Two girls beating the odds in a refugee camp

The different camps look like a white sea of UNHCR tents as people crisscross to do different activities. At the mention of refugee plight, hunger is the obvious problem. However, when you visit Imvepi Refugee Reception Centre in Terego- Arua District, the overwhelming number of refugees arriving in buses from Sudan border which is approximately 15km away from the camp is a bigger problem..
Most of them are children and women. A courtesy visit to the nearby refugee settlement will lead you to the last tent close to a busy area which houses Mary Kiden, 16, and Stella Yabu, 14. They are sisters. Kiden rushes to bring straw mats for guests.

Background
Their journey to Imvepi camp is heartrending. Kiden first introduces herself as the head of the home. “We were forced to live our village Abeg in Yei River State in February 2017 due to the insurgency during which our father got killed. We do not know our mother because she separated from our father when were very young,” says the 16-year-old.
On the fateful morning a group of soldiers belonging to the opposition group attacked their home and told them to run away because their father had been shot dead a fortnight earlier.

Walking to Uganda
In fear, the girls picked a few clothes and joined their neighbours who had set off to seek refuge in Uganda. It took them four days to walk to Kuluba collection point on Uganda border. It is there that the girls felt relieved because unlike in there village, there were no more gunshots.
Kiden notes that back home she was in Primary Seven while her sister was in Primary Six at Mahad Primary School. UNHCR registered them as part of the rehabilitation process and integrated them in Longamera Primary School in Imvepi Camp.
Looking around their homestead, there is a heap of firewood in the compound but it looks like they do not cook or garden. Yabu talks freely and reveals “we lack basic items such as food, clothes, shoes and scholastic materials. I wish World Vision who is tasked with the responsibility of managing children’s affairs at the camp could get us a parent to take care of us.”
Initially they were attached to a foster parent who made them house helps and made them sell off relief food. This led to disagreements and they opted to relocate and live on their own.

Worries
The girls are worried because when it rains their tarpaulin shelter leaks and their items get drenched. “We are also not sure of our security at night because our shelter lacks a permanent door,” says Kiden.

Dreams
Yabu is determined to continue with her studies and she wants to be a medical doctor in future while her elder sister Kiden wants to be a teacher.
The two children are not willing to go back to their country because they have found peace in Uganda. Various development partners have put in an effort to provide basic services to the refugees. A recent UN summit that took place in Kampala raised funds for better settlement.

Neighbour says
Their neighbour Jessica Saidhia, a mother of three, speaks well of the girls. “We share the same toilet with those girls and they are clean. Also, they are calm; once they return from school, they stay within their home confines. They like sweeping their compound and keeping it clean,”