Refugees International: Reports: Visual Mission: Women of Southern Sudan

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Visual Mission: Women of Southern Sudan

In Sudan, while a peace agreement was signed in 2005 ending the war between the North and the South, the formal agreement is just the beginning of the huge task of resettling displaced people and reconstructing --- or in many cases building from scratch --- homes, roads, schools, and health facilities. Refugees International recently traveled throughout southern Sudan and to refugee camps in Kenya to look at the issue of returning refugees and internally displaced people. We were struck by the resilience of the women of Sudan, but it is evident from their stories that they face many obstacles to rebuilding their lives.

South Sudan 2006: New arrivals to Kenya refugee camp

Photo Credit: Refugees International/ Sarah Martin
03/04/2006
These women arrived in Kakuma Refugee camp in Kenya on March 1, 2006. They had been there three days when RI interviewed them and were living in a small tent. “We were chased by Joseph Kony [the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army that has been terrorizing Northern Uganda] in our villages near the border with Uganda,” one woman told us. “They have killed some of our husbands and we had to walk for two weeks until we arrived here where we can be safe. Although there is peace in Sudan, they say, we do not see it. In order for us to know that we can be safe and return home, we will need to hear from all over the world that Kony is finished.”