South Sudan refugees call for end to Machar, Kiir-led war

RAHU youth champion Joyce Awula engages fellow South Sudan refugees. PHOTO BY JOSEPH KATO

What you need to know:

  • Mr Samuel Wani, 42, Refugee Welfare Council (RWC), admitted that there is a lot of redundancy among youth refugees something that has forced them to engage in drug abuse perhaps to pass time and forget uncertainties surrounding their life.
  • RAHU chief of party, Peace Delegah said they rolled out WAY in refugee hosting districts of West Nile after learning that issues of GBV, early marriages and teenage pregnancies were rampant in camps and hosting communities perhaps because of ignorance.

South Sudan refugees living in Bidi Bidi camp in Yumbe District in northern Uganda have asked warring parties in their country to stop fighting because they would like to return to their motherland.
Speaking at Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU)’s Women, Adolescents and Young people (WAY) sensitization programme on Saturday, the refugees said they are suffering in Uganda and called upon the Juba government and its rivals to reach consensus.

Ms Rose Abau, 19, said she is being exploited in Uganda and struggles to raise money for buying herself basic needs like sanitary towels and clothes.
She said hosting communities have taken advantage of their situation by sexually exploiting some of them or paying them peanuts for the casual work.

“I am a grown up girl and there are many things I need as a girl. I cannot get these things unless I work hard and get money. I work in someone’s garden on an agreement of Shs10,000 but at the end, he pays me Shs2,500 or less. I was living a good life in my country and I would like to go back,” Ms Abau said.

The WAY programme is being implemented by UNFPA in collaboration with Ministry of Health, Ministry of Gender, CARE International, Communication for Development Foundation Uganda and RAHU. It will purposely enable women and young people among refugee and host communities to live healthy, productive lives and contribute to their communities’ development by strengthening their access to sexual and reproductive health and Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention services. It is being implemented in the districts of Arua, Yumbe, Moyo, Adjumani, Kitgum, Lamwo, Agago and Amuru, where sexual and reproductive health challenges and high prevalence of Gender based Violence are further complicated by the influx of refugees from South Sudan.

Ms Abau who arrived in Uganda on September 2, 2016 added that she is fed up camp confinement and dreams of a day when peace would return in her country so that she could enjoy the rights and liberties she enjoyed before.
“In a camp, our movement is restricted. Besides, there many groups of youth from the hosting community and our fellow refugees who target girls. Many of my colleagues have been raped and defiled. We’re living in tension all the time,” Ms Abau said.

The war in South Sudan estimated to have cost lives of more than 400,000 people and left close to two million displaced and resettled in various neighboring countries including Uganda. Several peace deals have been signed between President Salva Kiir and his nemesis Dr Riek Machar.

Mr Simon Aliki, 22, who escaped gunfire from Yei County on August 24, 2016, said he is also fed up of being exploited and demanded that they should be equipped with vocational skills so that they can earn a living. Mr Aliki said he now survives on digging pit latrines where he is paid Shs10,000 yet the soils are rocky and hard.
“People hire me to dig a latrine at Shs30,000. Because this soil is rocky and very hard to dig, I also hire two other boys. It takes us about two weeks to finish. At the end, we earn Shs10,000 each. We feel like we’re just being exploited. I wish we’re given hands on skills like carpentry or motor vehicle mechanics. I want to be a mechanic or a carpenter,” Mr Aliki said.

Mr Samuel Wani, 42, Refugee Welfare Council (RWC), admitted that there is a lot of redundancy among youth refugees something that has forced them to engage in drug abuse perhaps to pass time and forget uncertainties surrounding their life. He cited an example of a 16-year-old girl who was gang raped in June by men allegedly under the influence of drugs. He said other teenagers have been married to their fellow teenagers.

“Imagine a 16-year-old marrying a 15-year-old and they both rely on food donation. Such people have often engaged in fights because of failure to provide for the family. Some steal and sell donated food just to get money for buying alcohol and khat (mairungi). Redundancy has been the main source of gender based violence in refugee camps,” Mr Wani said.
Mr Wani and Mr Aliki lauded RAHU for WAY programme which they said has tried to reform youth refugees especially on respecting girls, their life and avoiding abuse of drugs.

“I had also started taking alcohol and chewing Mairungi but I was counselled by RAHU staff and I have so far spent eight months without using any of those drugs. Sometimes I am tempted to resume because I am idle. I need something to keep me busy,” Mr Aliki said.
RAHU programmes Assistant, Peace Delegah, said they rolled out WAY in refugee hosting districts of West Nile after learning that issues of GBV, early marriages and teenage pregnancies were rampant in camps and hosting communities perhaps because of ignorance.