Benkum Art

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Half a Turn

A South Sudanese woman wrapped in a long slate-grey cloth and headscarf sits on the ground with her knees drawn up, her thumb on the dial of a small bright yellow radio, in a field fading from charcoal to pale ash between stepped red-earth panels.

Every voice on it is sure. I’m the only one who isn’t.

I turn the dial and another voice tells me something different. Each one sounds certain.

On October 13, 2026, ahead of South Sudan’s December elections, a workshop opened in Juba to build a national platform against hate speech and disinformation. Beleteze Foretia, of the UN Special Envoy’s office for the Horn of Africa, warned that “political uncertainty, limited access to credible information and declining public trust can create conditions in which harmful narratives flourish.”

I hold the radio closer. My thumb stays on the dial.