Tim McKulka Photography

South Sudan's Journey to Nationhood: The People: Portraits and Interviews

  • Josephine JuanBari - Bilingyang“A long time ago we had marriages whereby the girl would just be kidnapped. Now there is an agreement between the woman and the man. If you are able to afford what the parents request you will go directly to the parents to make arrangements. If you cannot afford this you will take the daughter directly and write a letter to the family informing them that the daughter is with the man. After that you will be given time to stay together until you are prepared to take what the parents demand for you.”
  • Micah Sawaka MukhtarAdio (Makaraka){quote}People call us Makaraka, but that Makaraka is a nickname. The actual name is Adio. We are originally from Congo; there is a place called Adio Island. This name, Makaraka, came from when we entered Sudan (hundreds of years ago)…We speak almost the same language as the Azande.{quote}
  • Esther TimonMoro Kodo{quote}In the past all of the roads were closed and we were not able to connect with each other. During the war vehicles were not there; we had to walk. Now vehicles and transport are here.{quote}
  • Col. Mawat Mathiang AterjokDinka (Jieng){quote}We were soldiers. You cannot care about yourself…our aim it is one…We are now enjoying our resources and we are working hard to defend our territory.{quote}
  • Stella Pitia SubekBari - Jebel Bungu{quote}South Sudan is our mother. Because of the war we had no time to develop our country. We have to unite together with one heart. Youth also have to have unity in what they will do for the country. These are some of the things that will be good for this mother of ours.”
  • Angelina JakitaToposa{quote}I was in Juba from the beginning of the war up until the end. During the war, when a bomb is dropped, we would run from home to the riverbank. Some people, fearing the bomb, would lose their lives in the river. When the situation normalizes, they come back home to stay a bit; when it starts again, they run back to the river.{quote}
  • Joseph Ayan KatasNdogo{quote}If it’s a boy born during the war, we call him Galigo because it means the people who are running. It it’s a girl, Zugo. Now in times of peace you can name them whatever you want, because everyone is free.{quote}
  • Cecilia OnyoLopit{quote}If a chief dies, there will be additional space dug out next to his grave, so no soil will touch him. A black cow will be slaughtered and the skin will be put with the chief. He will stay for three months and then will be removed from the grave. The bones of the chief will be put in a pot and taken to the mountain and the people will dance. (If this is not done) there will not be a good yield that year for the crops.{quote}
  • Henry Bringi Bashir Sere{quote}Every tribe has their songs. Songs are only from what one sees or hears. A song I remember is: ‘I have become blind because I have no child. Who will show me the way? Who will hold my walking stick and guide me? If I only had a child he will show me where I’m going. People laugh at me but this is how the world is. It’s okay, this is my fate.'{quote}
  • Elizabeth JuangMurle{quote}When God gave us our country we came and killed ourselves like fish. Why don’t we remember this? When we went to the bush, we didn’t go because of tribalism. We went because we were suffering injustice.{quote}
  • Edward OhucholiIfoto (Horiok){quote}Fr. Santurnino came and he joined them (Anyanya). He took some soldiers up to Congo and they brought guns and they fought…they were living in the mountains around here…I joined in 1965…when we were in Anyanya, we walked and we fought. They sent planes to fight us.{quote}
  • Lona PoniMundari{quote}During the war we were very young. We were young, but we still knew what was taking place, because we see people run to the bush, people run away from home. When people sleep in the bush, that is the sign of something wrong. Whenever there are gunshots, we had to run in the opposite direction.{quote}
  • Ifon Araba Phillip Bari - Lobonok{quote}I know, as a woman, that women are suffering greatly. All of the responsibility of the home is in their hands. Whether taking care of children, during pregnancy or when the child is sick, the woman is responsible. She needs to be supported.{quote}
  • Solfani PeterKetebo (Lango){quote}For you to become an adult you have to undergo initiation…this initiation is because a man is supposed to be mature in a situation where something bad is affecting the community. If a fire burns, you can go and help and rescue the children. In this initiation the man is supposed to jump fire three times…they put the fire in the middle and the people are on the sides. When you are jumping the fire, they beat you.{quote}
  • Gina Luciano OkumuMadi{quote}During the war I was in Khartoum. I stayed many years there and came back to Juba in 2010…I am now able to take care of my mother. My mother is very old and the rest of my brothers have died.{quote}
  • Santo MakoiDinka (Jieng){quote}My story was very painful. I left Rumbek when I was a child…People were not stable in one place. I went to Khartoum when I was 9 years old and grew with the Comboni Brothers at St. Joseph…I went to Sudan University and now I am an artist…I paint every culture in South Sudan and now I am proud to paint the culture of our people.{quote}
  • Mit DakShilluk (Chollo){quote}If tribalism is not left behind, the country will not go ahead, it will not develop. This is our main problem…If we could think the way we did in the referendum vote, people united together, we went there with one heart, we voted together. If this is how all South Sudanese could think, this would be the right way…If we continue like this, our children will follow the same route we are taking.{quote}
  • John Mofum RukuBongo{quote}When a young child has died, he is buried under the family house because they want this child to come back. If it’s an older person (who has died), he is buried outside.{quote}
  • Rebecca AnyataLafon“During the war, I went to Uganda and stayed in a refugee camp called Acholpi. In Acholpi we were given food and we also cultivated because this food was not enough. We were forced to run from there when the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) came. They were shooting at people, and people were running to the bush. There was nothing to eat, children were crying from hunger. The second time they came back they started setting houses on fire in the refugee camp and in the army barracks. We fled to the bush. When we came back we found the health centers and the primary schools were all burned and the commander of the area decided the camp would be moved. My husband said, ‘life is becoming terrible, we have to do what we can to protect ourselves.’ The other refugees were moved from Acholipi and we went back to South Sudan on our own.”
  • Intro
  • Books
    • Covers
    • A Shared Struggle: People & Cultures of South Sudan
    • We'll Make our Homes Here: Sudan at the Referendum
  • South Sudan's Journey to Nationhood
    • Referendum: 'The Choice is Yours'
    • The People: Portraits and Interviews
    • A Shifting Landscape
    • The ROOTS Project: Preserving Cultural Diversity
    • Returning Home: Darfur to South Sudan
  • Abyei: Caught Between Two Sudans
  • 25 States: Sudan before separation
  • Liberia
    • Liberian National Boxing Team
    • Footballers and Bankers: A Liberian Election
    • Around Liberia
  • Singles
  • Haiti Election
  • Skateboarding in Belfast
  • Private Galleries
  • Contact
  • Bio
  • Clients/Exhibitions

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