots in South Sudan.
The author is a women’s rights activist and can be reached via: bettyyom2009@gmail.com.
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