SOUTH SUDAN: African Youths Need to Understand that Peace Goes Beyond Absence of War
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
A talk series on peace organized by members of the Society of Jesus (SJ) targeting the youths across the continent, commenced Saturday, July 18, where young people have been informed that having peace goes beyond the absence of war and violence.
Addressing African youths drawn from 18 countries, some out of the continent, Fr. Augostine Edan Ekeno delved on the topic ‘what is peace’ to help the young people understand deeply what it entails.
“Peace is one of the human ideals and a linchpin of social harmony, economic equity and political justice that every society desires and none can exist without,” Fr. Ekeno SJ said during the Saturday virtual meeting.
He further distinguished positive from negative peace, noting that negative peace is what “denotes the absence of war, physical violence including torture, abuse of children and women” while positive peace he said is the “presence of conditions of well-being and just relationships that is social, economic, political, and ecological.”
Fr. Ekeno told the youths that positive peace involves “good relations with neighbors, free flow of information, acceptance of the rights of others, well-functioning government and having sound business environment” among others.
Echoing Pope Francis in his encyclical letter on care for our common home, “Laudato Si”, the Kenyan-born cleric based in South Sudan, Rumbek Diocese said, “Inner peace is closely related to care of ecology. The presence of ecological violence demonstrates our sickness as human beings and, at the same time, it is difficult to experience peace when there is no good relationship with neighbors.”
“Our relationship with environment is interrelated with our relationships with self, with others and with God. We cannot repair our relationship,” Fr. Ekeno who is the Director of Multi-Educational and Agricultural Jesuit Institute of South-Sudan (MAJIS) that integrates peace and reconciliation programs highlighted.
Looking at the Christian conception of Peace, Fr. Ekeno disclosed that “Peace is a gift from God and a manifestation of the grace received from Christ but not a fruit of one’s own ability.”
In the Christian perspective the priest told the youths, “Peace is a result of harmony in our souls and it is only when there is peace in a society that prosperity can experienced in terms of having freedom.”
The talk series that will run under the theme “African youth sowing seeds of peace,” targets the young people since they are the future of the county, the future of the continent and the future of the Church.
According to Fr. Ekeno, “youths are the positive force for change and an army of activist hence they can transform the society if their energy is tapped and used positively.”
In an earlier interview with Fr. Ekono who is the parish priest of St. Teresa in Rumbek, the talk series will help the youths to build a culture of encounter which will help the young people across the continent to exchange ideas and share their experiences of peace and how best they can build a peaceful and just world.
