That is a quote from Mr. Adonai Abel, an economic migrant in Juba to a journalist’s question a few months ago.
Abel, a migrant, first moved to China in search of a greener pasture, but later relocated to Juba after spotting business opportunities in the country.
Today, Abel is living large, eating life with a big spoon and cruising on river ‘Nyakir’ (River Nile) after a week-long of work.
Their bank accounts are loaded with hard currencies and drove Toyota V8 or the latest Toyota model V6 to shield themselves from rogue traffic police officers on crowded Juba roads.
In this country, Toyota V8 or V6 is designated for money moguls or the luckiest few. Because a price of two Toyota V8 or V6 can supply Juba Teaching with sufficient drugs or medicines for at least six months. However, that is not the purpose of this article.
In short, these migrants are at peace with life. To them, Juba is where money is; a philosophy they embodied and lived by. I credit their successes to couples first, they ‘re entrepreneurial meaning they have an entrepreneurial mindset or spirit, second, they believe in growing money and third, they are hardworking and focused. In other words, they know what they want. So, they deserved everything they have earned through hard work and determination.
Unfortunately, Abel’s words didn’t give me peace. I was rattled and perturbed by the very fact that he was right. His five-word sentence kept hitting me hard like a migraine headache or starvation headache that refuses to go away until the underlying factor is arrested.
That was an experience I had to bear. I kept hearing the same words in my head repeatedly followed by HOW and WHY. I was left asking myself if what I heard was a mistake or a tongue slip.
On the other hand, the nagging little voice in my head kept distorting and distracting my line of thought. On one side of my head, the voice was telling me it wasn’t true while on the rationale side it was the opposite.
At a personal level, I was facing an internal dialogue. The topic at hand though appears simple it was complex at the same time. As usual, I retreated to the known – reflection.
To unpack the sentence, I needed hypotheses H1: South Sudan is where money is, and H2: money is foreign South Sudanese. H3: Foreign traders prioritize their needs and ignore wants.
Remember, the keyword here is MONEY. I wanted to be sure if the questions were properly contextualized. So, I randomly ask myself these questions:
- If indeed, South Sudan is where money is, why are South Sudanese struggling to put it on the table?
- If that is true, why are we poor in the sense that many people live below a dollar?
- Why are civil servants going months unpaid?
- Why are we not have good roads, hospitals, and schools?
Indeed, those questions helped me unpack my hypotheses. And finally, I ended up agreeing with Mr. Adonai Abel’s proposition. He was right.
And here why? He is right. South Sudanese have an attitude toward money, to them, money is something you can spend on whatever things that pleases one’s eyes and taste. South Sudanese prefers white collar jobs to do and not a business where wealth is created and earned.
Many South Sudanese believe in old religious dogma such as God shall provide they don’t work hard or sees work as a responsibility. That’s why a south Sudanese will prefer to rent his land or place to a foreign trader and only wait to pay rent or be given an already-built hotel or, a house after the lease period expired.
On the other side, a foreigner will think of a business by setting up an electronic wholesale, construction company, petroleum station, hotel, or in wholesale.
That’s why a foreign trader sees Juba as a place where money is, but a south Sudanese sees a problem in Juba. While a foreign trader sets up a business and is his boss, a south Sudanese wants.
And that is why Juba is where money is but South Sudanese cannot see it.
