Coevorden, 2nd September 2009
The Netherlands
7th Luo annual conference in Des monies, Iowa
Subject: The 7th Luo annual conference in Des Monies, Iowa, US.
Chairman of Luo association worldwide
Chairman and members of the Organizing Committee.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Disguised Distinguished guests.
It is my pleasure to address you today during your 7th Luo annual conference, world wide to deliberate about the future of our country the Sudan and the future of Luo in particular.
First and foremost, I would like to congratulate you all for organizing Luo conferences during the previous years to discuss issues that pattern to reflect our problems back home in Sudan in regards to socio economic development.
I would also like to congratulate you for creating the Jo- Luo web site, which is very informative and reflexes our culture, heritage and values and above all its connects us wherever we are in the globe using the modern technology .
I would like to inform you that I was in Sudan in the month of July this year, and met most of our Luo’s elders and the youth, both in Juba and Wau. They all send their regards and compliments to you all in Diaspora. The only message they carry is that you are the only hope for the future of our country. They talked out of their experiences due to deterioration of services and lack of funds to carry out developmental projects. The civil war has destroyed every thing. I went as far as Mapel, Eastern Wau area. On my way, I stopped over at Mbili, Kuajinea and other some villages. The idea was to acquaint my self with the general situation and to have a general view and to listen to the people on the ground, rather than being told in Wau, after the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement in 2005. I took that area as an example.
The situation is very bad. There are no good schools functioning in those areas. In Kunjinea primary school, where I studied in 1964, the school was far better off then than now. Then, there were We were by then about 160 students, living in dormitories with about 6 teachers. Now the situation is like this:
There are about 500 students with only 2 teachers at Kuajinea primary school. The school was destroyed during the war and it was turned into a military garrison. There is only one dormitory, built by the state governor, during his visit to the area last year. No houses for teachers, no toilet, no dormitories, and there is only one hand pump to provide water. Students walk for more than 10 miles to reach school.
This is just an example to of the reality on the ground. This situation is more less similar to every place in Western Bahr el Ghazal state.
I asked Alma Gabriel Apai, who happened to be in Uganda, on a voluntarily work, to post some of the pictures on the Jo- Luo website.
In With regard to the theme of the conference, I would like you while in Diaspora, in your new countries, not to forget south Sudan. South Sudan is badly in need of you. Your contribution is highly appreciated in all sorts of forms.
We need you to be engaged in studies in all fields, while struggling to live b y working . South Sudan is in need of every field of specialization. You will not be surprised to see that in every village in the south Sudan today, you get a foreigner from a neighbor country being employed or run a business.
We need development of basic services, health, education, and HIV\ AIDS awareness prevention.
We need water and sanitation
We need people specialized in good governance.
We need small and large scale and enterprises. Private sector (?)
We need capacity building at all levels, with especial attention to the war affected areas.
Above all, we need the unity of Luo’s Bahr el Ghazal people, before we think of the unity of all the Luos around the globe. You might have been hearing discouraging news from home. Politics is devil and it has a bit widend our disunity back home because of power struggles amongst our leaders.
You are the only hope in Diaspora to rescue the situation back home through your hard work you have shown by organizing yourselves and caring for the welfare of our people back home despite the difficult life you are encountering.
Therefore, I encourage you to keep the unity of the Luo amongst you, regardless of where you come from for the sake of our silent majority residing in the villages, in Southern Sudan, who are desperately in need of basic services they cannot afford at the moment.
Your initiative is highly welcome to work through NGOs to make projects to rescue the situation in our areas. You should not rely thoroughly on the government. The Government has its own difficulties.
I wish you every success in your deliberations and that you come out with good recommendations and resolutions serving the interest of our people back home.
I wish you good luck and God bless you all.
William Vito Akuar
