Becoming South Sudan

Joop Swart Masterclass

Juba, South Sudan

An altar boy at the Sunday service at St. Teresa Church in Juba.

On 9 July 2011, six months after nearly 99 percent of four million voters in a referendum opted for secession from the North, the Republic of South Sudan came into being, becoming the world’s 193rd nation. The run-up to independence witnessed a place and a people in transformation, as some of the millions of exiles who had sought asylum in neighboring countries returned to rebuild their communities and construct their identity as a unified nation. The new government has the task of developing law-enforcing institutions such as the police and prison services out of a rebel movement, and from people trained as combatants, not peacekeepers.

Photo Credit: Alinka Echeverria

Alinka Echeverría (30) is a British/Mexican photographer whose work focuses on the human connection to place, collective memory and identity. She is a graduate of the International Center of Photography in New York and holds an MA Honours in social anthropology and development from the University of Edinburgh. Alinka’s photos have appeared in a variety of international publications, such as Le Monde Magazine, Geo, Libération, Time’s LightBox and The Sunday Times Magazine. She has been featured in over 30 exhibitions worldwide. Her awards include the 2011 Prix HSBC Pour la Photographie. She is currently a contributing photographer with Reportage by Getty Images.