Mandela 'Ade' Matur

About Me

My name is Mandela Matur, though most people know me as Ade Tha Truth, or simply Ade.

I am a South Sudanese poet, spoken word artist, author, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Specialist. If there is one thread that has quietly stitched together every part of my life, it is an enduring curiosity about what it means to be human. I have spent years chasing questions that don't always have answers, following stories that often begin in silence before they find their voice.

Being born in South Sudan and growing up across different cities gave me more than places to remember—it gave me different ways of seeing the world. Every place, every encounter, every goodbye left something behind that eventually found its way into my writing. I became one of South Sudan's youngest published authors, but more importantly, I found a language that allowed me to sit beside people's joy, grief, hope, and longing.

Under the name Ade Tha Truth, I write because I believe truth has a way of recognizing itself in another person. My work is deeply rooted in vulnerability, introspection, and the quiet courage it takes to feel. Through poetry, I try to hold a mirror up to the parts of ourselves we often hide from, reminding us that there is beauty even in our unfinishedness.

Literary and Artistic Work

My poetry lives where emotion meets reflection.

My books, including If Men Cried and Stranded Lullabies, explore themes of identity, masculinity, loneliness, healing, love, loss, and resilience. If Men Cried is an invitation to imagine a world where boys and men are allowed to feel without apology. Stranded Lullabies wanders through stranger landscapes—those inner worlds where healing is rarely linear but always possible.

Across my published collections, I have continued to explore the delicate spaces between heartbreak and hope, certainty and doubt, solitude and connection.

On stage, poetry becomes something more than words on paper. I blend spoken word with music, storytelling, and silence to create experiences that invite people not only to listen but to feel. Every performance is less about reciting poems and more about building a shared moment where strangers remember they are not alone.

Whether I am performing pieces like What If or writing about what I once called the silent pandemic of loneliness, my hope remains the same: that someone leaves feeling a little more understood than when they arrived.

Mental Health and Community Healing

Beyond the stage, my work continues in communities.

I serve as a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Specialist and am a member of the South Sudan Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Technical Working Group. Over the years, I have worked alongside local governments, humanitarian organizations, and communities, facilitating trainings on mental health awareness, self-care, psychosocial wellbeing, and community resilience.

I have also had the privilege of speaking at universities and public forums about the role of mental health in peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery.

For me, these worlds have never been separate. The same compassion that shapes my poetry guides my professional work. Whether I am facilitating a workshop or standing beneath stage lights, I am still asking the same question:

How do we help people remember they are not alone?

What Guides Me

I often describe myself as being on a never-ending odyssey for truth.

I find inspiration in ancient wisdom as much as I do in everyday conversations. My bookshelf is an unlikely gathering of Shakespeare, philosophy, psychology, spirituality, neuroscience, poetry, and stories from people who have dared to look inward.

I don't believe healing belongs only in clinics, nor does wisdom belong only in books. Sometimes healing happens around a fire, inside a poem, during a difficult conversation, or in the quiet realization that someone else has carried the same invisible weight.

That belief eventually grew into The HeART Centre, a space I founded to explore healing through creativity, community, and meaningful human connection.

Looking Ahead

Whether I am writing my next book, performing on stage, facilitating mental health programs, or creating spaces where art and wellbeing intersect, my work continues to revolve around one simple belief:

Words can heal when they are spoken honestly.

If my work has taught me anything, it is that people are not as disconnected as they sometimes feel. Beneath our different stories lives the same longing—to belong, to be understood, and to be seen.

My books are available on major platforms, including Amazon.

For performances, workshops, speaking engagements, collaborations, or simply conversations worth having, my door is always open.

I will leave you with a line that has quietly followed me through the years:

"Please be needy, that you may be nourished."

Because perhaps our greatest strength has never been pretending we need no one, but remembering that we were always meant to find one another.