Awerial South County team won over Awerial County North on Thursday in the final of an inter-communal wrestling tournament in Minkaman in Eastern Lakes State, which was organized by Solidarity Ministries Africa for Reconciliation & Development (SMARD), with the support from UNDP’s Peace and Community Cohesion project (PaCC).

This event was attended by a large number of fans. 15 wrestlers contested for the match. Wrestling games are meant to encourage peace, forgiveness and reconciliation among South Sudanese.

Awerial South County won with eight and Awerial County North won only one match, and six draw.

“We provide support to communities so that they can identify and address conflict drivers and connectors, things that bring them together, and to create safe spaces in which communities can interact, ” said Julia Tope Odumuyiwa, a peace-building specialist with UNDP’s Peace and Community Cohesion project.

Odumuyiwa further said that the wrestling ground is one of those safe spaces that has been created and the wrestling itself is one of the activities the local communities identified as a unifier.

“We believe wrestling and sports, in general, are very effective tools when it comes to peace building,” she added.

Bernice Kitum, Program Coordinator of SMARD, said: “We are using wrestling to reach out to different members of the community, particularly young people working in the cattle camps, because they are the ones mobilized to take part in community violence.”

“I like that my fans can enjoy my moves and my skills, I like people coming to see me. I am happy to come here, but we always look forward to hosting other communities to come and wrestle with us,” said a wrestler from Awerial South.