Native Displacement in the Twenty-First Century: Applying Leadership Knowledge

By Abann Kamyay Ajak Yor

This book, Native Displacement in the Twenty-First Century: Applying Leadership Knowledge is produced of project and exegesis of Master of Applied Indigenous Knowledge. That provided to the author a vehicle to apply and evaluate learning within the context of an applied project connected to indigenous epistemology and an indigenous community. The study sought to as a question; Applying Leadership Knowledge; how can it build on and enhance relationships in South Sudanese and other ethnic communities through encouraging the development of new and effective leadership roles?

This book is a Taonga Tuku Iho (Resource/Product) for the South Sudanese and other ethnic communities and New Zealand society as a whole. It is a contribution to present and future generations. Provides the readers with practical knowledge with a new perspective about forced immigrations to Aotearoa New Zealand. It is using the research findings and author story of forced immigration (family, tribal affiliation, and country historical narratives) that use as a template for other forced migrant background of New Zealand. It serves as a resource and product resulted from conversations with fourteen South Sudanese and a hundred and six ethnic communities’ participants.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris NZ
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781543496765

Abann Kamyay Ajak Yor

The author is the General Manager of Auckland Resettled Community Coalition, his strategic relationship role a community advocate, and educator. He has been working in the resettlement sector in Aotearoa New Zealand, Auckland for more than 15 years promoting relationship building between resettled people and service providers. He represented attends UN Submits in Geneva, Switzerland on behalf of forced migrant background communities and engages New Zealand parliamentarians in Wellington on the plight of refugee background and resettled people in Aotearoa New Zealand. Abann lived in Syria as an asylum seeker after fleeing South Sudan and Sudan’s civil war two decades ago. He came to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2005 with his nuclear family. He is a community-driven person easy to approach and he helps many individuals and groups of ethnically diverse background communities beyond the Aotearoa Resettled Community Coalition.

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Copyright © 2020 by Abann Kamyay Ajak Yor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and

such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/11/2020

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CONTENTS

About the Author

List of Maps, Figures, and Images

Dedication

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1 Displacement Experience—The South Sudanese Community in New Zealand

Chapter 2 My Resettlement Journey of Self-Discovery—Past, Present, and Future

Chapter 3 Models Underpinning the Sika Project

Chapter 4 Community Research Project—The Sika Project

Chapter 5 Findings

Chapter 6 Conclusion and Recommendations

Bibliography

Appendix 1: Reflecting on my Studies

Appendix 2: Notes Contributors

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A bann Kemyay was born in South Sudan, and his immigration journey started in 1986. He lived in Sudan as a displaced minor until 2000, when he immigrated to Syria, Damascus, due to the ongoing civil war in Sudan. A fluent speaker of Cøllø, Arabic, and English, he has lived in Auckland since 2005, with his wife and children.

Abann has been heavily involved with the Auckland South Sudanese community in a leadership capacity. He has held various leadership roles across community organisations and NGOs with a well-established network in the resettlement/settlement sector. He has strong advocacy, leadership, and management capabilities and takes a human rights approach to community issues. He has twice represented the resettled communities of Aotearoa New Zealand at the Geneva Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement, as part of the Immigration New Zealand delegation.

He has completed numerous qualifications, such as, including a national certificate in automotive engineering mechanics, a graduate diploma in not-for-profit management, a postgraduate certificate in social practice, a postgraduate diploma in bicultural professional supervision (Kaītiakitanga), and a master’s degree in indigenous studies in applying leadership knowledge. He has published two books: Beyond Refuge and New Zealanders Now. Other published work includes research papers, Improving Resettlement Outcomes (research on men) and Bench-Marking the Resettlement Process of New Zealand and Australia, and two academic papers, My Reflections on Indigeneity and An Indigenous Master’s Research Supervision Model.

Abann is general manager of Aotearoa Resettled Community Coalition (ARCC) and is a passionate community advocate, author, and educator. He was a recipient of the New Zealand Red Cross resettlement sector award and received a certificate of appreciation from Unitec Institute of Technology for his ongoing contribution to fieldwork education to enhance student learning. Abann is a fellow of the New Zealand Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and was awarded a Local Hero Medal and Certificate of Achievement for New Zealander of the Year in 2016. This acknowledged his achievements in community leadership during his ten years of sharing, caring, and supporting the Aotearoa New Zealand resettlement and integration processes, involving community groups and individuals at the local, regional, and national levels.

LIST OF MAPS, FIGURES, AND IMAGES

Maps

Map 1: The Republic of South Sudan.

Map 2: Sudan and South Sudan map and satellite image (Geology 2020).

Figures

Figure 1: Laagi Cøllø (Shilluk Kingdom): Social and political structure (personal illustration).

Figure 2: The Bul Cøllø (Shilluk drum) (personal illustration, 2017).

Figure 3: The Bul Cøllø model of understanding (personal illustration, 2019).

Figure 4: The Bul Cøllø model of practice (personal illustration, 2019; based on Macfarlane 2004).

Figure 5: The SIKA theory framework (personal illustration, 2019).

Figure 6: Applying leadership knowledge research model (personal illustration, 2019).

Images

Image 1: My late uncle and chief Isaac Obunying Deng (1951–2018) (personal collections, 2013).

Image 2: My mother, Nyikal Deng (personal collections, 2020).

Image 3: Pa-Ajako (Ajako Village), last memories, August 1984 (personal illustration, 2019).

Image 4: Part of Pa-Ju settlement, last memories, August 1984 (personal illustration, 2016).

Image 5: My visit to Pa-Ajako (Ajako Village) on 1 January 2013.

Image 6: Sobat River at Pa-Ju, Pa Num (Dhøgman), where the Khor Fulus pours into the Sobat River, 1 January 2013 (personal collection).

Image 7: Nile River at Wij Obal on 1 January 2013 (personal collection).

Image 8: Receiving my Local Hero Medal on 1 December 2015, alongside Paul Brock, chief executive officer of Kiwi Bank; Penny Hulse, former deputy mayor of Auckland Council; and Phil Goff, mayor of Auckland (personal collection, 2015).

Image 9: Proudly holding my Certificate of Achievement for the New Zealander of the Year Awards 2016, with the Rt Hon. Jim Bolger, ONZ. The former prime minister of New Zealand, Jim Bolger, presented the Certificate of Achievement to me (personal collection, 2016).

Image 10: Receiving my Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Award at the ceremony at Government House, 24 September 2019, with Her Excellency the Rt Hon. Dame Patsy Reddy (personal collection, 2019).

DEDICATION

T his book, Native Displacement in the Twenty-First Century , is dedicated to my late father, Kemyay Ajako, and my uncle and chief, Isaac Obunying Deng. You will always be missed, and I ask you to continue to watch over the family and bless us to maintain our family relationship and unity.

I also dedicate this work to the victims of the ongoing conflict in South Sudan—the innocent women, children, disabled and elders, and forced immigrants—and to displaced people around the world who are seeking protection, safety, and healing.

To my mother, Nyikal Deng Juachdiing; my brothers and sisters; extended families; and relatives, thank you for your unconditional love and moral support during my journey to safety abroad. This book is for you.

Lastly, I also dedicate this book to the Aotearoa Resettled Community Coalition (ARCC) member organisations, research participants, and all my Aotearoa New Zealand extended family, community, friends, and supports, who made this work possible.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T his book represents the dream of a man unknown to many—my late father, Kemyay—for my education. His last words to me before my displacement journey were ‘Son, education is a key for the South Sudanese problem, and if you want to contribute positively, you must understand it first’. Now I am sharing my story of recovery and discovery, fulfilling my father’s legacy of contributing to the South Sudanese community and New Zealand society. It is hoped this book will serve as a valuable resource in applying leadership knowledge to the South Sudanese diaspora back home and to the future development of other ethnic communities of New Zealand.