Date: 5th February 2007
The community began as a youth union back in Kakuma, Kenya, which was then a forum in which young men (there were no girls, sorry) could sit down to brief themselves when life proves more complicated in the refugee camps.
However, when most of these folks left the camps to make use of their resettlement opportunities, they fortunately could not forget where they came from, and so the Union was preserved, though under a different name, and now with more roles added.
As usual, the bond of attraction between people who are bound by one culture is something normal in every society. The Panaruu people in the Diaspora, however scattered they are in the west, feel that forming a community is an ideal way to preserve their values in the face of cultural disintegration upon encountering strange way of life. Not only that, forming a community will benefit them in that they will have a forum to meet each other every other year as coping with hectic and laborious social setting of the west makes it hard for them to meet. This will lessen the challenge of being distracted and spoilt by cultures some, if not all, must not copy right.
Most importantly, every member has been asked to donate $10 every month/$120 every year to a common treasury. This money will be used to help our people back home (in affordable ways) who are struggling to recover from the aftermath of war.
Many men and only two women attended the meeting. It was the most refined meeting I have ever witnessed, especially when it is such an informal, a typical community gathering and involving most important issues such as discourses about pooled lump sum of money. It was better than the one I witnessed in the same place in 2004.
Indeed this is a sign of intellectual growth of our youth of the post-war South Sudan that most think-tanks deem as psychologically affected by traumas of 21 year old civil conflict. The Panaruu community promises to work even harder still to set a tremendous example to other Sudanese communities living in the west.
The Panaruu Community Association has created a humanitarian branch called P-CHARD: Panaruu Coalition for Humanitarian Affairs and Rehabilitation Development. This branch deals with donation receipts both within and from outside. It is an up to date organization when it comes to financial reliability. They are making their way to get P-CHARD registered with the US federal and States IRS so that donors can file for tax return to claim their donations back at the end of the tax year. They have already succeeded registering with the State of Nebraska, according to the former leader who has been re-elected to the position of vice chairman but still undergoing processing with the Federal Government.
Apart from the aforementioned objectives, the Panaruu Community’s humanitarian branch, once it gets funded by the willing donors and of course from the Federal Government once it gets certified, shall work closely with the young government of South Sudan for investment guidance and appropriation. It will especially work with the Parieng local administration in the following areas of importance: Buying medical equipment and supplies to modernize the poorly built medical facility in the area.
Depending on affordability, the Association hopes to buy schoo