(Previously published at http://pacodes.blogspot.com/)
The Death of the Pilot-Capt.Samuel Tap Yol
December 11, 2007
The Panyijiar Community members abroad and at home are deeply saddened by the death of former SPLM/A Pilot, Captain Samuel Tap Yol. Captain Samuel Tap Yol was born in Gakal Payam, Panyijiar County- Unity State Southern Sudan in 1928. He was Anya Anya I veteran and a war hero of the Second Civil War of Sudan which began in 1983 and ended with signing of the Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement simply known as the CPA on January 9, 2005. He flew SPLM/A helicopters back and forth between SPLM/A controlled territories in Sudan and main gathering headquarters in the neighboring countries. Captain Samuel Tap even flew the Late Dr. John Garang in many occasions.
Samuel Tap was relieved of his pilot duties in the late 1990s and settled with his family in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 1999, he had a chance to be resettled to the US, first to Dallas Texas and moved from there to Omaha Nebraska. He lived in Omaha until in November, 2007 when he felt ill and was taken to Huachuca Arizona for treatment by his daughter. On December 8, 2007 he was pronounced dead by the Huachuca Hospital authorities. Captain Samuel Tap Yol died at the age of 79. The cause of his death is still under investigation.
Bentiu Lich Community USA, Panyijiar Community and Southern Sudan Government are working together to arrange for his burial. With his family’s consent, Southern Sudan Government has offered to take his body for ceremonial and heroic burial in Juba Southern Sudan.
Captain Samuel Tap Yol has left behind three sons and three daughters all live in the US. The captain was an outgoing man and social person. The entire Southern Sudan and Panyijiar Community have lost a war hero and a father. We all pay our condolence to his family and friends a cross the globe. May the almighty GOD rest his soul in peace.
By Machien J. Luoi – Chairman of Panyijiar Community USA
Contact: mjluoi@yahoo.com or 701-541-6209
Recent Posts
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Death Announcement
(Previously published at http://pacodes.blogspot.com/)
Nuer Community Development Service U.S.A
Death Announcement
Ladies and Gentlemen: we are sorrow, the Nuer people here in Diaspora and oversea have lost great man the SPLM/A Commander Tap Yol the freedom fighter of our movement, and the first former Pilot of South Sudanese who has experienced in aversion as maintenance has passed away in Hospital around 3:30 PM at Huachuca Arizona on Saturday December 8, 2007.
Late Tap Yol was born in Bentiu, South Sudan, he serviced in SPLM/A for many years, he was co-pilot of late Dr. John Garang the former chairman of SPLM.
On Behalf of Nuer people everywhere around the world, let us stick as one family and send our sincere condolence and sympathy to late pilot Tap Yol’s family, and let us pray the almighty God to gives them strength and courage to go through this period of bereavement.
The more information about the death of Late Tap Yor’s “Funeral Service Arrangement” will be announced soon through media, and if you need contact person, please feel free to contact Liech Community Chairman Santino Turuk Gatluak at 402-515-1362, and Koang Chany the elder at 402-217-2209 both live in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska.
Thanks
Komach Deng Dey
By Komach Deng Dey
source: http://www.southsudan.net
Nuer Community Development Service U.S.A
Death Announcement
Ladies and Gentlemen: we are sorrow, the Nuer people here in Diaspora and oversea have lost great man the SPLM/A Commander Tap Yol the freedom fighter of our movement, and the first former Pilot of South Sudanese who has experienced in aversion as maintenance has passed away in Hospital around 3:30 PM at Huachuca Arizona on Saturday December 8, 2007.
Late Tap Yol was born in Bentiu, South Sudan, he serviced in SPLM/A for many years, he was co-pilot of late Dr. John Garang the former chairman of SPLM.
On Behalf of Nuer people everywhere around the world, let us stick as one family and send our sincere condolence and sympathy to late pilot Tap Yol’s family, and let us pray the almighty God to gives them strength and courage to go through this period of bereavement.
The more information about the death of Late Tap Yor’s “Funeral Service Arrangement” will be announced soon through media, and if you need contact person, please feel free to contact Liech Community Chairman Santino Turuk Gatluak at 402-515-1362, and Koang Chany the elder at 402-217-2209 both live in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska.
Thanks
Komach Deng Dey
By Komach Deng Dey
source: http://www.southsudan.net
Condolence Letter for Captain Samuel Tap Yol
(Previously published at http://pacodes.blogspot.com/)
Tuesday 11 December 2007 03:35.
Government of Southern Sudan Mission – USA
1233 20th Street, NW Suite 602
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202-293-7940
Fax: 202-293-7941
December 10, 2007
RE: Condolence Letter Dear Family and friends, It is deeply saddened to hear the death of Captain Samuel Tap Yol, Captain Samuel Tap was a brave, committed, and overall an hero of our time. Late Samuel Tap was one of the few South Sudanese who were flying our helicopters during the liberation struggle. Late Samuel Tap also had been flying our leaders, including our late Chairman of the SPLM, Dr. John Garang De Mabior.
On behalf of the Government of Southern Sudan, the Government of South Sudan Mission in the United States, and the citizens of Southern Sudan living in the United States of America, our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Captain Samuel Tap Yol. May the almighty rest his soul in peace?
Thank you,
The Government of Southern Sudan Mission-USA
Note: Captain Samuel Tab Yol was born in Panyijiar County (Nyuong Nuer), Southern Sudan, came to the US in the late 1990s and resettled in Omaha Nebraska USA. He got ill and died in Huahuca hospital, Arizona- USA on December 8th, 2007.
Source of the news: <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com>www.sudantribune.com</a>
Tuesday 11 December 2007 03:35.
Government of Southern Sudan Mission – USA
1233 20th Street, NW Suite 602
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202-293-7940
Fax: 202-293-7941
December 10, 2007
RE: Condolence Letter Dear Family and friends, It is deeply saddened to hear the death of Captain Samuel Tap Yol, Captain Samuel Tap was a brave, committed, and overall an hero of our time. Late Samuel Tap was one of the few South Sudanese who were flying our helicopters during the liberation struggle. Late Samuel Tap also had been flying our leaders, including our late Chairman of the SPLM, Dr. John Garang De Mabior.
On behalf of the Government of Southern Sudan, the Government of South Sudan Mission in the United States, and the citizens of Southern Sudan living in the United States of America, our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Captain Samuel Tap Yol. May the almighty rest his soul in peace?
Thank you,
The Government of Southern Sudan Mission-USA
Note: Captain Samuel Tab Yol was born in Panyijiar County (Nyuong Nuer), Southern Sudan, came to the US in the late 1990s and resettled in Omaha Nebraska USA. He got ill and died in Huahuca hospital, Arizona- USA on December 8th, 2007.
Source of the news: <a href="http://www.sudantribune.com>www.sudantribune.com</a>
Monday, December 10, 2007
One barrier broken
(Previously published at http://pacodes.blogspot.com/)
Patrick Springer, the Forum
His relatives, eager to be
reunited with their lost cousin, gave the pilot a gift to show their
appreciation: a sheep, which the pilot accepted on behalf of a relief
agency.
But before Luoi could meet his mother, another sheep had to be sacrificed in a cleansing ceremony, and he had to wait a week for his older brother to return home to preside over the important occasion.
He’d last seen his mother almost 20 years earlier, at the age of 4, and couldn’t remember what she looked like. He was forced to flee when the civil war arrived unexpectedly in his village one day.
Luoi was swept up in an exodus that eventually wandered out of Sudan to refugee camps in neighboring countries – one of thousands of boys who became known as the Lost Boys. He ultimately was resettled in Fargo, entering Fargo South High five years ago.
Blueprints call for a humble building – no electricity is available in the community of Panyijiar – to house the assortment of donated books, everything from a law library to novels and used textbooks.
The library, with an estimated price tag of $20,000, is the first project planned by the nonprofit Panyijiar Community Development Services, based in Fargo-Moorhead.
“We have to do something that makes a difference,” Luoi says. “To me, knowledge is power. We can only do that through giving books.”
There is so much to learn in Panyijiar, where people live in grass huts with their livestock and walk on dirt streets. In Sudan, per-capita income averages $2,400 a year and the life expectancy is 49 years.
Books can help villagers learn how to grow crops, how to protect themselves against diseases, how to build with masonry, to give just three examples Luoi rattled off.
“They’re starting from the ground up. They need everything,” says Roy Hammerling, a religion professor at Concordia and one of those helping Luoi and fellow Sudanese refugees rebuild their homeland, ravaged by years of civil war but now at peace.
In fact, Luoi’s idea to build a library back home had its improbable origins several years ago in a discussion in Hammerling’s classroom.
The class was reading “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” and learned how Irish monks had helped save important texts, copies they’d made when visiting the library in ancient Alexandria, which later burned.
The notion occurred to Luoi: Some day in the unforeseeable future, somebody might lift a book off a shelf in the province of Ganyiel in southern Sudan, and read of a fallen empire called the United States of America.
‘Now is the time’
When he finally was reunited with his mother on that homecoming journey last spring, Justin Machien Luoi saw a woman, her head wrapped in a traditional shawl, who sang and dropped her walking stick as she rushed to meet her son.
He had been unable to remember what she looked like, but could listen to her voice on a tape-recording he received from relatives nine years ago. He was surprised to see that her hair was gray.
Luoi had brought a second bag with him, filled with clothing to donate to family members. But he had already given away most of the clothes, having met so many needy people along the way.
In turn, the few remaining gifts he had for family members were quickly given away, in keeping with tribal customs of the Nuer people – a culture now foreign to him, with its cleansing rituals for important guests.
“It was exotic,” Luoi says. “I never associated myself with such welcoming.”
He and many of his fellow Lost Boys, who number between 150 and 200 in Fargo-Moorhead, are dedicated to doing whatever they can to improve the lives of those who remain in Sudan.
Luoi had joined an association of other refugees from his area who agreed to donate $50 a year for a fund to help rebuild the country – modest sums, but small numbers can make a big difference in a place like Panyijiar.
“The Lost Boys have been helped,” he says. “Now it is the time for Lost Boys to help. Nobody is shooting at each other now. Now is the time to fight ignorance.”
Their cause was taken up by Hammerling and others, including the Conmy Feste law firm in Fargo, which donated legal work to establish the nonprofit and a library of law books.
“They just wrote off the cost,” Hammerling says of the law firm’s assistance. “It was kind of the first big hurdle to get over, and they just swept it away. I just can’t say enough.”
Panyijiar community leaders donated land for the public library. Meanwhile, Luoi, Hammerling and the others have long-range plans, including humanitarian assistance, clean water and agricultural assistance.
“It’s taken a year to really get it off the ground,” Hammerling says of the nonprofit organization. With the framework now in place, he hopes to raise enough money for the library building by May.
“These people need to see some action,” he says. “We all feel the obligation to do something as quickly as possible.”
Luoi moved recently from Fargo to Grand Forks, where he is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at the University of North Dakota. He also works four days a week at Wal-Mart, just as he did while taking an extra course load at Concordia.
But he expects he will have to interrupt his graduate studies from time to time to return to Ganyiel, a place that is both familiar and foreign to him now, to help rebuild. He won’t go back until the time is right, when he can bring tangible signs of hope.
“I don’t want to go back empty-handed,” he says. “It has to inspire them. Make them believe in what we’re doing.”
How you can help
- To learn more about Panyijiar Community Development Services: www.pacodes.org
Sudan glance
- Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Egypt and Eritrea
- Area: 2.5 million square kilometers (slightly more than one-fourth the size of the U.S.
- Capital: Khartoum
- National holiday: Independence Day, Jan. 1
- Voting age: 17
- Unemployment rate: 18.7% (2002 est.)
- Population below poverty line: 40% (2004 est.)
- Internet hosts: 21
- Internet users: 3.5 million
- Climate: Tropical in south, arid desert in north
- Natural hazards: Dust storms and periodic, persistent drought
- Factoid: Largest country in Africa
- Population: 39.4 million (July 2007 est.)
- Population growth rate: 2.08%
- Life expectancy at birth: 49.11 years
- Religions: Sunni Muslim 70% (in north), Christian 5% (mostly in south and Khartoum), indigenous beliefs 25%
- Literacy: (Age 15 and over can read and write) 61%
Source: CIA The World Fact Book
Readers can reach Forum reporter Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522
One barrier broken
Patrick Springer, the Forum
Published Sunday, December 09, 2007
Justin
Machien Luoi found a welcoming party waiting for him when his airplane
taxi landed on a dusty strip on the edge of an African village he’d fled
on foot years before as a child.
But before Luoi could meet his mother, another sheep had to be sacrificed in a cleansing ceremony, and he had to wait a week for his older brother to return home to preside over the important occasion.
He’d last seen his mother almost 20 years earlier, at the age of 4, and couldn’t remember what she looked like. He was forced to flee when the civil war arrived unexpectedly in his village one day.
Luoi was swept up in an exodus that eventually wandered out of Sudan to refugee camps in neighboring countries – one of thousands of boys who became known as the Lost Boys. He ultimately was resettled in Fargo, entering Fargo South High five years ago.
The
former Lost Boy’s return last spring marked not only a joyous reunion
after a journey of more than 8,000 miles, but an early milestone in a
development project with ties to Concordia College, where Luoi graduated
last spring.
Today, hundreds of books are piled in a storeroom
in Moorhead’s former Riverside Elementary School – waiting for the day
they can be shipped to Luoi’s native Ganyiel province in southern Sudan,
where a Fargo-Moorhead nonprofit plans to build a library.Blueprints call for a humble building – no electricity is available in the community of Panyijiar – to house the assortment of donated books, everything from a law library to novels and used textbooks.
The library, with an estimated price tag of $20,000, is the first project planned by the nonprofit Panyijiar Community Development Services, based in Fargo-Moorhead.
“We have to do something that makes a difference,” Luoi says. “To me, knowledge is power. We can only do that through giving books.”
There is so much to learn in Panyijiar, where people live in grass huts with their livestock and walk on dirt streets. In Sudan, per-capita income averages $2,400 a year and the life expectancy is 49 years.
Books can help villagers learn how to grow crops, how to protect themselves against diseases, how to build with masonry, to give just three examples Luoi rattled off.
“They’re starting from the ground up. They need everything,” says Roy Hammerling, a religion professor at Concordia and one of those helping Luoi and fellow Sudanese refugees rebuild their homeland, ravaged by years of civil war but now at peace.
In fact, Luoi’s idea to build a library back home had its improbable origins several years ago in a discussion in Hammerling’s classroom.
The class was reading “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” and learned how Irish monks had helped save important texts, copies they’d made when visiting the library in ancient Alexandria, which later burned.
The notion occurred to Luoi: Some day in the unforeseeable future, somebody might lift a book off a shelf in the province of Ganyiel in southern Sudan, and read of a fallen empire called the United States of America.
‘Now is the time’
When he finally was reunited with his mother on that homecoming journey last spring, Justin Machien Luoi saw a woman, her head wrapped in a traditional shawl, who sang and dropped her walking stick as she rushed to meet her son.
He had been unable to remember what she looked like, but could listen to her voice on a tape-recording he received from relatives nine years ago. He was surprised to see that her hair was gray.
Luoi had brought a second bag with him, filled with clothing to donate to family members. But he had already given away most of the clothes, having met so many needy people along the way.
In turn, the few remaining gifts he had for family members were quickly given away, in keeping with tribal customs of the Nuer people – a culture now foreign to him, with its cleansing rituals for important guests.
“It was exotic,” Luoi says. “I never associated myself with such welcoming.”
He and many of his fellow Lost Boys, who number between 150 and 200 in Fargo-Moorhead, are dedicated to doing whatever they can to improve the lives of those who remain in Sudan.
Luoi had joined an association of other refugees from his area who agreed to donate $50 a year for a fund to help rebuild the country – modest sums, but small numbers can make a big difference in a place like Panyijiar.
“The Lost Boys have been helped,” he says. “Now it is the time for Lost Boys to help. Nobody is shooting at each other now. Now is the time to fight ignorance.”
Their cause was taken up by Hammerling and others, including the Conmy Feste law firm in Fargo, which donated legal work to establish the nonprofit and a library of law books.
“They just wrote off the cost,” Hammerling says of the law firm’s assistance. “It was kind of the first big hurdle to get over, and they just swept it away. I just can’t say enough.”
Panyijiar community leaders donated land for the public library. Meanwhile, Luoi, Hammerling and the others have long-range plans, including humanitarian assistance, clean water and agricultural assistance.
“It’s taken a year to really get it off the ground,” Hammerling says of the nonprofit organization. With the framework now in place, he hopes to raise enough money for the library building by May.
“These people need to see some action,” he says. “We all feel the obligation to do something as quickly as possible.”
Luoi moved recently from Fargo to Grand Forks, where he is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at the University of North Dakota. He also works four days a week at Wal-Mart, just as he did while taking an extra course load at Concordia.
But he expects he will have to interrupt his graduate studies from time to time to return to Ganyiel, a place that is both familiar and foreign to him now, to help rebuild. He won’t go back until the time is right, when he can bring tangible signs of hope.
“I don’t want to go back empty-handed,” he says. “It has to inspire them. Make them believe in what we’re doing.”
- To learn more about Panyijiar Community Development Services: www.pacodes.org
- Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Egypt and Eritrea
- Area: 2.5 million square kilometers (slightly more than one-fourth the size of the U.S.
- Capital: Khartoum
- National holiday: Independence Day, Jan. 1
- Voting age: 17
- Unemployment rate: 18.7% (2002 est.)
- Population below poverty line: 40% (2004 est.)
- Internet hosts: 21
- Internet users: 3.5 million
- Climate: Tropical in south, arid desert in north
- Natural hazards: Dust storms and periodic, persistent drought
- Factoid: Largest country in Africa
- Population: 39.4 million (July 2007 est.)
- Population growth rate: 2.08%
- Life expectancy at birth: 49.11 years
- Religions: Sunni Muslim 70% (in north), Christian 5% (mostly in south and Khartoum), indigenous beliefs 25%
- Literacy: (Age 15 and over can read and write) 61%
Source: CIA The World Fact Book
for the article visit forum at www.in-forum.com (Note -- the article is no longer available at www.inforum.com - PACODES)
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Sunday, December 2, 2007
Results of the Panyijiar Sports Tournament
(Originally posted 12.02.2007 at http://pacodes.blogspot.com/2007/12/results-of-panyijiar-sports-tournament.html)
Panyijiar County, Unity State, Southern Sudan 11-30-07
The tournament which began on the 15th -19th November 2007 was designed by sport boys and Lost Boys of Panyijiar. Thanks to the Commissioner of Panyijiar, James Gatkoi Ter who sponsored the tournament. Unity and peacefully living is essentially needed in Panyijiar. For this reason, the tournament was aimed at uniting youths as well as the community. Moreover, it was aimed at challenging the culture that prevents women and girls from participating in sport activities. It is peoples’ perception within Panyijiar localities that when the girls are involved in sporting activities, they would be “spoiled.” However, that was challenged in this tournament. Those whose daughters participated in the tournament were the “happiest” of all the parents. They could not believe their eyes when they saw their sons and daughters interact to amuse the community as well as displaying their unknown talents. It was amazing.
Those who were at the events felt like they were watching “wrestlers in the wrestling ring.” Parents after the tournament were convinced by the joy brought to them by the participation of their children in the tournament. The parents also pledged after the tournaments to let their daughters go to far places for sporting activities. A step has now been taken to challenge the culture that domesticates girls without giving them a chance to be who they want to be talent wise. The following were the results of the Panyijiar Youths Sports tournament.
Football
1. Rialthin-Nyuong FC: Champions of the 2007 Youths Football tournament and recipients of 1,000 Sudanese Pounds ($ 500) 2. Niang FC: Runner up 3. Ngundeng FC 3. Malual Wun FC 4. All Eyes Stars FC 5. Al Shabab FC 6. Tiap Payam FC 7. Pachar FC, 8. Zuordong FC 9. Majak FC 10. Nyabang FC 11. Thornhom FC 12. Pachienjok FC.
Volleyball
1. Nyal Girls: Champions of the 2007 Girls’ Volleyball tournament and the recipients of 500 Sudanese Pounds ($250) 2. Yub Girls: runner up 3. Ganyliel girls 4. Chuk Girls 5. Majak girls 6. Dong girls.
The best players of the tournaments were awarded with their prizes. The best midfielder, defender, striker (top score), goal keeper and the best coach in football were given some awards. The best volley awards were given to the best controller, Spikier, server, booster and best coach.
The boys and girls of Panyijiar will participate in the Unity State sporting tournaments that will begin on January 9th, 2008.
Panyijiar Sports Association has now understood that sports can bring broken hearts and war-torn localities together to learn new lessons about how to poster peace. Change is coming and Panyijiar is ready to change for good.
By: Thomason Tutbak Makuan Maar, tutbak@yahoo.com.
PACODES’ member, Nyal- Panyijiar County
Panyijiar County, Unity State, Southern Sudan 11-30-07
The tournament which began on the 15th -19th November 2007 was designed by sport boys and Lost Boys of Panyijiar. Thanks to the Commissioner of Panyijiar, James Gatkoi Ter who sponsored the tournament. Unity and peacefully living is essentially needed in Panyijiar. For this reason, the tournament was aimed at uniting youths as well as the community. Moreover, it was aimed at challenging the culture that prevents women and girls from participating in sport activities. It is peoples’ perception within Panyijiar localities that when the girls are involved in sporting activities, they would be “spoiled.” However, that was challenged in this tournament. Those whose daughters participated in the tournament were the “happiest” of all the parents. They could not believe their eyes when they saw their sons and daughters interact to amuse the community as well as displaying their unknown talents. It was amazing.
Those who were at the events felt like they were watching “wrestlers in the wrestling ring.” Parents after the tournament were convinced by the joy brought to them by the participation of their children in the tournament. The parents also pledged after the tournaments to let their daughters go to far places for sporting activities. A step has now been taken to challenge the culture that domesticates girls without giving them a chance to be who they want to be talent wise. The following were the results of the Panyijiar Youths Sports tournament.
Football
1. Rialthin-Nyuong FC: Champions of the 2007 Youths Football tournament and recipients of 1,000 Sudanese Pounds ($ 500) 2. Niang FC: Runner up 3. Ngundeng FC 3. Malual Wun FC 4. All Eyes Stars FC 5. Al Shabab FC 6. Tiap Payam FC 7. Pachar FC, 8. Zuordong FC 9. Majak FC 10. Nyabang FC 11. Thornhom FC 12. Pachienjok FC.
Volleyball
1. Nyal Girls: Champions of the 2007 Girls’ Volleyball tournament and the recipients of 500 Sudanese Pounds ($250) 2. Yub Girls: runner up 3. Ganyliel girls 4. Chuk Girls 5. Majak girls 6. Dong girls.
The best players of the tournaments were awarded with their prizes. The best midfielder, defender, striker (top score), goal keeper and the best coach in football were given some awards. The best volley awards were given to the best controller, Spikier, server, booster and best coach.
The boys and girls of Panyijiar will participate in the Unity State sporting tournaments that will begin on January 9th, 2008.
Panyijiar Sports Association has now understood that sports can bring broken hearts and war-torn localities together to learn new lessons about how to poster peace. Change is coming and Panyijiar is ready to change for good.
By: Thomason Tutbak Makuan Maar, tutbak@yahoo.com.
PACODES’ member, Nyal- Panyijiar County
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