This blog presents the story of Thiek, originally the Aweil area of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, who now lives in Juba. Now one of the domino-playing casual workers and hawkers of Juba city, Thiek’s experience stringing economic life and learning together is a way to understand young men’s livelihoods in the time of coronavirus.

In this piece, Elizabeth Nyibol describes the lifestory of her aunt, Mary Ajok Wetkwuo, who throughout her life has demonstrated a commitment to growing the indigenous grains of her Dinka community—varieties of sorghum and millet—which she carried with her while living much of her life in displacement. The account shows how Mary, like many other Dinka women, deployed the social and material…