By guest
On December 16 last year, refugees began to flood across the border from South Sudan into Uganda as a result of an outbreak of violence in their country of origin. In the past two months the number of new arrivals has grown to roughly 66,000. They are being hosted in three areas: Adjumani, Arua, and Kiryandongo.
The majority of those now arriving in Adjumani are fleeing from Bor in South Sudan’s Jonglei State, nearly 400 kilometers away. It is a town that has changed hands numerous times in recent weeks, as fighting continues between government and rebel forces. Those who had enough money were able to travel in private vehicles or buses. But many of those arriving have had to walk large parts of the way or beg lifts in passing trucks. Around 87 percent are women and children.
There are many challenges in Adjumani, the principal refugee-hosting area. The transit centers where refugees are first brought were not built to accommodate anywhere near the number of people now arriving. And the former refugee settlements to which they are then taken have been abandoned for over a decade and now lack roads and water points.
It is not only the refugees who are starting from scratch. Humanitarian agencies are also racing to respond to the growing influx. It is a daunting task, but progress is being made. Every day I see new organizations arrive, more boreholes drilled, and additional groups of people being transferred to the settlements.
But it is mainly the individual success stories that give me hope. One example is 24 year old Nawal Ali Dut and her two young children. I befriended her as she crossed the border into Uganda and then followed her to the transit center at Dzaipi.
Nawal has been doubly displaced. She had fled from her home in the Nuba mountain region of Sudan, which has been under attack by government forces since June 2011. Her husband had been killed in fighting and the rest of her family died in aerial bombings. She fled to South Sudan, only to find that the outbreak of violence in her country of asylum obliged her to take refuge in Uganda.
As one of only seven Nuban families in Adjumani, Nawal was worried that she might be threatened by ethnic tensions. And as a woman alone she was particularly concerned for the safety of her children. I went back to see her the following morning and found her sobbing desperately. She had spent a fearful night in the open, without anything to eat. After showing her the communal kitchen and helping her to get some food we went to discuss her case with UNHCR’s protection staff. They agreed to provide her with a large tent that she could share with another Nuban family.
Returning the next day, Nawal was almost unrecognizable. This time I met a strong sassy woman who explained to me how she had created a successful business from scratch in South Sudan and was prepared to do it all again here in Uganda if she felt comfortable here. While she has lost everything she owned twice, she has retained her dignity.
Lucy Beck is an External Relations Officer with the UN Refugee Agency in Uganda. For more updates and photos from Adjumani, you can follow Lucy on Twitter (@lucycbeck) or visit http://www.lucyclairebeck.com/