The Episcopal Church Elects Bishop Justin Badi of Maridi as Primate of South Sudan

The Episcopal Church elects Bishop Justin Badi Arama of the Diocese of Maridi to replace Archbishop Dr. Daniel Deng Bul as Primate and Archbishop of South Sudan

By PaanLuel Wël, Juba, South Sudan

The Episcopal Church elects Bishop Justin Badi Arama of the Diocese of Maridi to replace Archbishop Dr. Daniel Deng Bul as Primate and Archbishop of South Sudan

January 20, 2018 (SSB) — The Episcopal Church of South Sudan has elected Rt. Rev. Justin Badi Arama, the bishop of Maridi Diocese, as Primate and Archbishop of South Sudan. Initially, there were four candidates vying to succeed Archbishop Dr. Daniel Deng Bul as the Primate and Archbishop of South Sudan: Bishop Francis Loyo of Rokon Diocese and the Dean of the Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan; Bishop Monday Bismark Avokaya of Mundri Diocese; Bishop Justin Badi Arama of Maridi Diocese, and Bishop Abraham Yel Nhial of Aweil Diocese.

However, on the eve of the voting day at the All Saints Cathedral in Juba, Bishop Francis Loyo and Bishop Monday Bismark Avokaya dropped out on their own volitions. Thus, it became a hotly contested, two horse race, between Bishop Justin Badi Arama of Maridi Diocese and Bishop Abraham Yel Nhial of Aweil Diocese. There were 159 eligible Electoral College voters. When voting was conducted, counting done and results announced, the two candidates were separated by a mere single vote. Bishop Justin Badi Arama of Maridi Diocese won with 80 votes, while Bishop Abraham Yel Nhial of Aweil Diocese got 79 votes.

Two Transmuted Folktales as Retold by Atem Yaak Atem

Someone without an advice-giver

This one and what follows it are true stories. They happened in the first half of the 20^th century. The stories became proverbs and popular even during the lifetime of the persons associated with them. 

Retold by Atem Yaak Atem, Australia

January 20, 2018 (SSB) — Once in the last century, there lived a man called Awuol Bol Deng. He was known by his nickname of Awuol-Akuong-Awuɔ̈l-Akuɔŋ. He was a member of Pareng Clan of Kongor Wut (collection of clans) in what was known at the time as Bor District.  Awuol, a friendly and peace loving person, was universally admired for his wits and as the author of many memorable sayings. To this day, Awuol’s aphorisms are still in currency among the people from the area, at home and all over the world. A wise saying, in Dinka, is called kääŋ-kaang plural kɛ̈ŋ-keng.

When Awuol moved out of his parent’s ancestral home to raise his own family, he built his homestead at Majak, then a virgin land west of Kongor, which was at the time, an administrative center of what later became known as Kongor People’s Rural Council in the 1970s.

Majak village is about 8 kilometers to the west of Kongor and on the edge of the world’s largest swampland, the Sudd. Wildlife seasonal movement from west to east and back used to traverse this area. This migration still happens although the traffic has significantly reduced over the years due to the proliferation of illegal or even legitimate firearms that have become a real threat to wildlife.

Celebrating the Exemplary Life of Justice Abel Alier Kwai Kut, President of the HEC

Today, 20th of January 2018, the Greater Bor Dinka community in Juba, South Sudan, is celebrating the exemplary life of Justice Abel Alier Kwai Kut, the first President of the High Executive Council, an Autonomous Juba-based Government Southern Sudan Promulgated after the Signing of the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1972

By Mabil Manyok Nhial, Gweru, Zimbabwe

Justice Abel Alier Kwai Kut, First President of the High Executive Council, an Autonomous Juba-based government

January 20, 2018 (SSB) — Gabriel G. Marquez, in his work, Love in the Time of Cholera, vividly elucidated the essence of one’s birth in one’s lifetime, “He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” Abel Alier’s birth sealed this saying as he is pleasantly described by his personal conviction.

Birth

Justice Abel Alier hails from Kut Ajak’s family of Angakuei clan, Baidit Payam, Dinka Bor of the Dinka. He was born in 1933 in Magaar village, Angakuei clan, Bor District of Upper Nile Region in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. He was named as Alier-Wal Kuai Kut in line with his totemic Dinka name, which reflects a sense of responsibility and personal uniqueness.

He has always been adulated as a lucky son of Africa, who was born with greatness thrust upon him just like other African sons, who were born in 1930s such as Prof. Chinua Achebe of Nigeria (1930), Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o of Kenya (1938), Prof. Wole Soyinka of Nigeria (1934), Prof. Ali Mazrui of Kenya (1933), Dr. Okot p’Bitek of Uganda (1931), Prof. Taban Lo Liyong of South Sudan (1930), David Rubadiri of Malawi (1930) and so many other great leaders and academics who were born in 1930s.

In my own words, this period of 1930s is reasonably the time of the birth of great giants of Africa.