My hope for Sudan is that we are going to be a great nation. Because all our time was wasted in war. I’ve never really been stable in my life. All my youthful period was a waste. But I think now we are beginning anew, and what I went through, I hope my child will not go through … To live in a war-torn country creates very bad memories; it’s traumatizing. You can witness a lot of bad things happening in front of you. Your beloved ones, you lose them. My eldest sister was killed while carrying her son on her bosom. Until today, this little boy was very traumatized. He now lives with me, and I care for him along with my son. As family, we comfort the children, reassuring them that we are here for them. These are horrors of war.
-Philister Baya Lawiri, Sudan Civil Service Commission chairperson, 2013 Woman PeaceMaker, Public Speaker on Democracy, Political Participation, Governance, Human Rights, Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees, and Long-term Post-conflict Reconstruction, South Sudan, Africa
