The Birth of Machiek Cayier:
The Birth of Machiek Cayier:
Machiek Machiek Akuocpiir Cayier, who is also named as Kuol Tokmach ee Kuer Dhuor, was born on 30. DEC. 1993. In Hoor Machiek Amuong, Berle-Sophi Village, near, Mapuordit-Yirol West Sudan (now South Sudan). He is A South Sudanese Kushetic; Poet, Philosopher, Intellectual Elite, Rapper, Model & Software Engineer.
Jago Machiek, Jr: born in the safe haven; amidst the “Second Sudanese Civil War”. It was in 1993 that, Jago’s grandmother and the aunts traveled from Guongayool, Yirol East to Hoor Machiek Amuong, Berle-Sophi-Village, near Mapuordit, Yirol West. South Sudan.
Two months before he was born; they were informed from the far East of Yirol, that the time of the birth was already approaching in the winter.
This was the wish his close relatives have held for some longer time. With all the preparations they had done for the reception of the child who happened to be, Machiek Machiek Akuocpiir Cayier.
During this moment, the child who later was named Jago, three days after he was born, by a family friend; after his father; a chief of the village whose name was called, Jaago Akook, in North Eastern part of Western Equatoria, South Sudan.
He was also named Machuei Ayen Tokmach Kuer, by his maternal grandmother Nyikok Mathieng, mother Helena Ayen Tokmach, and step-grandmother Aledi Manyiel.
The name, Machuei was derived from a tree known as Chuei by the Jieng people. It was a sacred tree in his Mother’s home state.
The father of the child was a military strategist known as Machiek Akuocpiir Cayier Dhaal, who lived most of his life on the frontline, fighting for the liberation; of the people in Sudan, since 1983 when the civil war broke out in the country between the ruling party NCP (National Congress Party) and the rebel movement SPLA/M ( Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement). In which the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) peace (treaty) was later reached in Naivasha, Nairobi Kenya, on 9th January, 2005.
The locality where the boy was born in, which was popularly known by the migrants as Hoor Machiek Amuong, Berle-Sophi; was one of the safe havens in a country devastated by the longest civil war in Africa.
Jago’s grandmother, Nyikok Mathieng Luony Dak, mother Ayen Tokmach Kuer, step-grandmother, Aledi Manyiel, and all the other family members later recounted that ” it was the safest place we stayed in those hard days, keeping away from government atrocities.”
On December 30th, 1993, Machiek Machiek Akuocpiir Cayier, who is also called Jago Machiek, Jr., was then born; a moment that became part of blessing to the family, since they expected a baby boy. And all the family was filled with happiness after his birth.
The civil war in the country continued all that long. And the family in which Jago Machiek, Jr, was raised with his siblings, was part of the extended families of Pakol of Kuanydit and Naam of Kuanythii.
The hurdles of life were not avoidable, but the family was fairly wealthy with cattle and vast lands for carrying out farming activities.
This kept everyone supported and existed despite the graving government strategies, which was aiming to marginalize the native Sudanese Nationals, mainly the Southerners.
Despite the hardest times; Jago Machiek, Jr. was raised as a humble boy. He was educated by his grandmother Nyikok Mathieng Luony Dak, whose father was a Nuer from Polmot, Bentiu, and her mother a Jaang from Lou, Yirol East. Aneekthieec, traditionally (orally) trained Jaago, since he was 3 years old until the age of 8; on the basis and principles of the oriental African traditional philosophy of life ( in this context, Muonyjang philosophy of personhood).
The Baptism and Christening of Machiek Machiek:
On 25th December 2001, in the village of Guongayool where he was raised, his cousin sister, Nyanangeec Dhuor Machar Kuer, who worked at the Protestant Church (Episcopal Church of Sudan), which was established under a tree known by the Jieng people as Abeel at the home of Paramount Chief, David Dhuor Machar Kuer; took him to the church for baptism. The first time for Jaago Machiek, Jr. to be at what is referred to as a “church”.
The choirs were asked to choose names for the kids who were taken to be baptized and christened, his cousin chose the name “Abraham”, and the priest who headed the Christmas Mass baptized him with that name.
Years later, specifically, Jago Machiek, Jr. discovered that “Abraham” was a name given to his father at a young age, but declined to use it by the time he was 14 years, following the death of his mother; Ayor Chagai Dierpiny.
Leaving the Village of Guongayool (He Called New-Judah) and Being Schooled:
Machiek Machiek, was later schooled in 2002 at the age of 9 years; first in a missionary school called Mapuordit Comboni Primary School, managed by the Italian missionaries who established it in 1993, in Mapuordit, the year Jago was born in, at Berle-Sophi-Village. He attended for Nursery and Lower Primary Grades.
Transfer to Yirol in 2004:
He then transferred to Yirol, the capital of greater Yirol; when the family migrated back in 2004. Where he later studied with his siblings from the age of 11, at the Holy Cross Comboni Primary School.
Travels to Rumbek, Wau, and Khartoum, Sudan:
In March 2005, Jaago Machiek, Jr. left Yirol for Rumbek with his aunt¸ Akum Tokmach· This was after his father visited the family in Yirol, between November and December 2004¸ prior to the last signing of a Sudanese peace treaty on 9 January, 2005. Jaago’s visit to Rumbek for the first time was due to health issues that he faced since he was 6 years old.
His father wanted him to go for treatment in the state capital. Jaago suffered from ´´acute pulmonary edema and excessive nose bleeding´´ at a younger age. And his father who was a commander of the Sudan People´s Liberation Army/Movement in Lion Division, by that time, thought that there would be better medical services at Rumbek Hospital compared to Yirol Hospital. This was not the case when Jago Machiek, Jr. stayed in Rumbek, for a full month of April 2005.
He visited the two hospitals in the state capital with his aunt¸ but they found the same services that never solved the issues of ´´pulmonary edema and nose bleeding.´´
In May of the same year¸ Jaago Machiek, Jr. wanted to move back to Yirol for studies¸ but his aunt Akum Tokmach couldn´t let him return alone. She was on a journey heading to Wau¸ the capital of Bahr el Ghazal. In order to visit her brother Kuer Tokmach¸ who for a very long time¸ remained in the North as a result of the war outbreak in Sudan in the 1980s. Jaago Machiek, Jr. met another aunt named Yom Tokmach¸ who came to Rumbek from Cueibeet¸ on her way to Yirol.
At this moment, Machiek Machiek, asked his younger aunt Akum to let him go to Yirol together with Yom¸ but she refused. For she was so much worried about his safety on the way back to Yirol.
This time¸ the 12 years old boy had no other options but only to travel to Wau with his aunt. In the same month of May 2005, the aunt got the money to pay for the car tickets to Wau. They left Rumbek in the midst of the month. But they suffered for 5 days on the way.
When they left Rumbek¸ for Cueibeet¸ the journey was not too bad since they didn´t know that the car they were traveling with, had issues. The evening they arrived¸ in Cueibet¸ the wheel busted and everyone slept there that night. As the mechanics worked on it at their Workshop Garage.
The following morning, they left Cueibet, hoping to take the Tonj route to Wau¸ which was the shortest. Unfortunately, they took the Thieet route¸ situated in the North-Eastern part of Tonj. When they arrived in Thieet that day, the car got stuck again and there was only one place to repair it. This was the garage of the commissioner’s son.
The driver and conductors paid him for his tools and the following day in the evening, everyone was ready to continue with the journey, however, the drunkard was disturbing, and he interrupted people demanding that he wasn’t paid for his tools. Whenever the driver starts the car, he runs to the middle of the road and laid himself there demanding to be killed. When asked why he was doing this; he said that ´´he wasn’t paid.” This continued for about 30 minutes until the accident occurred. Some people held him down so that the car would go¸ but they would leave him before the car accelerates any further.
The driver was a retired soldier of the First Sudanese Civil War. He had eyesight issues since it was already dusk. When he saw the drunkard who laid himself in the middle of the road, he turned the car leftwards not knowing that there was a hole. Everyone badly landed into the hole but the safe thing was, it was an open car, everyone landed on the ground safely because the car was not at high speed. After the accident occurred, the drunkard was reported to the police and later he was jailed. His father sent the Truck that was used to pull out the car from the hole. That evening passed, which marked the two days Jaago Machiek, Jr., his aunt, and all the people traveling with them, spent in Thieet.
The following morning, they departed from Thieet, heading to Yinhekuel, in the Nort-West of Tonj, unfortunately, not so many passengers in that car knew about a man with his fiancee, who hired the car from Rumbek to the village of Yinhekuel. After the realization of this by the people who were traveling to Wau, they demanded a payback of the half of ticket fees, since there was no direct road to Wau, from Thieet. Hence, the driver had to comply with their demand. Then they departed from each other, those who hired the car continued, whereas the rest took another path heading to Wau. Two days later, they arrived in Heella Mahuzzibbeen, Wau, where they met his uncle for the first time since the outbreak of the Second Sudanese Civil War that separated the families for decades in Sudan.
The Days Machiek Cayier Lived in Wau:
In Wau, they spent two months and by the end of the third month of their stay, which was July 2005, They heard of the death of Dr. John Garang de Mabior, which occurred on 30th July 2005, due to Helicopter Crush at Imatong Mountain, New-Kush, Military HQS. Dr. John Garang led the war of liberation for two decades.
However, the following month August 2005, Jago Machiek, Jr., his aunt, Akum Tokmach, and uncle Kuer Tokmach Kuer, all traveled to Khartoum by airplane. The purpose of his being taken to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, was to seek proper medication concerning his condition of “acute pulmonary edema and excessive nose bleeding”; which made him suffer at an early age. After four months of stay, Jaago Machiek, Jr. who is also called “Machuei” in childhood, left with his aunt to Khosti by bus. A town along the Nile River in Central Sudan.
The Days at Port Khosti and when he Left:
They were escorted by his uncle. A long journey of 12 hours, from Central Khartoum in the far North, to Khosti in Central Sudan. During this journey, Jaago with his aunt and uncle survived an accident in which the bus caught fire after collision with a van that tried to overtake the bus. After a brief investigation, it was found out that, the driver fell asleep and he didn’t notice that there was a van trying to bypass him on the highway. This occurred in the middle of the Sahara (desert), a 6 hours distance away from the capital city, Khartoum. They managed to buy another ticket for a bus that found them on the road and proceeded to Khosti.
In this period, the Southern Sudanese were returning to their homes in the South, after many decades of suffering in the hands of the government of Sudan under Omar el Bashir.
Jago Machiek, Jr. stayed in Khosti, where he spent Christmas, with his aunt, Akum. In the last half of December 2005, Thousands of people were stationed at the port of Khosti, waiting for the ships that would bring them back to South Sudan. This took a full month there. Early in February 2006, Jago Machiek, Jr. who is also called “Machuei”, his aunt, and the thousands of people coming to Yirol, Malakal, Bor, and Juba; got the chance for the ships which would later take them to port of Shambe along the Nile in the South Central Dinka Area, Sudan.
Luckily, three days after they left Khosti and Malakal, hundreds of people in the Ship with Jaago and his aunt; survived another hurdle, a shipwreck. And in four days after that survival, they safely reached Shambe.
This marked his longtime travel which took completely a year to return to Guongayool, then later Yirol, the towns where he grew up. All that was during the age of 12.
The Inception of Writing as a Passion, Jago Machiek, Jr’s Education and Traditional Initiation to Manhood:
Years later, Jago Machiek became a prodigy poet. He started composing poetry, three years after the first time he was schooled in 2002. Jago wrote at the age of 13 in the year 2006, until 17, in 2010. Through all that long, as he was studying at a Catholic-sponsored school, The Holy Cross Comboni Primary School, he went by the Baptism and Christened name; Abraham Machiek Machiek.
After he underwent Catechesis training and conversion, Machiek was fully confirmed as a Catholic Christian on 15th, July 2007, at the Catholic Church of Yirol.
On 15 Nov 2008, Machiek Machiek was traditionally initiated to adulthood in the context of “Muonyjang tradition of the rite of passage” at the age of 15, in Nyang County, Yirol East. This involves shaving off the hair from the head, putting on the “Guenjaang” on the neck, and carrying a fighting staff by the hand. Then it also involves running to compete with their peers in the regiment in a given distance; in his case, he ran from Nyang County to Lekakedu Payam, and he appeared in the 6th position of the last round of the marathon of about 38 young men. Machiek joined the initiation with his cousins of the Pakol clan of Kuanydit to the Agook clan of the same community when the spear master known as Cuiir Puol of the Pakol clan refused his regiment to be initiated to adulthood, for he believed to have grown into a man. This time he was officially known as Machiek “Makuei”, in his clan. He was initiated to adulthood with his immediate cousins, Magor Kot, Makuei Along, Madol Ater, and his stepbrother, Taban Machiek.
In 2010, Jaago Machiek, Jr. did not complete the last class of a primary school in the usual manner at Holy Cross in Yirol, but he finished in the old Sudan system of Oxford education, but he never received his Primary Leaving Certificate, (PLE) certificate in 2010. This was because, his Uncle Mabor Achol Kuer, who was the Deputy Governor and Minister of Education in Lakes State, Rumbek, refused to issue his certificate of completion.
Suggestions from His Family Towards High School Education:
However, His mother wanted him to relocate to Kampala Uganda, to carry on his studies. Jago Machiek, Jr. who is also called Abraham Machiek Machiek Akuocpiir, declined to go back to grade 7, the final class of primary education in Uganda, since he had successfully completed it in 2010, in Yirol, South Sudan.
In 2011, Machiek moved to Kampala Uganda with some of his relatives and siblings, where he attended high school at Midland High School in Kawempe, Kampala. This time, he dropped the Christian name; “Abraham”.
The following year, Jaago changed schools in 2012 and joined Emma High School in Kikaya, Kampala, where he studied for O-level until the end of 2013.
The reason that led him to change the school was that there was no freedom granted to students in Midland, an Adventist-regulated school.
Civil War Outbreak, Completion of Secondary Education and Writing:
In 2014, Jaago Machiek, Jr. remained in South Sudan; after another civil war broke out in the country on December 15, 2013.
Just two days after he left Kampala for Juba; to spend Christmas with his family.
This conflict emerged in the first 5 years of independence of South Sudan. Six days after the conflict, Jago traveled by airplane to Rumbek, Lakes State and then, after another three days, he moved to his hometown Yirol, by car, where he’d spent Christmas and new year with his family. He stayed in Yirol for two months and then decided to move back to Juba, by car again, in March 2014.
In the midst of April, of the same year, he joined the national school where he graduated, 9 months later.
By this time, unlike his teenage years in which he stopped writing poetry and lyrics for about four years, prior to the loss of his early work, Jago Machiek, Jr. resumed writing at the age of 22, in 2015, a year after he completed high school at Dr. John Garang Memorial National Secondary School, in Juba. Which was established in honor of the leader of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army/Movement.
Jago Machiek, Jr. continued his pursuits as a poet and technologist.
Application to Join University in South Sudan and Selection to Nation Football Team:
In 2016, following the signing of the peace deal between the mainstream rebels who caused the civil war, just 3 years after independence.
Machiek Machiek had the chance to apply for the general intakes to the public universities in the country. His first attempt to apply was in the mid of April 2016, however, he, unfortunately, was not admitted because he chose to apply to only one University, which was the University of Juba.
The first public university was established in the country in 1972, after the early struggles of the Anya Nya One, in the First Sudanese Civil War.
The policy of the Ministry of Higher Education was that, in order for one to be admitted, you have to choose at least three universities out of 5. Jaago Machiek, Jr. was said to have disobeyed that part of the policy. But the Ministry admission committee informed him in August 2016 that he was not admitted for a degree because he was weak in the Essentials of Chemistry, given that he completed Secondary Education on Science Path.
Four months later, in the midst of August 2016; the second intake came out, and those who were either not admitted or didn’t apply in the first are given another chance to apply again. This time, he was keen.
But there was an interruption or chaos that cropped up in the capital city before that, in July 2016, when another battle was fought between the rebels or opposition and the government. This started on the 6th of July until the 11th of July 2016. By that time, everything was distorted in the capital city and months or years later, the whole country was seen to have fallen into chaos. In this time period, Machiek Machiek was scouted as a footballer by a coach from the National Team of South Sudan and he was accepted to be a member of the Nation Team, the Bright Stars.
Leaving Juba in Search of a University in Uganda:
On the 23rd of August, a week after he applied for university admission, his elder sister, Yier Machiek, came from Yirol, Lakes State, to Juba. And on the 25th, they left Juba for Kampala. leaving his elder brother, Akuocpiir Machiek, and the rest of the relatives in Juba.
At this moment, his sister wanted him to study in Kampala Uganda. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen because of the hardships being faced at that moment.
His sister left Kampala after a month of staying and accomplishing the verification of her college academic documents which she came for.
Jago Machiek, Jr. had to remain in Kampala where he spent Christmas and the new year at his cousin sister’s home, in Muyenga, Kampala.
In January 2017, he wanted to go back to Juba, but his mother, sister, and brother refused. Insisting that it wasn’t safe for him to be there.
All that communication was on the phone between September 2016 and January 2017; following his admission to the University of Juba, where he was accepted in September of the same year, to study for a diploma in Computer Science at the College of Computer Science and Information Technology, which he was supposed to complete by the end of 2019. However, Machiek Machiek’s sister, Yier Machiek, who was in Norway with her husband, suggested that he should immigrate to Australia, in order to pursue higher education studies there. But all that attempt never occurred after the Australian Prime Minister changed the immigration policies early in April 2017, which he keenly followed through international media. However, he search for a University where he would study for a medical degree, but there was no money for his entrance at that time.
The Return to Join the University of Juba:
Despite that, he went to Juba on May 20th, 2017, upon his return to Juba, he joined the University of Juba on 16th June, the same academic year after having missed the first semester which began in January to May 2017.
Machiek had to commit himself to studies since he was going to do two exams as required by the administration by the end of the year.
Alongside his pursuit of computing, he enrolled in another university, known as South Sudan Christian University of Science and Technology, where he briefly studied for a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, Economy & Religious Studies. A program that would have allowed him to earn a Bachelor of arts with honors by 2021.
A contrary decision came up with his mother, sister, and brother again. This was just a month after he completed his first year of studies at the two universities. They asked him to go back to Kampala, Uganda, to enroll in any university regarded as the best.
However, he was opposed to this suggestion, since it was going to impede his progress on programs he was already pursuing. But they tried to convince him that, the education in South Sudan was too screwed for him to benefit from on his studies. Having been convinced on such a note, he accepted their decision and left Juba for Kampala on the 3rd of December, 2017.
Admission to University in Kampala, Uganda:
Immediately, in January 2018, he joined one of the best private universities in Uganda, the International University of East Africa. Where he was required to do an international foundation program since he completed high school in his country in 2014, where there wasn’t A-level as part of the system of secondary education.
Without, any other option, Machiek Machiek Akuocpiir Cayier, did the course for 7 months, and in August 2018, he enrolled for the Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering and Computer Science, at the Faculty of Science and Technology at the International University of East Africa.
In 2018, at 25 years, Jaago Machiek, Jr. took the stage name; Nemrodt Kashta (meaning; “The Conscious Kushite”), and therefore, he transitioned to a songwriter, singer, rapper, and a complete philosopher, alongside his specializations in computing and software engineering.
Being born in the hardest period, 10 years after the second civil war started in 1983, and grew up in the same situation that most people, whether children or adults experienced in their lifetimes.
He still holds greater dreams for the future of his family legacy as the warriors and the defenders of their heritage and his country, a nation founded on the bloodshed and sacrifices of millions of people.
Jaago Machiek, Jr., a philosopher of the future according to his idealism, inhibits the will to power as part of the philosophic influences he encountered from the works of the 19th-century German Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche.
At the age of 21, in the last year of his high school studies, Jaago Machiek, Jr. became exposed to the world of philosophy. This changed his life and how he looks at the world; “beyond good and evil”, as Nietzsche puts it.
Depression at the Times of University and Treatment:
In 2019, between June and August, Machiek-Machiek suffered from depression in Kampala Uganda where he is studying at the International University of East Africa. following the death of his aunt, Akum Tokmach Kuer on 23rd June 2019. He traveled with his mother Helena Ayen Tokmach, on 23 August to Nairobi Kenya to seek treatment at Nairobi Hospital. Where he was diagnosed with “Affective disorders” such as extreme depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety by a Psychiatrist whom he visited at Nairobi Hospital in Kenya.
Machiek lived in Kenya for 2 months from September to October 2019 as he was under treatment. He moved back to his country South Sudan at the end of October with his mother. Where they spent the remaining months of November and December 2019, with the family. They spent Christmas there in Yirol South Sudan and then he traveled back to Juba from Yirol in January 2020.
He, therefore, proceeded to Nairobi Kenya in January, after registering at the university for his second year of studies for his degree program of Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering and Computer Science. And returned to Kampala in the same month.
Self-Discovery and Passion in Music Composition:
Machiek Machiek Akuocpiir, who calls himself Nemrodt Kashta; discovered his ability to make music through the hip-hop genre in 2018. He still continues to record his songs in 2020.
The Emergence of the Pandemic, Closing of University, and His Travel Back to Juba, South Sudan:
On 20th March 2020, Machiek Machiek Akuocpiir Cayier, traveled back to South Sudan after the announcement of the closure of schools, universities, and public institutions by Uganda President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Following the global outbreak of the Coronavirus (disease) or pandemic as such; which has caused the global health crisis. Machiek left the International University of East Africa on 19th March 2020 immediately after the closure and moved to Juba South Sudan. He further traveled to his hometown, Yirol on 25th March 2020 to spend the remaining days until the university reopens.
He removed to Juba, Central Equatorial State; on 24th September 2020. Following his arrival, there began a worm of antagonists who perpetuated a negative projection of his image after he suffered cyber attacks from the security organs associated with President Salva Kiir and two major telecommunication companies, MTN South Sudan and Zain South Sudan.
However, not every single soul in the capital city shares the same opinions about who he was projected to be; based on the negative standards. There are a handful of understanding human beings who are positive towards his personality due to public exposure.
As far as society has its watchdogs who have got little to offer; he felt extremely stressed-up for nearly a month, following the circulation of all false allegations towards his being. The only positive aspect of his personality; has been the foretold future of his personality. Whether this foretold future will favor the whole or the parts; remains…therefore, unbeknownst.
Copyright: March 12, 2020. Machiek Machiek Akuocpiir Cayier, who is also named as Kuol Tokmach ee Kuer Dhuor, was born on 30. DEC. 1993. In Hoor Machiek Amuong, Berle-Sophi Village, near, Mapuordit-Yirol West Sudan (now South Sudan). He is A South Sudanese Kushetic; Poet, Philosopher, Intellectual Elite, Singer, Model & Software Engineer.
Categories: Autobiography #Chronology #Timeline #History #Birth #SecondSudaneseCivilWar #December #1993.
The Scripts of Machiek 