South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Okech Francis
Widow Joska Aryemo, her blind mother and 8 children returned from a refugee camp in Uganda only to end up living under a tree next to her former home after her land was grabbed by in-laws.
She is returning home for the second time after first fleeing to Sudan’s capital Khartoum during the war for liberation.
The Dawn spoke with the 47 year old woman from Magwi to understand how life has been for her since her return from Uganda.
The return home for Aryemo has not been rosy and all the hopes for a better life diminished by the welcome she received. A neighbor has accepted them to live in the open on his land, Aryemo, her blind mother and children.
“When I returned to my husband’s house, his relatives chased me away saying I never shared with them anything of my brother since I returned from Khartoum,” Aryemo told The Dawn in an interview in Magwi town.
“They chased me saying I did not share the properties of my husband with them when he died yet everything of their brother remained in Khartoum when we returned,” she said.
Aryemo lived with her husband in Khartoum prior to independence of South Sudan and only returned to the country in 2011 before the country’s autonomy.
The husband was killed in 2013 when conflict erupted in South Sudan, and leading to the death of thousands of people. Four million others were displaced both internally and in neighboring countries.
By 2016, when Eastern Equatoria were Magwi is located became a hot conflict spot, Aryemo fled to neighboring Uganda where she sought refuge at Palabek Refugee Camp.
With the 8 children in her care, she has always struggled to fend for her family. Her return to South Sudan, voluntary though, was prompted by an urgency to rebuild her livelihood and give her children a lifeline by retracting her former life at her husband’s home.
However, that was not meant to be. “The relatives of my husband chased me from his home. My condition is very bad and life is so difficult,” Aryemo said.
Her story is a stake reality that many people including the most vulnerable-widows, orphans, and people living with disabilities face as they return home to rebuild their livelihoods.
According to the refugee agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 160,000 people have registered as returnees in Eastern Equatoria alone.
They returned on voluntary basis and resettled on their own, lacking the basics to kick-start life again and many are facing squatters or people who occupied their land while they were away.
Land issues
Authorities in Eastern Equatoria acknowledged the problem but noting it is not manifesting itself so much. One reason for this could be that very few people are yet returning with millions still in the refugee camps.
Augustine Okuma, the chairperson for the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Eastern Equatoria told The Dawn that the problem is mainly around Nimule and its surrounding area.
Nimule, sits on the Ugandan border, and the most viable port for South Sudan. Communities in the surrounding areas see it as a lucrative area to own land.
Generally “in Eastern Equatoria, we don’t have a lot of land issues but we have it particularly in the area of Nimule,” Akuma told The Dawn. “Because in that area of Nimule, you left and are in the camp, you find that somebody has come and settled in your land. That one is there but in some areas, they are not there,” he said.
Lack of basics for livelihood
Health problems and food scarcity are the main undoing in the household of Aryemo. “I have a lot of health problems in my house, food is not enough for the children. My biggest problems actually are, there is no house, no food and no place to sleep for the children.”
Joining a women’s group, Women for Peace, Aryemo has however gotten the energy to trudge on with life. “When this group saw me so stranded, working for small wages in people’s gardens, they called me. They started giving me advice, reassuring me that I am able to push on and should not give up in life. Stress will kill you. They advised me very well,” Aryemo said.
“Now they are also helping me with loans for business. I borrow the money, use it for business and return the loan after getting my profit,” she said. “Right now there are a lot of changes in my life and I feel strengthened again.”
Still, Aryemo needs much more assistance to rebuild her livelihood and fend for the family in her care.
“I have no place to sleep for the children and even the house my husband had built has curved in. My children can’t access education, hunger is a big problem to me. I do weeding in people’s farms and I use the money for feeding because such money cannot pay school fees,” she said.
“If there was a place I could get assistance, I would run there. If even I could get only a canvas to put over the head of my children, I would be glad. The assistance I will need is a piece of land to build a house.”
