In a few short bursts of gunfire, Tamma Joyce lost contact with her family — and her future.
It was evening and quiet in a small town called Lainya in southwestern South Sudan. Suddenly, gunshots broke out.
"People just scattered," the 19-year-old said. She was in town. Her parents were at the house a few kilometres away, close to the lush teak forests for which the area is known.
"When I rushed home, I couldn't find them," she said.
Frantic to flee the fighting, Joyce packed a small black backpack full of clothes, grabbed her little red cellphone and left her family home behind in early September.
Calls to her parents' phones went unanswered. She didn't know whether they had made it safely into the bush. Whether they had been injured. Whether they were still alive. She still doesn't know.
For three days Joyce walked along the dusty and bumpy Yei road, through forests, toward Juba, South Sudan's capital city. The road is known for its insecurity: buses are regularly ambushed, people robbed and sometimes killed.
Joyce joined other people also fleeing the violence. Together, the strangers walked, eating nothing along way. Once in Juba, Joyce used the small amount of money she had with her to purchase a bus ticket to the Ugandan border.
Despite a ceasefire agreement in July, attacks have continued in some parts of the country, particularly in the southwestern region near Yei and Lainya, sparked by fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and forces loyal to Vice-President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer.
Joyce is one of more than 100,000 people from South Sudan who have crossed into Uganda since then. It's estimated about 4,000 people a day are streaming across the border.
Many of them head to the Elegu Collection Centre, run by the Ugandan government and the UN. It's a few metres from the bridge that divides the two countries.
Those claiming refugee status are directed to the gates, where their belongings are searched for weapons. Then they are processed: medically screened, vaccinated, fingerprinted and fitted with plastic wristbands: usually white ones for those with special needs, such as those who are disabled, pregnant, or sick, and yellow for the rest. On days when supplies of wristbands are low, the code is reversed.
The fingerprinting is part of a daily challenge to stamp out "recyclers" — refugees who have already registered at a camp and are back at the border hoping to get more food and supplies for their families. In some cases, the recyclers are young children, sent by desperate parents hoping their son or daughter will be registered as an unaccompanied child and given food.
Aid agencies overwhelmed
The unexpected flood of refugees has overwhelmed the Ugandan government and the UN, as well as the agencies they contract to run services on their behalf.
"The situation has drastically changed, particularly with the influx we have been observing the last few weeks," said Jesse Kamstra, country representative for Uganda and Burundi with the Lutheran World Federation's department of world service.
Kamstra is in Ottawa this week to request more support from the Canadian government.
The LWF provides supplies and services to refugees at the collection centre and in many of the refugee camps. That includes identifying and counselling people suffering from trauma, and providing items like sanitary pads, soap and the high-energy biscuits refugees receive on arrival.
"The majority are coming by foot, having walked many days," he said. "The nutritional status of the people — particularly those under five — is becoming concerning."
He's hoping Canada will double its contribution. He also wants Canada's government to advocate for an arms embargo and put political pressure on the two warring parties.
Right now, the LWF is using $1.1 million donated by the Canadian government to provide refugees with supplies like jerry cans, basins, hand-washing containers, underwear and laundry soap, and to train them in farming and construction. The LWF also works to help refugees build shelters and latrines, especially for vulnerable households fostering orphans and for children who've been separated from their parents, like Joyce.
'I just hope we are reunited'
She was studying in Kampala, about to finish secondary school. But without her parents, she can't afford the school fees. She has to drop out.
Now, she's standing with other refugees waiting to board a bus to Bidibidi refugee camp. Before July, there was no camp in that part of northwestern Uganda. Now there are nearly 50,000 people there.
Joyce will get a plot of land and tools to help her build a house of mud and sticks.
The yellow wristband around her right wrist looks much like the kind a teenager in Canada would wear to attend a concert or visit an amusement park. But Joyce's bracelet bears the ID number 0964520 and the logo of the UN's refugee agency.
For Joyce, it's a symbol her refugee application was accepted.
Each day, she tries to call her parents. Her calls are directed to an automated message. She hopes they made it to another camp in Uganda. She hopes to spot them on one of the photo boards of refugees seeking their lost loved ones.
She wants to find her family. She wants to go back to school. She wants things to go back to the way they were.
"I keep hoping to see them," she says. "I feel very bad. I just hope we are reunited."
Newer articles:
- U.N. Says South Sudan Thwarted Peacekeepers - 28/09/2016 04:31
- Confidential UN report details South Sudan threats, violence - 27/09/2016 14:57
- Aid workers pulled out of volatile South Sudan region - 26/09/2016 11:18
- S.Sudan’s Kiir warns former deputy for warmongering - 26/09/2016 11:15
- South Sudan rebel leader says president wants 'ethnic state' - 26/09/2016 09:19
Older news items
- South Sudan rebel chief issues war call from exile - 25/09/2016 10:02
- Alberta's South Sudanese hold conference on refugee crisis - 24/09/2016 21:03
- South Sudan rebel chief urges armed resistance to Juba government - 24/09/2016 15:22
- South Sudan alarmed by US arms embargo threat: Deng - 23/09/2016 22:37
- Dozens of South Sudanese soldiers sentenced to death - 23/09/2016 18:00
Latest news items (all categories):
- Hope for Christmas gift as South Sudan talks return to Nairobi - 05/12/2024 10:26
- Chinese medical team brings relief to South Sudan patients - 05/12/2024 10:18
- Sudanese bishop speaks about being brutalized by soldiers - 05/12/2024 10:08
- President Biden: Absent Principles - No Honoring Words - Broken Promises - 05/12/2024 09:55
- South Sudan’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Continues – Analysis - 01/12/2024 17:47
Random articles (all categories):
- South Sudan Opposition: Government Lacks Will to Work for Peace - 16/02/2018 13:56
- South Sudan: Ceasefire could mean access to children - 27/01/2014 01:11
- A Success Worse Than Failure? Lessons From Activist Campaigns in South Africa ... - Huffington Post (blog) - 04/04/2012 19:42
- This is Salva Kiir Mayardit; the Cowboy President of South Sudan and His Luxurious Spending Son - 26/10/2018 06:37
- وزير الدفاع السودانى يطالب من القاهرة حدود بين الشمال والجنوب وأبيى. هل هى المطالبة بحلايب ام حدود بين الشمال و الجنوب ؟ - 20/10/2010 02:23
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 58429 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22216 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21360 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 18883 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 17999 times