By Agnete Rishøj
The fighting is escalating in South Sudan, and hundreds of thousands are displaced from their homes. Only few remain in the villages and town. DCA provides Non Food-Items and WASH kits to the town of Bor, and met some of those who have recently arrived there.
The town is empty and quiet - the town that was bubbling with life just few months ago. The town that housed 250,000 inhabitants, offices, the market in the middle of town, hospitals and schools, and the local houses – tutuls – the grass thatched round house that, for many, is a typical characteristic of South Sudan.
Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, has, as the rest of South Sudan been the centre of several fights between the government army and rebel forces. Control of the town has shifted hands between the conflicting parties four times during the recent months’ fighting which began in December 2013. When in Bor town, this doesn’t go unnoticed.
Several private homes seem untouched by the fighting, while most office buildings, schools and hospitals have been destroyed, burned to the ground or looted. And the market in the middle of town, that used to be the epicentre of trade and people coming together, now appears as a dumping ground.
Scorched iron sheets, burned fridges and plastic lie scattered all over the area, as if a hurricane had swept over the town and erased all life in a split second. Pieces of clothes, torn apart school books, and abandoned kitchen utensils cover the dusty ground, and testify to the urgency with which families have left their homes. Above our heads, marabou storks that are attracted to rubbish and human waste are circulating as a clear reference to the mass grave outside town.
When the first humanitarian organisations arrived in Bor just a few weeks ago, bodies were found in homes, in hospitals and in churches – places people had imagined would their sanctuary. Approximately 2,000 civilians have been killed during the recent fighting in Bor.
Only a week ago people began arriving in Bor. However, it is not those who urgently left town when the shootings got closer. Almost none of the original Bor inhabitants have returned. The majority are scattered around South Sudan, while others have crossed the border – mostly to Uganda and Kenya.
Those that are gradually coming to Bor are from Duk and Twic East counties North of Bor. Almost all of them escaped by foot and travelled the 100-200 kilometres through bush and along the riverside to Bor where they now hope to get help. Considering that destruction of Bor, abandoned by its inhabitants, now has become a protection site for others testify to horrors that the people of Twic East and Duk have fled.
Relief items to 5,000 people
The majority of the displaced from Twic East and Duk have no belongings with them when Dan Church Aid meets them in the district office for the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Bor. Here, hundreds of, mainly women, are crammed together in the shadow of a big tree while waiting to hear their name announced as an indication that it is now her family that can receive the relief packages.
DanChurchAid is, together with its partner Lutheran World Federation, distributing non-food items and sanitation and hygiene kits to 1,150 families. The local authorities have registered those families that within the last week have arrived in Bor. One by one, a representative from each family, often a woman, is called to the desk where her fingerprint is given. She can now receive a package with sanitation equipment and a bag with sleeping mats, blankets, pots and other basic items.
The representatives from the district office emphasize how important it is that people are not forced to go home until there is peace.
“People should have the freedom to make their own choices about where to stay”, Deng Sam Majok points out. He is coordinator for the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission which helps DanChurchAid and Lutheran World Federation in the process of registering people and distributing the relief items.
More displaced as rainy season approaches
Deng has himself experienced how it is to be forced from his home. He is the local leader in charge of relief activities for Duk county, and has, like thousands others, fled the area which is one of the most insecure and volatile in South Sudan. Duk is flooded every year during the rainy season when the Nile overflows its banks.
Houses and crops are destroyed, and people escape the area. Besides suffering from flooding, Duk neighbours another state, Unity, from where soldiers travel through Duk to reach Bor. The fact that Duk is located on a strategic route for transit of armed forces has caused several battles to take place there. Additionally, the county in November 2013 witnessed fighting because of conflict over border demarcation between Duk and neighbouring counties. This resulted in the displacement of thousands internally in Duk as well as in the whole of Jonglei state – an unstable area inflamed with difficulties.
Deng knows that the rainy season will announce its arrival in the nearest future and threaten the already fragile area. Therefore, he has sent his family to security in Uganda as many others. Deng has remained in Jonglei to help his country and fellow citizens. He appears proud as he gives each family member the relief items.
A mosquito net makes a great difference
Rebecca Nyanwour, 40, tells us about the escape from her house with her five children through Jongleis terrain just a few weeks back.
“We slept outside and had nothing with us, not even blankets. We were quickly filled with mosquito bites, and my children cried for food”. Rebecca is a widow and has no money. She has lost her cattle, goats and clothes. However, she feels a wish to stay in Bor as long as there is food for her and her children.
“As a local leader in my village, I have responsibility. That is why I want to stay here and help the society of which I am part”, she explains. She excuses herself when two men approach her to seek advice.
Others share their stories about the journey from Duk to Bor which took several days.
“I travelled with my two wives and 13 children”, Daniel Chol Kuir tells us. He has lost his belongings, his cattle, and seen his private property burned to ashes.
“The children could not walk fast, and I had to carry my two twins aged four. We were so hungry when we arrived here in Bor and we had to beg for food”.
Despite the awful atrocities people have experienced, there is an atmosphere of humble gratitude among the people at the distribution site.
“Since we arrived in Bor we had nothing. How can I not be happy? Now we can cook our own food and get a good night’s sleep”, Daniel says.
Optimism despite difficulties
When we ask Daniel how he will manage as a refugee in Bor, he responds with confidence “If I am still here when the rain comes, I will cultivate here. I am a strong man”.
This kind of pride and strength is often sensed throughout the people of South Sudan.
And exactly this optimism and testimony of independence must be the point of departure in all the humanitarian work that DanChurchAid and other organisations carry out in the country.