I am a German by Choice, did you know that?

I am a German by Choice, did you know that?
By: Abraham Daljang Maker
I have never been to Germany, but some events which happened since I was a boy took me there spiritually, but not physically. It was one Sunday in 1999 when I met German friend, this was during the Bible study. As a boy, I had no idea of who is a German, American, Briton, etc. But all I knew was only “kawaja” a white person, but little did I know that my first white friend was a German. German was the second foreign language which I was able to say a few words such as “Danke, guten Abend, guten Morgen, and guten tak” since 1999. (Not sure if spelling is correct.) In 2000, when I was in primary seven, I got a pen pal from Germany; Bernard was also in Primary school in Germany and is a brother to Christa, my first German friend. Through Christa, I would send hand written letters to my pen pal. It was such an amazing moment to receive a letter from a white boy of my age from unknown part of the world and this made me a village hero who communicate with “Kawajas” white people.

There was this particular beautiful Sunday which I cannot even remember the date but I cannot forget it.  It was just an ordinary Sunday like other days when I came to a church to pray with Christa, because I was her Dinka-English translator. I am not sure if I did the translation well with my poor primary school English and also being a second language after my mother tongue; but I did tried any way. Well, this Sunday after successful prayers, we went to ACROSS compound to have breakfast with her before I would walk back home. “Abraham, God has heard your prayers, you have got a sponsor and you will go and study secondary school wherever you like in East Africa,” She broke the news to me after we had taken our tea. I didn't know how to react, my mind went blank and I was in confusion either to cry of to laugh.

 In Biblical context, you would all Christa a GOOD SAMARITAN but in my own context, I can say she is a GOOD GERMAN!  At the age of 12, I could not have mature mind to figure out where to go but with help of friends, I decided to go to Arua Uganda where I did my secondary school. While in Uganda, I also met with German family, my school fees were channelled through their accounts. For the last four years, I was attached to this German family in Arua, I ate with them, played with their kids and prayed together, they were all nice and friendly.  Because of all these attachments to Germans, the first city in the world I longed to visit was and is still Berlin, Germany.

When I joined the University in 2009 to pursue bachelor degree in Journalism, my GOOD GERMANS, and this time two of them; Nicola and Christa joined hands to support me in paying my University tuition, this further created strong bond between me and Germans. In 2010, I did my internship with Radio Voice of Life (VOL) tell you what? The programme called Here is Life run by voice of Life FM is collaboration with a German organisation called DIGUNA (good news for Africa) not sure if I guess it right. There I met many German students who came to do their placement in DIGUNA; another social network with young Germans started again, they were so friendly and interactive especially during morning devotion before we would disperse to our various assignments.
In August 2012 after having completed my university degree in journalism, the first Organisation where I worked was a German organisation. The MICT’s theniles.org gave me a chance to work with them as Kampala based freelance correspondent; the editor-chief of theniles.org; Nik Lehnert is another nice and friendly German, He wholeheartedly and tirelessly trained me to become a good journalist and within one month, I was catching up very well and you won’t believe that I was just a fresh graduate; you would think I worked in the media for ten years.
Without doubt, these chronological events which happened since 1999 to presents can tell you and me that I am a German by Choice. The third language after Mother tongue and English which I was and is able to say at least a word is German, the first “kawaja” I met when I was a child was German, the first pen pal I read his letter was a German, the GOOD SAMARITANS; this time GOOD GERMANS who took me to school were Germans, the first organisation I worked with was German’s and the first money I earned was from Germany. Therefore I am comfortable to be called, African German, or South Sudanese German or German by choice, whichever you prefer, call me and I give you a gleeful smile.

Danke! 

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