Tag Archives: South Sudan

by | October 29, 2012 · 11:16 am

What life’s really like in refugee camps

Samia Hussein

Catherine Mahony, one of our Emergency Response Officers, writes:

I often feel that life in refugee camps is misrepresented. I don’t like the images of camps we see on television, in which people always look sad and helpless. I know why we are only shown the horror:  it’s undeniably awful that people have had to run from their homes because they’re being bombed, that they’ve had to walk for a month to find safety, that they’re tired and sick and don’t have enough food. But that isn’t the whole picture.

I met Samia Hussein because the beautiful stoves she was selling made me stop in my tracks. We were in the marketplace in Yusuf Batil refugee camp in South Sudan, home to more than 35,000 people who have fled fighting in Blue Nile State in Sudan. Samia was selling portable, energy-efficient stoves that were made from donkey dung, for about 50p each.

When I approached her, she was stirring a big pot of okra stew that she was planning to sell that night, but she smiled and welcomed me into her shelter.  She told me that she, her husband and her two sons had fled from their village last September. “We were being bombed,” she said and mimed the Antonov planes that had roared overhead. Since then, the family had travelled on foot, with almost no possessions, before arriving in Batil this June.

I asked Samia how she was finding life in Batil. Given how difficult I knew things were in the camp, I was surprised by her response: “It’s good,” she said, smiling. Continue reading →

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by | August 17, 2012 · 8:00 am

World Humanitarian Day: when disaster occurs, we will be there

To mark World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, Nyika Musiyazwiriyo, our Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Horn and East Africa Region, reflects on a recent trip to a refugee camp in South Sudan.

“I have never seen so much death in my life,” said Abdullahi. “There are people and tents all over. There is overcrowding. There is no work, no money and no prospect of making money. Our biggest problems are illnesses – diarrhoea, malaria, eye diseases – a shortage of food, a lack of money and a lack of clothing.”

I met Abdullahi a few weeks ago in Jamam refugee camp in South Sudan, where I was carrying out an emergency needs assessment for CAFOD. Abdullahi and his family were forced to leave their village in Blue Nile State, Sudan, because of heavy fighting and the threat of being bombed. They walked for days, in fear of their lives, before getting a lift to the border with South Sudan.

The conditions they found in Jamam refugee camp were shocking. There is overcrowding, poor sanitation, flooding, and a lack of food and medicine. Diarrhoea and malaria are rife, and children are dying needlessly from these preventable illnesses.

More than 30,000 refugees are living in Jamam, and at least 70,000 are in other nearby camps. Many of the refugees were already malnourished when they arrived, having walked for weeks with virtually no food.  The statistics are chilling: nine children are reported to be dying every day in Jamam alone.

I met Abdullahi’s wife Jamila, who had malaria – the medicine she’d received at the camp clinic didn’t seem to be working. Their five-year-old daughter, sharing the same tent, was even more seriously ill.

“The camp clinics are trying their best, but people are dying.” Abdullahi told me. “When someone goes to the clinic, they don’t return. Back at home people used to die, but not at the rate which we are witnessing here.”

Meeting Abdullahi made me reflect on what it means to be a humanitarian worker. Continue reading →

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by | July 12, 2012 · 4:19 pm

South Sudan: a message from Bishop Daniel Adwok

Children celebrate the independence of South Sudan a year ago.

One year since South Sudan became independent, Bishop Daniel Adwok, Auxiliary Bishop of Khartoum, has written a message to CAFOD supporters.

Please pray for peace in Sudan and South Sudan>>

One year ago this week, on July 9, the people of South Sudan welcomed their new Republic as Africa’s newest independent nation. The tears of joy that were witnessed in Juba (the capital city and venue of the declaration of independence) on that day and most probably in many parts of South Sudan, showed how much people wished to be witnesses of the moment that the people of the South were at long last free in an independent sovereign nation state. Free from oppression, free from being denied their basic human rights and dignity, free from the threat of being assimilated into a culture and religion that they had stood against since the independence of the Republic of Sudan in 1956.

Continue reading →

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by | · 9:30 am

Voices from South Sudan: Morri

A boy celebrates independence a year ago. “One day we shall be a happy nation,” says Morri.

Morri Francis, a journalist for Catholic radio station Radio Bakhita in South Sudan, has been blogging for CAFOD for the last two years. This post first appeared on the Guardian website.

I would have graduated from university in 2011, but because of the separation of South Sudanfrom Sudan, the University of Juba, where I study, did not reopen until earlier this year. I thought this time nothing would stop me from finishing my course as I have only one year left. Unfortunately, fighting between students resulted in the closure of the university againin March. Why am I so unlucky? I work hard every day to raise my university tuition fees so that I can graduate and get a well-paid job and settle down. I just have to be patient.

Since independence, Juba has gone from good to bad because prices have skyrocketed due to an increase in the population and some economic problems since South Sudanese in Sudan and other parts of the world are returning, and the rate of development has slowed down. I used to wake up and see new development, which is not the case nowadays. Maybe that is due to the closure of the oil pipeline that passes through Khartoum and the high rate of corruptionin the Juba government.

Continue reading →

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by | July 11, 2012 · 12:49 pm

Voices from South Sudan: Gismala

Hundreds of thousands of people have returned to South Sudan since it became independent a year ago. We are working with our partner Caritas South Sudan and with local churches to support returnees as they rebuild their lives. We recruited local parish volunteers to help to build a transit camp in Juba, using tents and other resources provided by the International Organisation for Migration [IOM].

Gismala Gift, one of the volunteers, tells his story:

Our brothers and sisters in Khartoum have been suffering a lot. That’s why I make this sacrifice. We set up this camp with the International Organisation for Migration.

On the first day we offloaded huge poles from trucks. On the second day we constructed the tents. We sang as we made the tents. IOM would say, ‘Caritas, we need help here.’ And another group, ‘Caritas, come help here.’

On the third day they arrived. They feel they are welcome. We sang to them. Some of them cried because they are seeing South Sudan.

I did Arabic-English translation at the camp clinic. Many people had diarrhea, nosebleeds, cough, malaria. Some aren’t using their mosquito nets. We put up the mosquito nets for them.

We also cleared the ground, cutting the bushes. It was hard work. The day after, you’d wake up and your whole body would be in pain. But we love our brothers.

South Sudan: one year on>>

Please pray for peace in Sudan and South Sudan>>

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