The Gift of Hope

The smiles of children and the inquisitive looks are wonderful. They take a wide-eyed view of the world and see everyone and everything as friendly. I enjoy winking at small South Sudanese children. They laugh and smile at my simple facial contortions. It seems winking is not part of the local repertoire of interaction techniques. The children make me laugh when they try hopelessly to wink back. I have come to believe it is unusual in South Sudan to see a woman who is not carrying, or caring for, a child. Grandparents come into play and one often sees a child passed into the arms of another adult – or sometimes to another sibling. Young children help nurse smaller children. There is no doubt that ‘people production’ is the major ‘industry’ of South Sudan. Yet so many children are a great gift of hope. They bring warmth, optimism and create family consolidation. It may be that there is disturbingly high ratio of 187 children out of every 1000 in Western Equatoria who die before the age of five whereas in Italy, it is only 4. The children I see here in South Sudan seem happy and content. Every generation is renewed by children who bring to adults the great gifts of hopefulness and optimism.What is a problem? An opportunity to find a solution! The man within me has several times said to himself here in South Sudan: ‘Now what the hell do I do about this?’ In every crisis, which usually simply results in doing [...]