Race Relations in South Sudan, Africa No. 2

In between my run-in with Carol, I attended a three-day workshop put on by the Joint Monitoring & Evaluation Commission (JMEC) for South Sudan. This group is made up of 30 members, half of which are from South Sudan, representing the following communities: warring parties, civil society, women, youth, faith-based, business and the elderly (or as they say, “Eminent Personalities”). The other half is made up by various African and western nations – Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, and the AU (African Union) as well as China, Norway, the UK, the US, the UN, and the EU and they are literally responsible for writing the current history of South Sudan. As a participant, I was supposed to learn how/why people from foreign countries “observe & report” and the importance of teaching others (the residents of the observed and reported on country) what to do with the information they gather and share.

I found the following observations extremely ironic…walk with me now:

1. One presenter was a former white male police officer from Florida
2. The leader of JMEC was a “Good Ole Boy” from Missouri
3.  Melanie (a very nice white lady) was tasked with sharing what’s been observed but not how and what has been reported

In my humblest of opinions, what I witnessed was how foreign entities attempt to agitate and conduct “nation building” for the sake of democracy outside of their own home countries. At no point could they actually tell the participants WHAT to do but, they were telling them HOW to use the tools provided to bring about change in their country.

The participants were super frustrated at how an organization could simply observe and report what’s wrong in a country but not be able to do anything about it. So of course, I commented directly to Melanie during Q&A, “Please explain why observing and reporting is so necessary.” To which she gave an extremely long explanation that didn’t hit what I wanted the participants to hear which was, “We want you to push YOUR government on what we see wrong with your country in order to make the changes necessary for all of us to live a more productive life.” On one hand that’s a very good way to get things to change but, at the same time, it’s a very dangerous way as well. Imagine someone coming to your home and telling your children how to undermind you…I know that’s not a solid enough argument but, that’s all I could think of at the time.

The presentations were extremely text rich, meaning the PowerPoints were being read verbatim because there was far too much language and there were no graphics nor pictures to help participants keep up. Also, there was no Arabic translator to help even those who spoke English fully understand what was being said and keep up with what was going on. I was totally feeling their frustrations.

Anyway, after sitting through a couple of days learning about the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS), I found myself at a women’s march put on by some superfly sistas of South Sudan a day after the workshops were over. Crown the Woman (an organization here in South Sudan that promotes girls education and fights against gender-based violence) and another woman-led organization put the march together to shed light on the plight of women in the country and the violence they’ve been subjected to over the years. They marched in silence to demand an end to the violence within the country. But, before the march began, I met a reporter…another nice white lady from America….

I’d been on the grounds for the start of the march for about 30 minutes when “Sarah” showed up. I think she said her name was Sarah and if I’m wrong, I’ll just call her Sarah for the sake of this story. Anyway, being the extrovert that I am, I walked up to her and introduced myself after I’d heard her speak to a few of the older ladies waiting for the march to begin. Like Carol, she did not have an accent and I was interested in knowing more about her. I’m a gluten for punishment! She had asked the ladies if they could get a bit closer so she could take a photo of them. They didn’t have a problem with her request and cheerfully obliged. After her photo (with a very fancy camera) I asked her name. She shared that she was “Sarah” and that she worked for the AFP (Agence France-Presse). “Hmmm…” I thought and before asking her a single question, she said, “You know, they don’t really like journalists here in South Sudan.” And so our conversation began…

“I understand the intense pressure journalists around the world have been under and how they’ve faced some difficult situations. AND I also understand how a government or a people within a particular country can tend to shut down or shut out journalist who continue to dig and dig for negative news.” To this she gave a quick look of shock and asked why I was in South Sudan. “So who do you work for?” she asked.

“I don’t work. I just moved to South Sudan.” I proudly proclaimed with a smile on my face.

“That was an odd decision to make. Don’t you think?” she commented with a smirked and watched closely for my response.

“No. It wasn’t an odd or difficult decision for me. I’ve been here before and my husband is from South Sudan.”

“Oh…so who does he work for?” she asked.

“No one. We decided to move here because it’s his home and we wanted to start an organization working with children and providing educational and recreational activities.” Changing the subject, I asked her what type of stories she reported on for her job.

“I cover the conflict and humanitarian stories.” To which I asked, “Are there other things that you report on besides the negative things that are going on here South Sudan?”

With a smug look on her face she said, “I’m covering this march today.”

“Yeah. And it will probably start out in a negative way first…” I couldn’t help myself. I shared that I had my experience with the press in the past as a school board member and that inevitably, the words I used were taken out of context about 75% of the time or couched between commentary that was not  relevant to the story. And she immediately took offense and said, “Not all journalist are…” I cut her of and reminded her that my exact words were, “my experience with the press”.

She seemed a bit annoyed and I didn’t care. I pushed and asked her why she didn’t cover more positive stories and she exclaimed, “Like what?!”

“How about the fact that the children here in Juba go to school on Saturdays?”

“Why would that be interesting? Children go to school…so what?”

“The news that you provide to people is meant for those outside of the country right?”

“Right.”

“So, I’m personally tired of friends and family telling me to be careful as if it is so unsafe here. A more positive story on what’s going on on a daily basis here would help them know that Juba, South Sudan is not as bad as the press would have them think.”

“That seems a bit mundane.”

“So basically, conflict and poverty sell?”

“Yes.”

“And you wonder why the press is not liked? If all you report on is conflict and poverty, no country will work to make you feel welcome. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t report on the negative…just balance it with more positive and ordinary stories too.”

I saw her face turn a bit red. She was clearly frustrated with me and what she presumed was an approval of the negative treatment of journalists. But before we could continue our conversation, a group of superwomen arrived, greeted me, and swept me away. As we walked toward another group of waiting women, I saw Sarah head over to the newly arrived Al Jazeera reporter, an African woman. When I got a chance, I quickly jotted down a few lines in my journal:

“Imagine visiting someone’s home and sharing your experience with friends later. You tell them about the dirty dishes, dusty furniture, and unkept yard. You leave out how tasty the food was, the beautiful artwork on the walls, and the wonderful conversation you had with the host.

That’s how I see things now that I’m living here. I see so many positive things going on and an outside white-dominated press that would only share what’s WRONG; blatantly negating all the GOOD that takes place. It’s extremely frustrating because it sticks with the age old narrative about Africa and Africans:

• They are poor
• They are starving
• They are corrupt
• They are tribalistic and always warring
• They only want aid and don’t want to work

In their refusal to cover the mundane, they (the journalists) continue to tow the line on stereotyping The Continent and its inhabitants. In their constant homogeneous reporting, things are all the same and nothing has changed. And in their inability to move around in Black skin, they are frustrated when people distrust them and turn away from their nosy questions.”

I saw Sarah throughout the march as she snapped pictures of the women and wondered what she would write and how she would begin her story. Would it be like every other piece?

                South Sudan has been in conflict/war since blah blah blah

                Women and children have been displaced in bordering countries since blah blah blah

                The government of South Sudan is a participant in the ongoing conflict blah blah blah

And then I remembered that I also had the power to write and tell my own story – something we should all take pride in doing on a regular basis. We need to push our children and students to write their own stories instead of having someone else misinterpret and in turn mis-educate others on who they are and why they exist. Teach them how to use their own voice with pride as well as their ears with humility…something that could have been a great benefit to Sarah.