The author of this piece, Riak Alek Arek, describes himself as a peace promoter. In his poem, he laments the continuing violence in South Sudan and the failed hopes that the country would be peaceful after the 1983-2005 war of independence.
My name is one nation
What is that I have been hearing?
What is that I have been seeing?
What is that I have been experiencing?
What is again making that sound?
Why do I have to hear that sound again, do I have to hear it for my lifetime because this is the very sound that made us a separate country today,
after all that we went through as South Sudanese and we successfully got our fate…
I thought we would all be given pens and books rather than rifles and AK47…
I thought my tribe would be South Sudan as a nation ..
why do I have to suffer on my own soil…
why do I have to point the gun on my own brother…
Why do I have to make my young brother and a sister run again looking for safety because of me?
My elders are crying because of my name why?
What does it cost to be peaceful again just like before..
What does it cost to smile with my brother from another mother again…
Why are we reducing our own population over a simple issue that can easily be addressed,
I thought our main target was the famine and the starvation which is being faced by our people…
Why do we have to take the lives of our survivors of 1983?
…please sound the gun off and sound the peace up..we all need peace ….