VOA标准英语2011-Southern Sudanese Expats Return Home to H

As southern Sudan tries to re-build its institutions, infrastructure¹ and services following decades of conflict, it faces a severe shortage of skilled professionals. Some help, however, is coming from southern Sudanese who have returned home after years abroad.

William Deng Deng is a tall man who looks older than his 45 years. He is one of the early lost boys. He fled the conflict in southern Sudan in 1971, long before the lost boys of the 1990s who were popularized recently in the media.

Deng fled when his boarding school was attacked by the Sudanese army. He was seven years old. The oldest in his group was 12.

"I was a most fortunate one because I didn't die," said Deng. "Many of my colleagues died along the way. Some were eaten by crocodiles, by animals. Some were bitten by snakes. But I survived."

Deng grew up in camps in neighboring Ethiopia and eventually went to the United States and Canada to study. He returned and lived in the bush, "to give back the knowledge" he had received.

When a peace accord ended the war ended six years ago Deng was put in charge of southern Sudan's Disarmament, Demobilization and Re-integration Commission (DDR). Under the accord the DDR is charged with de-commissioning 90,000 combatants and helping² them return to civilian³ life. The Khartoum government has pledged to demobilize an equal number of its forces.

To date some 12,000 soldiers have been demobilized. Deng says demobilization is a difficult task, because the soldiers and the communities they seek to rejoin have been traumatized by the violence.

"DDR is the bridge between post-conflict and development," Deng explained. "We are moving from the war to peace and peace to development. So it is more complicated than that."

Dr. Lul Riek has a less dramatic, though equally compelling, story. He left his family as an adolescent to study abroad, first in Egypt where he became a doctor, then in the United States where he obtained a Masters degree in public health policy.

Riek now heads the Community Health Department in the Health Ministry⁴. He says the ministry is faced with rebuilding the region's health services from almost nothing.

"All the health infrastructures⁵, the little that we had, has been destroyed," Riek noted⁶. "There was no opportunity for the development of human resources. So the health situation in southern Sudan in general is among the very poorest in the world."

The task is daunting⁷. In southern Sudan, only 16 percent of the population has access to healthcare. One out of every seven children dies before the age of five. And there are only 300 doctors and 20 trained mid-wives to care for eight million people. Riek says that is why he returned home.

"Those are big challenges, but we are very prepared," added Riek. "We are committed. We are passionate⁸. We will do our best to make sure that the people get the services they expect. Because those are the reasons we went to war."

Mou Ambrose Thiik is the son of a prominent politician who was frequently jailed for his opposition⁹ to the government in Khartoum. Thiik recalls that he used to leave his boarding school on weekends and travel one day each way to visit his father in prison.

Thiik went to Egypt and Europe to study as his family fled into exile and became a successful economist¹⁰ and businessman in Germany.

When the north and the south signed the peace agreement he returned home with his wife and young son. He now works on developing governance and civic¹¹ intuitions for the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation in Juba.

"The major priorities at the moment are to set the governance right," said Thiik. "It's very important because that will set up a good foundation for the democratic system we would like to have in southern Sudan. The other is to engage in the physical infrastructure because we have a vast country which really needs a lot of capital."

Thiik's foundation conducts training sessions and workshops for trade unions, civic groups and public officials. He says the Diaspora could contribute a great deal to reconstruction¹² in southern Sudan.

"The Diaspora can play a very big and a very pivotal role in making a change and quickly for the people here because those in the Diaspora have skills and that's the commodity that we lack so much in southern Sudan," added Thiik.

Demobilization chief William Deng agrees.

"We [diaspora members] can actually become a good agent of change to change lifestyle, to bring development," noted Deng. "We will not even finish it. We will have to leave it for many generations to come to complete, but we can be the foundation."

They call on members of the southern Sudanese Diaspora to consider returning, or if they cannot come back, to invest in businesses and schools in order to boost jobs and the economy.

1 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 infrastructures   

n.基础设施( infrastructure的名词复数 )；基础结构；行政机构；秘密机构

参考例句：

• Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。 来自互联网
• The increasingly fast urbanization process requires more and more infrastructures. 我国城市化进程不断加快，对城市基础设施的需求也越来越大。 来自互联网

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

8 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

11 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

12 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。