The communities in Wulu County of Lakes State are witnessing a new dawn as the cultural peace festival champions unity and togetherness among the locals in the area.
For years, tensions and divisions among clans and sections have quietly grown across various parts of Lakes State, threatening long-standing traditions of harmony.
In response, the Rumbek Youth and Sports Association (RYSA), with support from the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), launched a series of cultural peace festivals designed to help mend fractured relationships and revive a sense of community belonging.
The initiative targets Rumbek Centre, Rumbek East, and Wulu County, bringing thousands of citizens together under one message: unity is stronger than division.
Speaking during the festival in Wulu, Abass Mayek Mayen, Executive Director at RYSA said the organization was committed to promoting peace and local development through inclusive cultural activities.
“As RYSA, our goal is broader. We initiated this project to unite our communities and encourage reconciliation across Lakes State,” he explained this week.
“We need peace, and it is our task to must reconcile our people. This is the only way we can build a stable and united society,”
Earlier in the year, similar cultural festivals were positively conducted in Rumbek East and Rumbek Centre. Those events have continued to draw thousands and demonstrated powerful role of cultural expression in healing community rifts.
The Wulu campaign themed “TingKoBaai” which literally translates “Let’s be watchdogs of our homes” builds on new momentum as it attracted over 1,000 participants, including youth, women, traditional chiefs, local administrators, and cultural groups.
The festival featured traditional dances, dramas, songs of peace, community dialogues, and inter-clan performances aimed at strengthening bonds among residents.
For many attendees, the November festival was more than just a celebration, it was a renewal of commitment to peaceful coexistence.
John Majak, a youth participant, revealed the event helped locals to reflect on their roles in shaping a peaceful State.
“This session has been a new commitment to love and unity. During the festival, locals promised to shun hate, discrimination, and segregation. These practices tear us apart, and we must reject them. We need to live by example as peace-loving people of Lakes,” he explained.
Women also played a central role in the festival, using songs and cultural performances to encourage dialogue and togetherness.
Mary Deng, a women’s representative in Wulu, applauded the initiative as a platform that gives women a voice in promoting stability.
“Women are the backbone of our communities. When we sing, dance, and speak for peace, it brings people together. This initiative is important because it reminds us that we share a common identity as people of Lakes State.”
For his part, Emmanuel Majak, Beli community local chief in Wulu County, said the festival helped revive cultural values that had been slowly fading due to years of instability.
“It is reminding us of our cultures because we were forgetting who we are. This is a wonderful initiative. This is the way we can maintain unity, respect, and cultural pride among our people,”
The event featured three main traditional groups, a women’s cultural troupe, a mixed dance group from Rumbek, and a male youth group all performing to symbolize the unity between Wulu, Rumbek Centre, and Rumbek East communities.
Veronica Awut, a representative of women from Rumbek East and Centre, said the joint performances demonstrated that peace is possible when communities commit to dialogue.
Representing RYSA, Abbas Mayek Mayen, the Organization’s executive director said they had to embark on cultural peace festival in order to build peace among the locals’ population.
While the locals commend the impact of the festival, they urged the implementing agency to expand the initiative to more areas to ensure that peace messages reach even the most remote communities in the state.
