Introducing South Sudan Stories of Resilience

South Sudan burst onto the global scene in 2011 as the world’s newest country. There was so much hope and excitement among South Sudanese and friends of South Sudan for the prospects of the country, particularly after the exhausting 20+ years of civil war. For the international and humanitarian community who had stood for and with the victims of the war, the birth of the country was a success story. Millions of internally and externally displaced persons went back to their homes to start anew. Aid flow, either in form of Official Development Assistance (ODA), emergency relief, and remittances from South Sudanese in diaspora snowballed to help build capacity for South Sudanese communities in the country and to set the country on a path of development.  

 

Unfortunately, in 2013, South Sudan went into a political crisis, all the positivity around the country’s future went into abyss, and the world abandoned South Sudan.

 

Currently, every major country on earth, including Canada, the United States, Australia, China, the United Kingdom, and countries within the European Union, has a travel advisory against travelling to South Sudan, not due to COVID-19 pandemic, but due to armed conflicts, crime, and violence.

 

For instance, Canada’s travel advisory against going to South Sudan does not even cite COVID-19. The primary reasons for avoiding all travels to South Sudan is due to armed conflicts, inter-ethnic violence and high levels of violent crime

 

The United States’ long-standing travel advisory to South Sudan explicitly advices against travel to South Sudan due to crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict, was only recently modified to include COVID-19.

 

The United Kingdom’s Department of The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to South Sudan and has put in place contingency plans for UK nationals that could be caught up in crisis situations in the country.

 

The Australian government has also issued advice level 4 warning against all travels to South Sudan, including the national capital Juba, due to instability and ongoing conflict.

 

As a result of these travel restrictions, South Sudan is cut off from the rest of the world, and we hear very little about the country. This has severe socio-economic implications on ordinary people who are cut off from access to benefits of international cooperation and social solidarity.

 

South Sudan Stories of Resilience (3SR) aims to give the world one more opportunity to hear about the country by highlighting the stories of ordinary South Sudanese who are kicking ass despite the country’s global isolation.

We will be posting one story of resilience per week on our social media platforms. If you want to stay engaged and inspired, please like and follow our pages: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn.