Does South Sudan have a future in the youths abroad or does alcohol?
Fun, Swag and Alcohol: When News flashes are seen or read, the only common phenomenon about South Sudanese youths abroad is; assaults, head-smashing, club or community fights, drunken driving and thievery, except for a few lawyers, artists, models and athletes.
We sometimes wonder whether South Sudanese youth deployed through resettlement or scholarship in the West and the neighboring countries understands the kind of opportunity they have.
Think of it; the opportunity to live in an environment with minimal insecurity, clean water & electricity, better health services and opportunity to get better education….all these, without worrying about a sound of gun or displacement by tribal or political conflicts.
This week in Nashville, Tennessee, a South Sudanese man was arrested for an alleged drunken joy-ride which ended in a hit-and-run.
Officials with Metro police said 28-year-old Emmanuel Omal was arrested in a Kroger parking lot after a security guard spotted him driving erratically.
According to police, Omal came close to hitting several cars and several people, as well.
Early this year, one Deng Manyuon was shot dead by a police officer in Louisville after he attempted to hit the officer with a flagpole. He was accused of drunkenness and threatening an officer’s life.
In Australia, cases of group fights, property destruction and violent behaviors have been documented amongst South Sudanese youth by the authorities.
Series of violent clashes between South Sudanese youth and police were reported in Melbourne. The Maroodah police said that the youth brings unwanted attention to their communities through alcohol-fueled violence.
The Australian Minister of Immigration once said most of the South Sudanese who’ve migrated to Australia fled their country’s civil war, which officially ended in 2005 after 23 bloody years, and many are less educated and have struggled to adjust.
In East Africa, the story is same. Several communal fights –mostly over women and party misunderstandings have been reported in Eldoret, Nairobi and Kampala.
The violent trend is so common that you can bet a thousand dollar that ANY PARTY with South Sudanese will always end up in a fight.
Within the country, its worst when you think of cattle raids, revenge killings, high illiteracy levels, alcoholism, drive-by shootings and ignorant affiliations to individual or communities.
So we ask; Based on the fact that there is less opportunity for a young person to succeed within the country, does South Sudan have a future in the youths surrounded by opportunities in the West and the region?
via Talk of Juba
