08/12/2025
Review of Peter Adwok Nyabaโs autobiography "Up from the Village"
By Gabriel J. Chadar
โUp from the Villageโ tells the story of the life of Prof. Peter Adwok. It is published by Africa World Books, a printing house of South Sudanese publisher Peter Deng Lual who is based in Australia. The book was printed in 2022. The account is being told in 446 pages, including a forward by a long-time acquaintance of Prof Nyaba, Kwacakworo, a Swiss humanitarian worker.
The introduction is by the worker himself. He says it is a story of his personal life or โpersonal interaction, call it experience, with society, in all its different sociological and cultural configurations.โ
Work Structure:
The book is divided into 20 chapters which can be divided into in stages in the life of the author. Chapters 1 to 4, narrate episodes from early life with reference to Atar Intermediate School and events that changed the life of the author at that time.
Chapters 5 to 8 start with the authorโs account in joining the Anya Nya and conclude with his professional work as a geologist in the eastern part of the Sudan.
Chapters 9 to 15 give a long account of the authorโs involvement with education in Eastern Europe, inside the struggle movement, education in Cuba, detention period, and political asylum in Kenya.
The last five chapters, that is 16 to 20, touch on the split in the liberation movement, the authorโs civil society activism and the House of Nationalities Project, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the independence of South Sudan, and the authorโs reflections on his current position and thinking after retiring from politics.
Description of the content:
The book contains vivid descriptions of the childhood of the author, but the reader will also learn interesting aspects of the peopleโs life in those times, including socioeconomic and cultural and political life.
The authorโs early sense of curiosity is described in how he was severely beaten by a teacher for touching a white woman who was sponsoring the school, but the tragic event let to his being admitted to the school despite being younger than the rest. The authorโs early signs of intelligence were marvelling and were interpreted in a way that suggested that the boy might have been possessed by some deity or a spirit that required some rituals.
The book relates humorous as well as tragic accounts in the life of the author. On one occasion, the author relates how he woke up from his unconsciousness in the bush and tried to catch up with his colleagues who left him behind, only to learn that they had tried to shoot him while unconscious but the weapon could not release the bullets.
On another occasion, the author survives as boat capsized in the middle of the river and he is left empty handed in harsh weather.
The author narrates his political carrier at many points since joining the Anya Nya, to joining the Communist Party, back to the SPLM and the life in the refugee camps, the periods of education Eastern Europe, all with reference to the general political situation in Upper Nile, Southern Sudan, and South Sudan at later stages.
These are accounts of perseverance amid tragic events, sickness, hunger, injury, stigma, loss of family members and friends, but we also get accounts of achievements and academic excellence, of radical changes and social bonds.
The authorโs critical remarks on the social, cultural, economic, and political issues, cannot be missed in this seminal account.
