I have always been a proud Sudanese American. Both my parents were born and raised in Khartoum, Sudan, and since I have lived in America most of my life, I’ve only been to Sudan once. Yet, I still knew about my parents’ heritage and culture which in turn created my own. As cheesy as it may sound, I thought it was interesting telling others that I came from somewhere else — a common trend at our school.
In spite of our school diversity, however, I quickly realized a better part of the AHS student body had no idea where Sudan was on the map, only a good handful knew Sudan existed at all. But, as a majority of Americans did, all they saw was a worn torn African country heinously killing millions of innocent civilians in the infamous region of Darfur.
And in the summer of 2011 Sudan once again regained headlines in the news as, once the largest country in Africa, had split into two. The nation of South Sudan had gained independence on July 9, 2011.
The split between both countries has created ongoing attention and conflict. Recent headlines read of border clashes and fights at the rich oil towns that lie on the unstable border , as both nations find ways to come to terms with the newly created divisions.
Throughout my life I’ve never seen it as North and South Sudan. But, I suppose it’s simply because I never looked. For years the muslim-North seemed to have created an invisible divide between the predominantly Christian South. It was of arrogance than anything else. Now, don’t get me wrong I am proud to be a North Sudanese. But it’s a fact that can’t be disputed. Sudan for years has had a large political and cultural caste system – in which the North considers themselves greater than their southern counterparts. And with a heavily biased government that was made up of highly coveted Muslim northerners; South Sudan simply made the divide official.
And what I’ve seemed to realize is that I can’t help but feel jealous. Now, after reading that statement you might think I might be insensitive and slightly unpatriotic, but it almost seems that we all should be a little jealous of the newly established country. Aside from expected clashes and governmental instability, South Sudan is the symbol of fresh starts.
The international community has the ability to help a largely discriminated area create a model government for a country surrounded by unstable governments.
Today, amidst growing economic problems and surmounting issues hitting nations all around the world, we all have come across the idea of starting fresh. We have the opportunity to learn from what we’ve experienced now, and use those lessons to create a government free of debt, free of corruption, free of ineffectiveness — a clean slate of opportunity. But unfortunately for us, we simply can’t.
But, looking at South Sudan today, I see a country that has the opportunity for change. A country that is filled with devoted citizens who have united as a whole and worked for independence. A country that has hope to change and create new guidelines for African nations, and maybe, set standards for countries around the world.
