A Beer Maker
Ajak
Waal is a daughter of late former Anyanya One Commander Waal Marial. She was
born in 1960s, and learned a lot from her mother.
“The
soldiers of Anyanya One were as poor as church mouse,” she said.
Most of
their families were catered by their wives and Adak’s mother was very
instrumental woman in their polygamous family of Waal Marial and could support
the whole family by brewing of beer . Adak’s mother was the third wife of Waal.
In their struggle, the soldiers moved as far South as the neighboring Country
of Congo which their base and training centre was situated and they left their
wives in Sudan. The women decided how they can manage their families for instance,
how they would get food, clothes, and again to new cloth was another trap of
death. This was because new clothes were only got in towns which were all
occupied by Arabs soldiers.
If Anyanya
One soldiers got you with new cloth or salt, they expected you have been in the
Town with Arabs and you might have betrayed them. Therefore, they dealt away with
you by beheading the one caught in the action of trading with Arabs. Some
people dealt in these forbidden commodities and customers dealt with care. For
instance someone who bought salt which was on high demand could hide it where Anyanya
One soldiers could not get it and it was only eaten at night around eleven when
people were dumbfounded.
For the
people who have taken long without the taste of salt, it can swollen their eye-brow,
hands and even the whole body and jeopardized them to Anyanya One soldiers because swollen parts were sign and symptom of salt eaten.
The Anyanya One soldiers could investigate till you revealed the truth.
“Here
mother had already learned how to make the local brew and also had learned local
alcohol, “she said. “Anyanya One leaders had permitted the soldiers to use some
drugs like alcohol, marijuana because these drugs made guerrillas fought the
enemy without fear,” she added. “My mother got this chance to make beer for the
soldiers and they bought it from her and she could have huge turn over from her
trade. My mother had one advantage of being the wife of the Commander and even
though we were alone in the absence of my father, the soldiers could not rob
her of whatever she possessed, alcohol was included. But our neighbors had
terribly experienced this robbery from guerrilla soldiers. When I was the age of
sixteen, my mother taught me how to make beer. I remembered , she told me “Ajak,
my daughter , you need to learn how to make
beer. The Country can be in war for eight times and be in peace for
eight times, it can be bad in eight times and be good in eight times.” This was a common saying in war time or peace
time. This means that youth and old need to be organized at all the times with
their developed talents which can back them in any situation.
“I paid
much attention to learn how to make beer and eventually I made it perfect and I
could help my mother in making beer. Three years later the peace was signed and
all the soldiers moved to Malou military barrack near Rumbek and my father was
reorganized and deployed beyond Wau province. I remained with my mother and
after a while she was frail and she could not continue making beer. By this
time I was married and I had three kids. My husband was also still a student in
Rumbek senior secondary school and I continued to support my husband to buy for
a white short and a white shirt, black shoes which they called uniform. Alcohol
was really on high demand during the cold weather and I could make it double times
such that I can get high profit. My mother was with me. She sometimes did
simple work like putting the fire wood under the pot when I had gone to fetch
water. By that time we were not developed like the presence situation. In our time,
we used clay pot for making beer and if you have fermented a drum of crude
beer, it could take you two or three days to brew it. These red eyes you are
seeing were not the original ones but it was caused by the smoke of making
beer. But due to my situation at the time made me to be contended with it. My
husband later graduated and got employed in Nuer as a water project coordinator
and he was well paid and as a result he bought several cows without again
realized how I had suffered during his studies. He bought fifty cows and he
married a daughter of Marial Deng. After his marriage ceremony, he moved with
his wife to the place of his work leaving me alone in the derelict place where
the Atuot tribe always disturbed at night robbed me with things like groundnuts,
grains and cows.
There I
felt frustrated and committed adultery with a driver who later brought me
problems of being dumped with four kids and the driver dumped me also like a
thing on fire and I was confused what to do.
I later
recovered my memory and I told myself, this was not the end of the world and I
had to continue with my business. God was at my side and my beer was on market
and earned me enough money to buy clothes for my children , gave them good
feeding and with little associates of
beer ,there were bad debtors who did not
pay me at all but I did not give up. I also trained my daughters and now they
make beer and in this time the utensils for beer has improved. They are making
good money now and they support their families though they do not make as every
time. The young ladies of this present time do not valued their contribution
much to their families like our time. Now I always gave them an advice that the
individual need to contribute to the family. For example, your husband whom you
had put all responsibilities can one day die and if you had not accumulated
enough wealth, you can be in depressions.
But the
young ladies now has a very common saying that they still have red hands, which
means when a husband dies when she is still young, she can marry another man. For
us, we are now soil and grass ,” Ajak concluded.
This
conclusion is always made by old people waiting their death but Ajak is still
not very old.
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