Makuach, South Sudan

This article is about a payam in South Sudan. For Makuach boma see Makuach Boma.

Makuach Payam
Payam (administrative division)
Country	South Sudan
Region	Greater Upper Nile
State	Jonglei State
County	Bor County

Makuach is a Payam in the Bor County of Jonglei State in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. ^[1] It is situated on the east side of the Bahr al Jabal River. Bor town borders Makuach to the west, Baidit Payam to the north, and Anyidi Payam to the south.

Demographics

Makuach is composed of four bomas: Kapat, Konbek, Makuach, Madiing Boma and Werkok. ^[2] According to the Fifth Population and Housing Census of Sudan, conducted in April 2008, Makuach had a combined population of 29,412 people, composed of 15,251 male and 14,161 female residents. ^{[3] [note 1]}

Makuach is home to four major communities. These are Koch, Deer, Ater, Madiing and Adumuor. ^[4]

Landmarks

Zion
Dhion
Religion
District	Makuach
Location
State	Jonglei State
Country	South Sudan
Zion's location in South Sudan
Geographic coordinates	6°18′50.9″N31°40′20.8″E / 6.314139°N 31.672444°E / 6.314139; 31.672444
Architecture
Groundbreaking	1992
Completed	1996
Materials	Wattle and daub, Thatch

A huge church called Dhion (Zion), which is often cited as the largest grass-roofed structure ever built in South Sudan, ^[5] is located at Pakayo (or Pakeo), a site between the Werekok and Kapat boma centers. Construction of the church was begun in 1992 by participants in a popular Christian-conversion movement led by Paul Kon Adjith, who is buried in the church compound. ^[6] Marc Nikkel visited the site in 1994 and described it like this:

I was astonished by the sight of Zion, more substantial than I had envisioned, with its numerous outbuildings and fenced compounds, all of mud and thatch. Certainly the church is the largest and most impressive building of local construction I have seen in Sudan, the labor of thousands of committed souls. Beautifully thatched, it rises to perhaps thirty feet at is center. Amid a forest of supporting poles, like a primitive cathedral, the congregation (numbering some four thousand on our visit) fills the arms of the cross, all facing toward a central octagonal dais.
— Marc Nikkel,Why Haven't You Left? Letters from the Sudan,Church Publishing ^[6]

Notes

1. The data collected during the Fifth Population and Housing Census of Sudan were to be the primary source of information for decisions about the number and demarcation of electoral constituencies and administrative boundaries in what was then southern Sudan. South Sudanese officials rejected census results for southern Sudan. See Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre (2010). 5th Population and Housing Census in Sudan – An Incomplete Exercise (PDF) (Report). Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre, Geneva (Switzerland). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 18, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2017.. Also, see Demographics of South Sudan.

References

1. Mading, Juuk Othana (May 3, 2016). "Governor Establishes Additional Counties In Jonglei". Gurtong. Bor, South Sudan. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
2. Winrock International & United Nations Development Program (UNDP) (2011). Annex IV BRIDGE Winrock Q1 Report FY 2012 – Bor County Profile (PDF) (Report). USAID.
3. National Bureau of Statistics (2013). Population Distribution by Sex by Boma, Vol. III (Report). The Republic of South Sudan, The National Bureau of Statistics. p. 35. Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2017. Table 142: Jonglei State, Bor South County, Makuach Payam
4. Wël, PaanLuel (September 17, 2016). "What are the respective population sizes of the 14 new counties in Jonglei state?". paanluelwel.com. PaanLuel Wël. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
5. Wheeler, Andrew C. (2015). "'God has come Amongst us Slowly, and we didn't Realize it!' The Transformation of Anglican Missionary Heritage in Sudan". In Chapman, Mark D.; Clarke, Sathianathan; Percy, Martyn (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Anglican Studies. Oxford University Press. p. 244. ISBN   978-0199218561.
6. Nikkel, Marc (2006). Why Haven't You Left? Letters from the Sudan. Church Publishing. p. 117. ISBN   0898697743.