My friends Rose and Paul's children jumping rope in Akot, South Sudan

Gordon on the myth related to the origins of the Dinka Agaar.

Recorded and transcribed in December, 2006.

It was like this, our clan was originated from Rumbek. They were the people who were inhabitants of Rumbek and they were called “Tiak”. And the other name was called “Pabuut.” Those people they were very strong. They can defeat every tribe around them.  If they go to war the symbol can bless them and they will be the victor of the war.  So there was another man who was beny-byth from another tribe called Manchan Awout. That man, he had a hatred of these people because they are strong, they defeated even the tribe. So he killed a red cow. He removed the tongue of the cow. He cut the tongue of the cow into pieces. He removed the heart of the cow. He cut the heart into pieces. He mixed that one with a certain (?). I don’t know how to call that one, but he mixed it with it. Then he threw the pieces of the tongue and the heart into different directions saying that “this tribe can be scattered everywhere.” And that time, the people got started what the Beny-Bith did. Other people moved up to Pakom. Other people moved up to Raie. Other people moved to this area, like my grandfather came up to this area and he married from here. So the people they scattered all over the state of Lake State. And now they have peer people in this area. They have peer people in Pakom area. They have people in other area because they were casts by this Beny-Bith to scatter. And they have two symbols. One of the symbols is crocodile. We call it “Nyang”. And they believe that if you eat a crocodile by mistake, you can get leprosy. Or what your uncles can get cracks. When you see someone with cracks, you might say that he may have eaten a crocodile by mistake or you have stepped on the crocodile’s bones which is dead. That is how they believe.

And they believe that the symbol of the grass is like a god. It can bless them as well as you can have many cows because the grass bless you. You can sleep in the forest and the grass can guard you. You can wake up when you are safe. And it can help them when you go to war you can kill a bull for Grass. When you go to war you can have victory over that war. It can bless your daughter to marry with many cows and you have wealth. That is how the symbol of the grass they believe.

And if Beny-Byth want to build another man called Makuer Gol, he has a big church for his god. They called church in Dinka “Luok.” is called “Luok.” If you want to renew the Luok roof, the person who can come and take out the first grass is our tribe. They believe that they have a good spirit, they have a strong spirit. When they remove that one another clan will come and remove that and they put on the new grass.

And our clan also believes that when you burn the white grass you can have eye infection. It is because you have burned the white grass. Like maybe if you have that one, you take it and you burn it, the new one, not the old like that (pointing to fresh grass as opposed to old, dry grass) you can get eye infection. Then they can call the Beny-Byth and he can perform some rituals, they can slaughter the goat If they discover it is because you have burned the white grass they can call Beny-Byth. Beny-Byth can bring water and then he can wash your eyes and he can kill a goat so that you can get healed.

(The name of your clan again was?)

Pabuut. Yes

(There were two other names?)

Yes. The first name wasTiak.

(What does that mean?)

I don’t know about Thiak. Just name. And the name Fabute is just name

(Who told you that story?)

Yes, My uncle 

The Mark
A Novel of Dinka in the Time of War
Reviews very favorable and I appreciate all of the comments.
Please share this link with as many people as possible.
Jeff Deal
http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Novel-Dinka-Time-War-ebook/dp/B00H8X877K/ref=la_B00HB9TZRW_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390529064&sr=1-1

The Worst Dog I Ever Owned

Rumbi is the yellow lab in the foreground.
You can barely tells that her right cheek is swollen from the tumor.

Returning home from a church backpacking trip with three other fellow hikers in the truck with me, I told them of what likely was the worst day of my life. I hesitate to call it “sharing” because my intent, as ashamed of it as I may be, was not simply to share. It was, oddly enough, to brag.

While on this trip with Christian men, we prayed together, read the Bible together, and some of the men began to talk of the trials of their lives. One particularly burly young man cried for three straight nights about the fact that he was not kind to his wife and continually used harsh words and criticisms to denigrate her. He told us, often for quite long periods, many details of their personal lives and his own shortcomings. I listened in silent confusion. Why did he not simply stop being mean to his wife? Why is this a source of pain if he holds the key to his own relief? He did not know real pain, I thought but did not say—until the ride home. It was then that I told the story of my very bad day in Sudan three years earlier.

She appeared to be around nine years old. When her mother brought her to me she was sick and burning up with fever—big spleen and liver, pale and anemic conjunctiva—a classic case of malaria. I had been working in the squalid clinic for around a month straight with no breaks. Each day, parents brought their children to us stricken with malaria, convulsing with febrile seizures, and often taking their last breaths by the time we got to them. Two or three times per day we drew a small cross into our log book to indicate another death. The drugs the missionary provided us had long since stopped being effective and were even illegal to use in Kenya where he bought them. I had raised funds for the next generation medicines including some that were injectable for the children unable to swallow. The way these medicines turned some of the children around from the edge of death seemed nothing short of miraculous. This girl was very sick, but she was able to stand, talked a little, and even took a few sips of water. I gave her some of the medicines which she prompt vomited on the ground. At that time, the missionary would not let us keep the intravenous medicines in the clinic and I had used up the supplies I carried in my backpack. I decided to hike back the tent compound to get the medicines this girl needed.

As I started the seven kilometer hike back to the compound the midday sun scorched every inch of exposed skin on my body. Even by Sudanese standards, it was hot. By the time I arrived at the compound I was dehydrated and feeling weak. My wife told me to drink a bottle of water and lie down for a few minutes and I took her advice. The tent was sweltering, however, and I only stayed for half an hour or so. By that time, she also told me she had some food prepared and I ate with her and some of the other team members.
Almost two hours passed before I started the return trek to the clinic. By the time I arrived, I was hot and weak again.

The girl was dead.

Her mother had already wrapped the small body in a blanket and sat under a Shea nut tree with her daughter in her lap. She did not cry, but looked straight ahead as if she could see at a distance some important landscape or person. When I asked her if she wanted me to help her carry her daughter back to her home for burial she shook her head, no. That was the last time I took a midday break in Sudan. My lunch that day likely cost a mother her daughter's life. Even today as I write this story I feel that same old pain returning, stirring around that a part of my heart that is now almost as dead as that girl.

This was the story that I told the three men riding back to Charleston with me after the camping trip. I knew real pain, I told them. I ate and drank while a mother’s daughter died of a disease that I should have been able to cure. I told them of how I struggled to take seriously the proclamations of pain that the young man described in dealing with his wife. Mine was pain and guilt that really needed expression and healing. Then God taught me a lesson in pain, at least I think it was God.

Our children had named our yellow Labrador, Rumbi—a Shona word which means “Praise.” Three days after I returned from the camping trip, I found myself at the veterinarian’s office holding her sweet, warm face while they put her down for an incurable cancer. I grew up in rural Georgia and had owned many great dogs. She was not one of them. Sadly, I didn’t even liked her very much—smelly, willful, and a terrible retriever. She always found ways of making dog piles at just the wrong time and place and was an expert at embarrassing me, including running away from birds in the dove field in full view of the other hunters.

However, on the day we decided to end her pain I mourned for that dog like she was a child and cried as I stood in the rain in our back yard digging her grave. I broke a water pipe two feet underground and spent another hour repairing it all the while thinking of how, even after death, she had gotten me one last time.

Had my dog died before the camping trip, I likely would have broken down and shared my grief over her and my guilt for not liking her any more than I did. I may have even cried in front of the other men. Likely also, someone would have looked at me and wonder how I could weep so for a mere dog when he was experiencing real pain, pain that threatened to tear apart his marriage or alienate a child. Likely, one of the men would have driven home from the trip telling their friends that he could not identify with my pain over the death of a fourteen-year old dog that had lived a pampered life and died peacefully in my arms.

I have long since abandoned any claim to understand what God is doing and why He is doing it, but I learned a lesson during the day I spent in the rain digging a grave for my dog. We all experience pain on a sliding scale and what may appear to someone else as a lightweight burden may be just the type of thing that causes us heartache, may hit us in our most vulnerable spot, and may be a source of pain that seems unbearable when carried alone.

In Galatians chapter six, Paul admonishes us to “bear each other’s burdens.” Some burdens may appear light to our brethren, others much heavier. But they are burdens nonetheless. A strong and robust body is no guarantee of the strength to bear emotional burdens any more than a small, frail body indicates emotional weakness. I don’t like to think that God may have taken my dog’s life in order to teach me that lesson. Like all of us, I don’t like to think that God does anything bad to me at all. But the timing of my dog’s death could not have been any more precise to teach me about pain and the experience could not have been more humbling.

I know I will never hear about another person’s pain without thinking of Rumbi, the worst dog I ever owned.

Jeff Deal

Interview on the myth related to the origins of the Dinka Agaar. Recorded and transcribed in December, 2006

.

It was like this, our clan was originated from Rumbek. They were the people who were inhabitants of Rumbek and they were called “Tiak”. And the other name was called “Pabuut.” Those people they were very strong. They can defeat every tribe around them.  If they go to war the symbol can bless them and they will be the victor of the war.  So there was another man who was beny-byth from another tribe called Manchan Awout. That man, he had a hatred of these people because they are strong, they defeated even the tribe. So he killed a red cow. He removed the tongue of the cow. He cut the tongue of the cow into pieces. He removed the heart of the cow. He cut the heart into pieces. He mixed that one with a certain (?). I don’t know how to call that one, but he mixed it with it. Then he threw the pieces of the tongue and the heart into different directions saying that “this tribe can be scattered everywhere.” And that time, the people got started what the Beny-Bith did. Other people moved up to Pakom. Other people moved up to Raie. Other people moved to this area, like my grandfather came up to this area and he married from here. So the people they scattered all over the state of Lake State. And now they have peer people in this area. They have peer people in Pakom area. They have people in other area because they were casts by this Beny-Bith to scatter. And they have two symbols. One of the symbols is crocodile. We call it “Nyang”. And they believe that if you eat a crocodile by mistake, you can get leprosy. Or what your uncles can get cracks. When you see someone with cracks, you might say that he may have eaten a crocodile by mistake or you have stepped on the crocodile’s bones which is dead. That is how they believe.

And they believe that the symbol of the grass is like a god. It can bless them as well as you can have many cows because the grass bless you. You can sleep in the forest and the grass can guard you. You can wake up when you are safe. And it can help them when you go to war you can kill a bull for Grass. When you go to war you can have victory over that war. It can bless your daughter to marry with many cows and you have wealth. That is how the symbol of the grass they believe.

And if Beny-Byth want to build another man called Makuer Gol, he has a big church for his god. They called church in Dinka “Luok.” is called “Luok.” If you want to renew the Luok roof, the person who can come and take out the first grass is our tribe. They believe that they have a good spirit, they have a strong spirit. When they remove that one another clan will come and remove that and they put on the new grass.

And our clan also believes that when you burn the white grass you can have eye infection. It is because you have burned the white grass. Like maybe if you have that one, you take it and you burn it, the new one, not the old like that (pointing to fresh grass as opposed to old, dry grass) you can get eye infection. Then they can call the Beny-Byth and he can perform some rituals, they can slaughter the goat If they discover it is because you have burned the white grass they can call Beny-Byth. Beny-Byth can bring water and then he can wash your eyes and he can kill a goat so that you can get healed.

(The name of your clan again was?)

Pabuut. Yes

(There were two other names?)

Yes. The first name wasTiak.

(What does that mean?)

I don’t know about Thiak. Just name. And the name Fabute is just name

(Who told you that story?)

Yes, My uncle 

An Amazon free book promotion deal.

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Below is an unedited copy of my notes on my first try to understand the ongoing war between the Atuot and Agaar around Akot, South Sudan.

Akot War Notes

1978 a group of Atuot girls were attacked in the woods and had their ears cut off. This triggered a retaliatory strike from the Atuot against the Agar. Eventually, the perpetrator(s) was caught and served time in prison. He now serves as a police officer in the town of Akot.

Traditionally, the price (fine) for killing another Atuot or Agar is 31 cows. There is no such fine if an Atuot kills an Agar or vice versa. That was tried before and for some reason not accomplished.

In 2004, an old woman was attacked and shot by Atuot robbers who had been stealing in the area. The Agar struck back with a raid, even before the police determined he perpetrators. The Atuot then performed a raid, with the use of a NPA vehicle. This use of the vehicle prompted the Agar to retaliate again, this time by also raiding the NPA compound that is at the Atuot/Agar border. Numerous items were looted. SPLA sent in troops to restore, and supposedly disarm the people. The guns collected were by and large old and not workable. Some were taken and later sold back to the Agar. Atuot were not disarmed in a similar manner.

Later, as the guns returned to area, militias rearmed.

I really did forget my pants.

It was September, 2005.

My friend, +John Thiel, and I had flown in a small plane to a place on the Sabot River, a tributary of the White Nile. Because of some recent rain, we landed on the opposite side of the river from where we would see patients, then took a canoe across. We had to wade through marsh grass for the last hundred meters or so.

The plane was so small we could only take about thirty pounds of materials for ourselves. I had only two shirts and one pair of shorts for the trip.

We saw patients all day long, then in the evenings, we went to the river to rinse and cool off. As we ate, we hung our wet clothes on a bamboo fence to dry.

Late one evening, the commander of the SPLA forces sent word to us that their was to be a celebration of the fortieth day of John Garang's life and that we should not fear the sounds of gun fire and mortars. He then asked if we wanted to attend.

Of course, we did.

We sat in a circle while the soldiers danced and sang praised to the SPLA and their fallen leader. My Arabic was barely sufficient to understand a few words. They fired guns and mortars and we all sang.

John used a night vision feature of his video camera to capture some of it. 

An hour or so into  the celebration, the commander stood and spoke. Toward the end of his speach he looked at us and stated:

"We would like to thank our American friends for coming to treat our sick. Please now, Dr. Deal. Stand and say a few words."

I started to rise. It was then that I realized that I had forgotten to put on my pants!

Yep. I am the one who actually lived that common nightmare. To make it worse, I kept having to wave of John as he tried to film the incident.

"No thank you," I replied while keeping my seat.

"Please, Dr. Deal," the commander replied. "Just a few words."

We bantered back and forth until he noticed my state of dress.

"It is just fine, Dr. Deal," keep your seat.

Needless to say, I was relieved.

Click here to go to a YouTube video of that night. Dark, but you can see what it was like.

The Mark is now available on paperback.

Jeffery Deal

http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Novel-Dinka-Time-War/dp/149521155X/ref=la_B00HB9TZRW_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390141457&sr=1-2

Sales for The Mark have gone quite well and I am pleased.
The link is below.
Good news, a paperback version is coming soon.
Jeff


http://www.amazon.com/The-Mark-novel-Dinka-time-ebook/dp/B00H8X877K/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Children singing. Perhaps the best sound in the world.

So, we had come to a small school to vaccinate as many children as we could against meningitis. Everyone was afraid of the dread disease which came regularly during the dry  season.
As we approached a school with our team, they started singing.
Enough said.

Below is an EXACT reprint of a document related to a regional war between the Atuot and the Agaar. I kept the document overnight and retyped each word and letter, including misspellings and grammar errors. This incident started the Atuot/Agaar war of 2004.

Date 14/6/2004

To: SPLM County secretary eastern Rumbek.

Subject: security report of Agaar and Atuot community crisis.

Akot Payam administrator have recorded some details below about the community crisis:

1.     Incident continued killing.

2.     Stealing of cattle consequtively.

3.     Rapping of ladies/girls.

Therefore it started on 16//2004 that citizen namely Majur Mayom Gol got kill by unknown person which have resulted clearly that he was killed by one of the Atout called Matoc Mayor Macur who have surrendered to Wau by now.

Thereafter in the following morning Atuot people planned to make and arm brushed late Dongrin Mapuor Marier on 17/3/2004 the fellow was of ex-chief Arier Makoi Arier of Panyar section.

Onh 9/3/2004 Panyar people as their person was killed planned to attack ammunition stores in Akot on intention of looking for ammunition to attack Atuot community. Never the less government and Payam authorities have tried to protect the government stores to have shot one person dead and the other three wounded.

More over Akot Payam community remained in chaos where he planned to attack Agaany and Mabui on 20//2004 the authority tried to control the situation but they broke out of hand and as a result the attack and fighting have got casualties/kills in action were (7) seven people and other (5) five wounded.

Here after, on date 10/4/2004 peace talks was held to combined two parties to address there main faction that cause fighting between two communities in other hands the community leaders were questioned to find out the possible solutions and recommendation for how the case is going to e settled.

The peace talk was under chairman of ship CDR Deng Aluk deputy governor of administration Bhar-elgazal region.

On 26/5/2004 later on the fighting developed again when the citizen namely Manu Kuoc Maciek was killed on last May the person is of Ex-chief Mangar Marial Benyook, and as a result Agaar community (group of youth) about thirty (30) people attack the area of Buoi in Atuot area.

On 8^th/6/2004 Atuot youth kill a lady called Adongwei Dhelbeny Mony at Aluak-luak Payam Akot border in her house at night hours.

Eventually Agaar  communitygroup of youth Attack Marial-bek on 9/6/2004. At evening hours however, the attack continued up to 10/6/2004 in the morning to Agaany the same evening.

On date 10/6/2004 Atuot community attack the area of rumbuol, Makur-Agaar and Alelder. Those areas remain looted the last fighting killed inaction were collected and recorded to have reached almost ten (10) people and other five (5) wounded.

On date 11/6/2004 SPLM County secretary of eastern Rumbek and chief CDR Dut Malual Arop and other government officials made a public rallies with your to subsided the tension of civil fighting, hence they have stop and start to disperse.

Finally as to find the solution our recommendation goes to call for investigation committee to convince the culprits and form a special court from different counties chiefs, which we have made last time direct to county and regional authorities.

The summary root causes of Agaar fighting with Atuot are as follows:

1.     Intention killing of Majur Mayom Gol who was kill by unknown person and it had apparently clarity the killer is from Atuot section. This has created the intention of killing Dongrin Mapuor Marier before Atuot couldn’t identify who kill Majur. However, theaim had caused Agaar community to Attack Atuot.

2.     Intention killing of citizen Manna Kuoc Maciek that caused another attack of thirty (30) people to Atuot.

3.     Intention killing of lady Adongwei Dhelbeny Mong that cause another attack to Marial-bek and Agaany.

Your possible action will be highly appreciated.

                        Best regards

                        Signed by:

                       

                        Madit Malual Ater

                        Payam administrator Akot payam.

Below is an EXACT reprint of a document related to a regional war between the Atuo and the

Date 14/6/2004

To: SPLM County secretary eastern Rumbek.

Subject: security report of Agaar and Atuot community crisis.

Akot Payam administrator have recorded some details below about the community crisis:

1.     Incident continued killing.

2.     Stealing of cattle consequtively.

3.     Rapping of ladies/girls.

Therefore it started on 16//2004 that citizen namely Majur Mayom Gol got kill by unknown person which have resulted clearly that he was killed by one of the Atout called Matoc Mayor Macur who have surrendered to Wau by now.

Thereafter in the following morning Atuot people planned to make and arm brushed late Dongrin Mapuor Marier on 17/3/2004 the fellow was of ex-chief Arier Makoi Arier of Panyar section.

Onh 9/3/2004 Panyar people as their person was killed planned to attack ammunition stores in Akot on intention of looking for ammunition to attack Atuot community. Never the less government and Payam authorities have tried to protect the government stores to have shot one person dead and the other three wounded.

More over Akot Payam community remained in chaos where he planned to attack Agaany and Mabui on 20//2004 the authority tried to control the situation but they broke out of hand and as a result the attack and fighting have got casualties/kills in action were (7) seven people and other (5) five wounded.

Here after, on date 10/4/2004 peace talks was held to combined two parties to address there main faction that cause fighting between two communities in other hands the community leaders were questioned to find out the possible solutions and recommendation for how the case is going to e settled.

The peace talk was under chairman of ship CDR Deng Aluk deputy governor of administration Bhar-elgazal region.

On 26/5/2004 later on the fighting developed again when the citizen namely Manu Kuoc Maciek was killed on last May the person is of Ex-chief Mangar Marial Benyook, and as a result Agaar community (group of youth) about thirty (30) people attack the area of Buoi in Atuot area.

On 8^th/6/2004 Atuot youth kill a lady called Adongwei Dhelbeny Mony at Aluak-luak Payam Akot border in her house at night hours.

Eventually Agaar  communitygroup of youth Attack Marial-bek on 9/6/2004. At evening hours however, the attack continued up to 10/6/2004 in the morning to Agaany the same evening.

On date 10/6/2004 Atuot community attack the area of rumbuol, Makur-Agaar and Alelder. Those areas remain looted the last fighting killed inaction were collected and recorded to have reached almost ten (10) people and other five (5) wounded.

On date 11/6/2004 SPLM County secretary of eastern Rumbek and chief CDR Dut Malual Arop and other government officials made a public rallies with your to subsided the tension of civil fighting, hence they have stop and start to disperse.

Finally as to find the solution our recommendation goes to call for investigation committee to convince the culprits and form a special court from different counties chiefs, which we have made last time direct to county and regional authorities.

The summary root causes of Agaar fighting with Atuot are as follows:

1.     Intention killing of Majur Mayom Gol who was kill by unknown person and it had apparently clarity the killer is from Atuot section. This has created the intention of killing Dongrin Mapuor Marier before Atuot couldn’t identify who kill Majur. However, theaim had caused Agaar community to Attack Atuot.

2.     Intention killing of citizen Manna Kuoc Maciek that caused another attack of thirty (30) people to Atuot.

3.     Intention killing of lady Adongwei Dhelbeny Mong that cause another attack to Marial-bek and Agaany.

Your possible action will be highly appreciated.

                        Best regards

                        Signed by:

                       

                        Madit Malual Ater

                        Payam administrator Akot payam.

Date 14/6/2004

To: SPLM County secretary eastern Rumbek.

Subject: security report of Agaar and Atuot community crisis.

Akot Payam administrator have recorded some details below about the community crisis:

1.     Incident continued killing.

2.     Stealing of cattle consequtively.

3.     Rapping of ladies/girls.

Therefore it started on 16//2004 that citizen namely Majur Mayom Gol got kill by unknown person which have resulted clearly that he was killed by one of the Atout called Matoc Mayor Macur who have surrendered to Wau by now.

Thereafter in the following morning Atuot people planned to make and arm brushed late Dongrin Mapuor Marier on 17/3/2004 the fellow was of ex-chief Arier Makoi Arier of Panyar section.

Onh 9/3/2004 Panyar people as their person was killed planned to attack ammunition stores in Akot on intention of looking for ammunition to attack Atuot community. Never the less government and Payam authorities have tried to protect the government stores to have shot one person dead and the other three wounded.

More over Akot Payam community remained in chaos where he planned to attack Agaany and Mabui on 20//2004 the authority tried to control the situation but they broke out of hand and as a result the attack and fighting have got casualties/kills in action were (7) seven people and other (5) five wounded.

Here after, on date 10/4/2004 peace talks was held to combined two parties to address there main faction that cause fighting between two communities in other hands the community leaders were questioned to find out the possible solutions and recommendation for how the case is going to e settled.

The peace talk was under chairman of ship CDR Deng Aluk deputy governor of administration Bhar-elgazal region.

On 26/5/2004 later on the fighting developed again when the citizen namely Manu Kuoc Maciek was killed on last May the person is of Ex-chief Mangar Marial Benyook, and as a result Agaar community (group of youth) about thirty (30) people attack the area of Buoi in Atuot area.

On 8^th/6/2004 Atuot youth kill a lady called Adongwei Dhelbeny Mony at Aluak-luak Payam Akot border in her house at night hours.

Eventually Agaar  communitygroup of youth Attack Marial-bek on 9/6/2004. At evening hours however, the attack continued up to 10/6/2004 in the morning to Agaany the same evening.

On date 10/6/2004 Atuot community attack the area of rumbuol, Makur-Agaar and Alelder. Those areas remain looted the last fighting killed inaction were collected and recorded to have reached almost ten (10) people and other five (5) wounded.

On date 11/6/2004 SPLM County secretary of eastern Rumbek and chief CDR Dut Malual Arop and other government officials made a public rallies with your to subsided the tension of civil fighting, hence they have stop and start to disperse.

Finally as to find the solution our recommendation goes to call for investigation committee to convince the culprits and form a special court from different counties chiefs, which we have made last time direct to county and regional authorities.

The summary root causes of Agaar fighting with Atuot are as follows:

1.     Intention killing of Majur Mayom Gol who was kill by unknown person and it had apparently clarity the killer is from Atuot section. This has created the intention of killing Dongrin Mapuor Marier before Atuot couldn’t identify who kill Majur. However, theaim had caused Agaar community to Attack Atuot.

2.     Intention killing of citizen Manna Kuoc Maciek that caused another attack of thirty (30) people to Atuot.

3.     Intention killing of lady Adongwei Dhelbeny Mong that cause another attack to Marial-bek and Agaany.

Your possible action will be highly appreciated.

                        Best regards

                        Signed by:

                       

                        Madit Malual Ater

                        Payam administrator Akot payam.

I hope your weekend is going well.

In case you are interested, today Amazon is running a special on the Kindle version of my last book, The Mark.

The book is a novel about a Dinka of South Sudan. Today it is only 99 cents.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H8X877K

Jeff Deal

Dinka cow sacrifice. Warning, This video is not for the squeamish.

We were celebrating the opening of the medical clinic.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mark-Jeffery-Deal-ebook/dp/B00H8X877K/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

The only known video of me dancing. We were participating in a DInka celebration, cow sacrifice and all!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mark-Jeffery-Deal-ebook/dp/B00H8X877K/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Tomorrow is the day!
Amazon is running the 99 cent special for the Kindle version of The Mark.

The Mark
A Novel of Dinka in the Time of War
by Jeffery Deal
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H8X877K

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H8X877K

Nuer and Dinka conflict of today is old news in a way. The interview below is verbatim about an attack by the Nuer on the Dinka village of Akot.

Abraham on Nuer Attack

(Jeff) Abraham that’s ok. We can do it while we’re walking

(Abraham) Let us stand here…

(Jeff) We are looking at the bullet holes in the (tookule?) where I’m staying and you were telling me the story of how that happened.

(Abraham) ok… Is now ok? That hole on the roof during the war 1994 that is the time the war took place in this place. They push all the people away and they all fight (this brethren us? At 36 seconds through 38 seconds is unclear audio.) come and push them away.

(Jeff) You said they came at dawn?

(Abraham) They came at around dawns those people is a time of whose may rebel again (Aftelly?) They came around dawn in 1994 they attacked this town and also another group went down to the cattle came to attack the cattle came and raid the cattle. They kill many people even, including animal. Cow. They kill...many good number of cow and rate all the cattle. (The one or won?) with cattle. The fighting is start from cattle came around dawn until following morning. They went with other cow even including my cow they rate all my cow, they went with them. And that is the time this (Ropen?) was in charge. The (Guru?) came here to attack this town that time the fighting took place around nine foot away in this town around nine in the morning (the footaway?) And this (pull let?) a fight by (Asufulley?) again.

(Jeff) And you were telling me about someone I know who was captured?

(Abraham) Uh… that time, they captured many many even Abram, including Abram they captured him, God is so good he escaped himself and two of his family were being shot at, at the village. 

(Jeff) Killed?

(Abraham) They killed them. Yes.

(Jeff) Did you know they were coming?

(Abraham) Yeah, they came from (Neh-eh-reh?)

(Jeff) You knew they were on the way? People knew they were coming?   

(Abraham) The people coming?

(Jeff) Yeah they attacked at dawn, but did you know they were here? Were the people ready or was it a surprise?

(Abraham) Well they know people were here, the (Aremda?) come to-

(Jeff) No. I understand they knew people were here, but did the people here in (Aknot?) did they know were they aware that the Nuer were coming?

(Abraham) Yes, the people err the soldiers went for (Reknoten?) met with them and fight with them. When they come back with a message people thought that they are joking.

(Jeff) Oh really!

(Abraham) They sent a… other people in the cattle came two people they say that don’t come to (Gasearvus?) you are joking. Who’s foolish enough to come and attack us here? Go away from us. And they said who’s somebody… who came with the message?  They said that he is a (Ajuugag?). Ajuugag meaning Ajuugag is something in the middle…in the middle not down and not up-

(Jeff)  The sky, not on the ground, but up high

(Abraham) Yeah that why that man come and put us in the middle, when a (Shagalk?) come we cannot listen to him, he is the one who is in the middle, he is not telling the truth.

(Jeff) ohhh

(Abraham) That man too bold is cattle line left the same evening, early around dawn the following morning those of (Narcomma?) tail the cattle immediately. 

(Jeff) So he knew they were coming?

(Abraham) Yeah, they knew, even these people that had the message and said that they are joking maybe they are not coming to attack this place. Suddenly they come and attack this town of Aknot early in the morning.

(Jeff) Wow. 1994

(Abraham) 1994 the time we were in school

(Jeff) In the school, yeah the school was bombed. Yeah Abraham was telling me about that the school got bombed too during that time.

(Abraham) Even this one, that is the one bomb inside this (pullopidis?)

(Jeff) yeah I see that big hole

(Abraham) yeah that big hole is a bomb   

(Jeff) Is a bomb creator, yeah

(Abraham) yeah is a bomb creator, like that, that bomb-

(Jeff) Did the bombing come the same day?

(Abraham) No, not the same day that bomb eh before.

(Jeff) So they were bombing before-

(Abraham) eh… that bomb often in eh… 1991.

(Jeff) 1991!

(Abraham) yeah that is eh… I mean not is correct… yes.

(Jeff) Somewhere in that time yeah

(Abraham) Is maybe is that time

(Jeff) Yeah

(Abraham) yeah is 1991, that is bomb heaven

(Jeff) Excellent thank you

(Abraham) your welcome

END

   

This is the bridge over the Bar Naam River.

The real bridge, as described in my book, The Mark.
On January 12, Amazon is running a special. The book will be available for 99 cents on that day only.
http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Jeffery-Deal-ebook/dp/B00H8X877K/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389318375&sr=1-2&keywords=the+mark

Jeff

Interview with a Dinka about the affection of their wives. Uncut.

"The conversation was about the affection of the two wives you have in ghost marriage and your real marriage. So the affection is not the same like for the ghost marriage, the husband can love his real wife more then with the ghost wife. So, when you provide them with other things like goats, cows… the son will say that you are not my father this things are ours yet you are the one who provide them. Then that thing can cause quarrel among the family. So the affection is not the same. But your real wife can listen to you because she knew these things are for us all. It is for my husband and it is for me also and if the man made the decision as head of the house she could listen to you and you can do your thing with freedom. So that is how the problem comes. So ghost marriage has problems among the community there is a misunderstand among the families

So when this girl, this daughter of the ghost gets married and the cows come into the family, her sons will take them and I will be getting a little congregation  with my wife. Even the whole clan will come and say this is not your daughter is for our brother.

The ghost marriage is a good thing for them to do that because it was something traditional. It was started long, long time ago and they have seen it been done and they have no objection of that.  They are happy for that. But they have no choice, because girls are a source of wealth. The only thing the man can do is you come to the parents and you introduce your marriage as a ghost marriage. If you have given them enough cows the girl has no say. She has to come for that marriage because they have no freedom and most of the marriage is forced marriage. Even if the girl does not love you, they have to force her."

   

The article linked below is likely the most significant work of my academic career published in, what I am told, is the most widely read anthropology journal in the world.

Torture by Cieng: Ethical Theory Meets Social Practice Among the Dinka Agaar of South Sudan, Jeffery L. Deal. American Anthropologist, December, 2010. Vol. 112, Issue 4, pp. 563– 575.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10NLP1KQCWwa0MmudcNIuNjFCLDICngKU1O5r7xkubsc/edit?usp=sharing

The below story is reprinted from Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics. The title is "The Day I Touched Jesus." This is a story I wish was not part of my history

The Day I Touched Jesus

Jeffery L. Deal, MD, FACS, MA, DTMH

From Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, Volume 2, Number 2, Fall 2012, pp. 81-84.10.1353/nib.2012.0051

          She deserved better. They all do.

I met her early on a morning that promised to be hot and wet, as Sudan tended to be at that time of year. Hot all the time. Hot and wet in the summers. I touched her for the briefest of moments, felt her leg move against my hand and caught a fleeting glimpse of a foot that was barely the size of my fingertip.

Her twin brother was born eight hours earlier, somewhere around midnight. The birth attendants managed the delivery as well as could anyone in the same situation. The last time I had attempted to manage such a problem delivery was almost twenty years earlier when I had been a Navy Lieutenant fresh out of my surgical internship on temporary assignment to a Marine Corp battle group in the Philippines. On that deployment, a corpsman brought me to a grass hut where a woman who looked barely more than a child herself labored against a breach delivery. I spent the day examining her while her family brought me things to eat that I do not believe should be eaten. After six hours of no progress, I radioed for a helicopter to take her to Clark Air Force base where they had operating rooms and obstetricians. In South Sudan, we had no such resources.

My oldest daughter, a premed student at the time who had worked with me in Sudan on other occasions, sat in the corner with her classmates and watched as I put my hand inside the Dinka mother. She was a large, robust woman who sweated profusely and occasionally caught her breath, but otherwise seemed unmoved by the pain of delivery. Fluids gushed over my gloved hand and the students gasped. I felt the baby’s leg retract slightly as if she resented my intrusion. I could not get past her hip and she was wedged tightly in the uterus. I had some medicines that were used to hasten delivery and, not really knowing if it was the right thing to do, I gave the mother some through her IV. Still I could not dislodge the child. I told the students and birth attendants that we would give her one hour while I rounded on the other patients in our remote and poorly equipped clinic. If she did not deliver by that time we would take her to a facility run by a Catholic relief agency several hours drive from us-- a drive  that due to war, weather, or mechanical problems we could not always complete.

I saw the rest of the patients in a hurry while browsing through all of the medical texts and the few books we kept at the clinic. This child’s only hope of surviving was for her mother to have a cesarean section, and as quickly as possible. After determining that none of our other patients were in imminent danger, we loaded the mother, the first born twin, and the grandmother into our vehicle for the long ride. One of the medical students who at the time of this writing was completing her residency in obstetrics and gynecology asked me if I shouldn’t pray for the woman while we drove. I felt guilty for not praying out loud without being prompted, so I reached back and placed my hand on the mother’s abdomen and prayed while I drove. I felt a slight movement that I could not be sure was not the mother or the road, but I believe to this day was the child again. I would not feel her again. I drove as fast as the rough, bomb-cratered dirt road allowed.

Mother and unborn child were doing well when we finally arrived three hours later. I knew the facility and many of the workers so I drove past the guard and directly to the obstetrics ward. Two nurses rushed out to meet us with a gurney and whisked the patient into a delivery room, a dusty place of peeling paint and old, powerless lights. They told us the surgeon was nearby and that they would take care of her.

The rest of us left to find something to eat and to purchase supplies. We were gone for a couple of hours. When we returned, we found the head nurse.

“The baby has died,” she told me with a professional mask of seriousness. “We felt the baby’s leg and thought we could make the delivery. The child died while we were working.”

We asked to see the mother and were taken to the ward next door. The mother we had worked with so hard sat upright in the bed with a sheet over her lower body. Amazingly, she still did not look tired. Her Dinka name, my wife reminds me, was Adut which means “Replacement.” It is a name given to the next child born after the firstborn dies.  Adut cradled the twin brother in one arm and stroked his cheek. The mother nursed the child and gazed at him with the look that only a mother can have—one of love, adoration, and hope. My daughter stood beside me while we spoke briefly to the nurse and to the mother. Adut did not seem troubled that we did not save her other baby and was content with the life she held to her breast. I had feared she would hold our failure, my failure, against us. When my daughter and her friends had left, I asked the nurse a question to which she responded, “It was a girl.”

I kept my face turned from the others as I got into the truck.

The ride back was mostly silent and seemed to take forever. Darkness had fallen over the flat land by the time we made it back to our tent camp. We all drank our filtered water, spoke encouraging words to one another, and went to rest for the coming day.

I have worked through epidemics of cholera, malaria, and meningitis where we lost scores of people each week and those hard days remain a distant and yet troubling memory. Something about the one, tiny being I encountered that day haunts me in ways that I cannot easily explain.

How low can a person be when she can die having never been held? Never been stroked or fed by someone who loves you? How low must a person be to die without a name in a place that will keep no record that you ever lived and where your own mother does not mourn your passing? It is hard for me to imagine anyone of lower standing than the girl who I touched ever so briefly that hot morning in Sudan.

Jesus spoke passionately of His desire for us to care for the poor and downtrodden in His stead, none more poignant that when He said “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”

The partially born girl that I touched that day had to be the least of the least. In retrospect, I could have administered enough local anesthetic to have surgically removed the child through a few incisions, but it had been years since I had done or even assisted in such an operation. We had no lights, no cautery, limited instruments, and no sterile rooms. Even had we had gotten the child out, we had no way to manage the bleeding and would have had to pack the wound open and rush her to the same hospital. It would have been like performing a cesarean section in your garage without electricity. Perhaps I should have tried. Perhaps I could have made the decision to drive her to the hospital earlier and she would have lived. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…, but I am not sure of any of that. Of one thing only I am certain.

She deserved better. They all do.

On January 12, Amazon will run a promotion on my novel, The Mark! For that day only, a Kindle copy will be 99 cents. Please help me raise awareness by alerting friends and family. Then, also post a review on Amazon. I believe this is an important work.
http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Jeffery-Deal-ebook/dp/B00H8X877K/ref=la_B00HB9TZRW_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388809999&sr=1-2
This is an important book. South Sudan is again spiraling out of control.
It is important to note that I was able to work with a great number of people in South Sudan. These include:
@Mark Kissee
@Cathy Kissee
@Billy White
Ann Rao
Bala Rao
(more to be named later)
Thanks
Jeffery Deal

South Sudan is spiraling out of control as we speak. Internal civil war threatens to undo the small advances the transient peace has made possible.