 Welcome! Welcome to South Sudan! South Sudan! I can't believe I'm here! I can't believe you're here! You can't believe I'm here! I can't believe I'm here! I've been hearing a lot about this country and I just wanted to come and explore it myself! Welcome! Where are you taking me today? Right now we're in Jebel, Jebel Kujur. Jebel means mountain in Juba Arabic. So what we're doing today, we're going on a hike. On a hike? So this is Jebel Mountain and so welcome with me! I'm falling inside the water! So we're just going to hike today and is this something like a routine for everybody? Yeah so like every weekend people come here because it's like a kind of work out thing for everybody. But for the more serious hikers they come here even during the week because it's accessible, it's open to everyone so you can come here anytime but it's more popular towards the weekend. Alright so definitely it's something that people from South Sudan created? Yes it is. How often do you come in here? First time actually. Your first time? Were you born in this country? Yeah I was born here. But if you're born here, why is it your first time in here? I actually travelled a lot before there was no safety to come here but it has been recently that there are a lot of people to actually come here. So where were you? Were you born and raised here? Yeah I was born and raised here. But you've lived here all your life? Yeah. I would say that this is a country that a lot of people were telling me not to come. Right. And I'm here now. Will you advise people to come to your country? Yeah actually the crisis that happened was just a civil arrest. So it does not affect any other foreigner. Right. It's just like a political war, a start of a country. Okay. So when you come here for a purpose like a job when you have a job then yours is safe. When you have a business it's safe. When you come also for tourism it's still safe. Okay. And safety comes from your group of people you hang out with. But other than that it's really safe. Mountain used to be restricted because there was no safety measure. So now people can actually come and safely return back here. So now we need to know about South Sudan? Well South Sudan South Sudan is an amazing country. It's amazing land. It's also blessed very much if you can know like one of the richest. But yeah we have our ups and downs and we appreciate this land. How long has this been a system? Actually I'm actually happy to say that initially we came here first the first group to actually go hiking after independence was back in 2010. So this is after like they did the demining because you know where we're post war. So the whole area was surveyed and they actually demined it. And then from there we were actually I was actually part of the group of the first group that actually went up the mountain. After independence. So are you South Sudanese? Yes I am. Born and raised in here? Born, not raised, but I'm back. Why were you not raised in here? See because of the war. So we had to, yeah so we were like the ones in the diaspora. Where in the diaspora were you? Well I moved quite a bit. Kenya, Uganda, then South Africa, Namibia and then back to Kenya to Uganda, then to South Sudan. Wow. I mean how was the experience like living your own country to other places on the continent? How did it feel? I mean you have a home but you have to go out there just to find a better place to live. I mean how did it feel? And how was the feeling like? I think it's one of those things that it is that's how life was you know. So a lot of like your families and everyone you meet them outside. So it's like that's the way life is. But of course I think I had parents who really taught me and just explained to me where I'm coming from. So even in the different countries that I lived in, I still knew about Sudan and South Sudan. So that's why like when the peace was kind of coming you know, then that's how we moved back. Wow. And how long have you been boxing? Since 2006. Oh okay. How do you feel now? Now I love it. I love it. Yeah. So we came here straight after like the transitional period. During the transitional period. So like from that first time that I came. Yeah. I saw you and I watched you. Oh come on say hello. How are you man? I'm good. How are you doing? I'm doing good. Tell me something about South Sudan. As you can see it's a very nice country. A soul loving one. We are just equal like other people. As you see us coming from hiking the mountain if you reach up there, I think you could have seen many different kind of people different tribe, others from China, Europe, and all that. All of them. So though it is the youngest nation ever in the world, but we have a modern way of living, a loving way. Though people put things in a different way, in a different perspective, but I think you can see it for yourself. So it's not all about tribe it is all about Africanism. Africanism yes. So we need to be together as Africans and be united we can make things better than others even do in the so called Europe and all that. I feel like this hiking is not going to be easy because I've never hiked before in my entire life. And today's the day. Today's the day. If she can do it are you hiking? She's hiking. A lot of people who come in here twice, a lot of people that come in here twice. Everybody, you'll find different people, working class you'll find grown people, you'll find ministers, you'll find children it became really popular last year towards the COVID time. But then it was banned a little bit because there was social distancing so it just happened like so many people were coming here and you had to kind of do the whole social distancing. So they banned it a few times for the COVID protocol. But now it's back on because I think they recognize that people are interested in it and also it's a workout and because even during this COVID times you have to keep healthy kind of workout and so the ban was lifted. Something that you'll see as we go up the hike you'll see a lot of crosses. There's a lot of crosses. There's a lot of crosses. One, two, three, four. And there's another one further down. Why so many crosses? So remember I was telling you how this place is called Jebel Kujur. Jebel is the Arabic word for mountain. Kujur is the Arabic word for witchcraft. So it's Jebel Kujur. So I think the local people, the natives of this area they really, I think for some reason they believe that this was like a cursed mountain but I think now as people started settling here I think that's why they deliberately put crosses. So you're going to see a church down there which is like a popular church and just crosses so people actually do like what is it called, procession of the cross? They pray? Yeah, they pray. They pray, they go up, they do like overnights on the mountain so it's almost like they're changing the narrative of the mountain. You know? So that's a guess for me. Yeah. Did you see everybody? That's where you're going? That's where you're going. I think I've seen my mind. It's too early. Literally we've just been taking a walk. Yo, this is giving me the chance to appreciate nature man. Yo, how are you doing man? Do you love me? Tell me something about South Sudan. South Sudan, as you can see there's no hail here just coming up and going down just refreshing. How often do you do this? This is my first time. Your first time? Were you born and raised in this country? Yeah, but I've been busy out there just like that. You've been busy? No time for hiking. You're busy making money. That's why they're running now. Okay, nice to meet you man. Take care of yourself, it's good. Welcome to South Sudan. Hey, alright. Okay, thank you man. Okay, let's go. We're not done. Tell me something about South Sudan. I love it man. One of a kind my hometown proud of it. Tell us about the people. Humble people. But I don't know how people take them outside there. One of a kind. See, I'm feeling super short in this country. Yesterday, somebody literally called me hey short man, come here. I'm like what? Okay. If it's any consolation, I'm also short. Thank you. I'm also trying. Climbing this. Oh my goodness. This is my first South Sudan experience. I don't think I'm going to love it. Cheese. I can say now. I really want to rest. Whoa. Now I know that if I go up more, I'll see something better. You going down again? I'm going down again. How many times have you gone up and down? That is eight. Eight times? Eight times. Wow. But I consider them poor. We might find you back up here. Oh my God, this is the eighth time it's going up. That's crazy man. It's so crazy guys. Yo, and I've not even done one. Don't tell anybody that I told you I've not done one yet. This is crazy. Yo. How much more than me. I mean, this my first South Sudan experience is literally crazy. It's something that I would love to do over and over again. Don't tell anybody that I'm actually lying to you because this is going to be my first and last. Whoa. So that over there, that's our goal. Yeah, that's what it is. And they call it Facebook Hill. Facebook Hill? Why Facebook Hill? Just guess. All of them are on Facebook. It is an achievement. And if you make it, it's on Facebook. If it's not on Facebook, you didn't come here. That's Facebook Hill. Yes. We're going to Facebook Hill right now. What am I seeing over there? Right over there, that's the the UN compound. It's actually for the IDPs which is the internally displaced people. You know what? I want to tell you something. I was so shocked when I got here like almost all the cars that I'm seeing, they've written UN. And I'm like, what is happening here? UN is big here. We have our own, it's called UNMISS, which is the UN mission in South Sudan. We literally have our own UN here. But that's one of their compounds for the people who've been displaced around the country because maybe some kind of issues in different parts of the country. But that's one of them. There's another one near the airport. But this is the larger one. Let me go take my Facebook picture. All right. Now we're close to the end. I thought we'd be down down already. This is the end. Why this is the end? This is the end. This is Facebook Hill. So finally we are at the Facebook Hill. We are here. So the tradition is, once you get up there you have to run all the way up. You know the final leg of the hike. You have to run. You have to run up. So we're going to do it. I hope I make it to the top man. I made it this far. As part of tradition you have to respect the tradition. So I'm just going to do that even though I'm so tired. But they're telling me, yo she's going to climb up. So as part of the tradition you have to run up. How? Yo, get ready for me man. I'm ready for you. So as part of tradition we have to do what? Run up. We're running up. I won't let you defeat me. Come on. Come on. I won in her own country. I was playing so. You were playing? I wanted you to win. I'm in South Sudan to look for a girl. Make sure you're tall man. Because I don't think you're going to get one. Hold on. How old are you? 21. What? You know I'm twice her age. And I still can't take her home. You can't take it home because she's taller than me. I have to paddle, man. God damn it. Geez. Have you ever throw it like a session on this girl? Not yet. Not yet? No, I'm here to try. Are you scared? Are you scared of the heights? I'm just scared of the heights, man. No, no, no, no. I shouldn't be scared. You bet, bro. You guys got the same height. You got it all, man! You got the trick, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just broke the secret, yo. I just hit the link. Come on, man.