(Juba) – Like tea in a Juba teashop left too long in the sun, a hot debate is brewing on X (formerly Twitter), all because Khaman Maluac, South Sudan’s rising basketball sensation, told the world he once walked barefoot for over an hour each day to play ball in Kampala. The internet, as always, did not let that bounce pass go unchallenged.
Khaman’s story of grinding through Kampala’s streets, feet exposed like roasted maize on a boda boda exhaust pipe, was meant to inspire.
Instead, it sparked a social media full court press, as sceptical South Sudanese netizens pulled out their investigative skills to inspect every detail of his past.
Some were moved, picturing the tall teenager hustling through the dusty shortcuts of Kisenyi, ball in hand and determination in heart.
Others, however, were quick to hit back, accusing Maluach of sugarcoating his origins with more drama than a Malakia street wedding.
“He is the brother of someone who worked at the embassy,” wrote one X user. “This isn’t Kalangala Island. He didn’t grow up like most Junubin kids.”
Indeed, some critics suggested Khaman’s story felt more borrowed than worn like those ‘designer jeans’ from Konyo Konyo that only look original until the third wash.
They noted that the Maluach family had connections abroad, including in Australia, implying that life may not have been as rough as a Nimule-Juba bus ride during rainy season.
Others, however, defended him, saying even kids with some privilege in Kampala still faced challenges that couldn’t be cushioned by embassy connections alone.
One user wrote, “Even if he had a mattress at home, the road to success still had potholes. Let the boy cook.”
This is not the first time a high flying South Sudanese has been caught in a crossfire between ‘hustle reality’ and ‘humble exaggeration’.
From musicians claiming they used to sell groundnuts barefoot in Kenya to politicians saying they trekked from Kapoeta to Khartoum in slippers to escape war, the “I suffered but survived” narrative is now more common than boda bodas at Custom Market.
In a country where many still fetch water barefoot from boreholes like it’s 1995, the barefoot claim is symbolic and sacred. If you say you walked without shoes, you had better mean it.
South Sudanese don’t mind if you wore Bata shoes from Konyo Konyo Market, but pretending to be like a street kid from Ramciel when you grew up closer to the embassy than any ghetto is where the ankle breaks.
While no one is demanding Khaman show photographic evidence of blistered feet, the conversation has reopened wider questions about how public figures from the region present their stories to international audiences hungry for stories of rags to riches.
Whatever the truth is, one fact remains. Khaman Maluach is soaring barefoot or not. One can only hope he remembers that in South Sudan, even basketball stories need to pass the “Nyakuron gatekeeper” test before they are accepted as gospel.
