South Sudan Olympics drum up support for peace, tolerance
South Sudan has held its own tournament to help bring peace and healing to formerly divided communities as preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing gets underway.
Six communities in Twic County, Warrap State, took part in football, volleyball, distance running and tug-of-war, matches during the annual “Sports for Peace – Twic Olympics” organised and conducted by a local NGO – the Twic Olympics Association.
Twic Olympics Association Secretary-General, Chol Ajing, said sports can be a powerful tool for peace-building efforts because it cuts across barriers that divided communities on a global level and within communities.
He says these games are helping to create tolerance, reduce tensions and generate dialogue.
“In South Sudan, the crisis of 2013 and 2016 was fueled because young people responded. What about if young people don’t have to think about joining the politicians and joining the war,” he wondered.
“They use us to fight for their own interests and when they go back they forget about us. But we can call this our own. We can also attract them to come so that we move this nation forward,” he added
The games staged over two weeks brought hundreds of young men and women not just to play but also to celebrate sporting excellence.
“Before I joined the Olympic Games, we were just playing the local drums of which sometimes we could end up fighting,” said Ring Aguek Ring, a volleyball player from Aweng payam.
He said the Twic Olympics switched the youth off the local drums, introducing them to something that served as a uniting factor.
“Since the Olympic games started, we have been so engaged in the games, and that could not give us a chance to get involved in fighting,” he said.
“These games have changed my life entirely.”
Football, volleyball, long-distance running, and tug-of-war are just a few of the sports that were played in Twic County. Hundreds of youths who would otherwise be engaged in inter-communal cattle thefts were brought together on one stage to play friendly matches.
Angelo Koleng Garang, formerly a cattle raider said the games provided an ideal platform for unity.
“I see it as a unifying factor that promotes peace among ourselves and the community. Once you are participating in the games I will come to know you and you will also come to know me and that enmity that exists between us will erase.”
15-year-old Adhar Dheng, a runner from Akoc Payam acknowledged that the games had brought positive vibes and energy.
“The Olympic bring us here for peace and we united ourselves to be as one family y. Sports can bring us peace and bring us together,”Dheng said
Another athlete, Chol Yach Chol Ayuel, a volleyball player from Turalei Payam says the games were tough and every team wanted to win but that was not the main target of the Olympics.
“Our main target for our communities is to be in peace,” he said
As well as uniting people from different Payams, the organisers took advantage of such a massive gathering to educate the youths on COVID-19, HIV prevention, guinea worm, polio eradication and life skills.
Susan Achol Deng, a member of the Pan-nyok Payam women’s volley ball team understands the value and the impact sport can have on their communities.
“Sports is important to me because it encourages us to have peace amongst us and besides it also helps me to make money, I encourage more girls to join sports so that we together and forget each other’s differences and be as one South Sudanese people,” says Susan
Acuil Malith Banggol, organiser of the annual Twic Olympics and founder of the Twic Olympic association more than 20 years ago said every peace effort must start with an agenda.
“You cannot tell people to remain peaceful without them being active on something that is keeping them away from bad activities. We are building an avenue for communicating and interacting with the youth.” Banggol said.
This is the 20th anniversary of the Sport for Peace Olympic Games and the 10 anniversary, since the Republic of South Sudan became the world’s newest nation state, proclaiming its independence, from Sudan on July 9, 2011.
Yet as the government tries to implement the agreement on the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan, the country is still plagued by inter communal fighting
The Twic Olympics uses ‘sport as a tool for establishing peace’ in South Sudan. Like the international Olympics, it’s both a celebration of sporting achievement and a way to bring people together.
