Recently, 33 Loreto Secondary School students went to visit the State Hospital in Rumbek, equipped with cleaning items, baby kits, and plenty of good humour. The girls are well known by the staff there, and they were welcomed with open arms and hearts.

It is an annual tradition that our school Peace Club members visit the State Hospital, because hospitals are places where people from all tribes come together. After talking to the patients about the necessary of peace, the students started cleaning the wards and helping in the garden. They also handed out baby kits as a small gesture of welcome to the newborns and a sign of support to the mothers. Asked why they are doing this and how it is linked to peace, they give a very convincing answer: “When we are visiting the hospital, the people are happy seeing us cleaning. They say, ‘These are our kids who are trying to spread peace by helping in our hospitals. Maybe we should not be a bad example to them. Maybe we should promote peace instead of fighting. If our kids are doing such good things, it will be very bad if we do the opposite.’ That´s why we go there, spread love, clean, and bring gifts.”

The Peace Club also visits the local villages. Carrying battery-powered speakers, a stage for their drama, and cookies, they reach out several times a year to sensitise the communities about peace and the issues of gender-based violence, cattle raiding, and many other things that cause conflicts. Aluel said, “Before we reach the village, we are usually quite excited. How will they react? Will they listen to us? But these concerns quickly disappear. They feel happy seeing the young generation working to promote peace, because that is what they are also aiming for too. The challenge is that many have difficulties with literacy and the idea of revenge. But, as they see some of us getting educated and then working to promote peace, they feel happy, and it encourages them to try to promote peace in their own way and also to bring their children to school.”

Akol added, “The main reason we spread peace is because of what will happen after we have done that. You feel happy, of course, but not only that. They feel like, if somebody has done something good for me, I must do it for somebody else, because they don’t do it for me, so that it ends with me. If somebody has helped me, it means, the next time I will help somebody, and somebody will help somebody else. It will spread like that and, in the end, everybody will live in peace.”

“Only when we come together and everyone contributes their ideas will we be able to achieve the goal we are aiming for, and this is a life of peace and prosperity.”

The motto of our Peace Club is “One Hand Cannot Clap.” The members are sure, “without peace, there will be no development and progress in our country. Because peace brings togetherness, and when people are together, they do everything together. They work together to achieve the one goal that they all aim for. However, if the people here are scattered, if they are not together, if they pursue only their own goals, how can we build up our country? How can we solve all these big problems we are facing? Only when we come together and everyone contributes their ideas will we be able to achieve the goal we are aiming for, and this is a life of peace and prosperity.”