Since fighting broke out in South Sudan in December 2013, a number of refugees have made their way into Uganda and other neighbouring countries. As the United Nations seeks more funding to support the refugees, amidst an international effort to end the ongoing five-month war, Marvis Birungi visits Nyumanzi refugee camp to assess the conditions in which some of them now live:

A couple of minutes to the northern part of Nyumanzi refugee camp in Adjumani district is a tented clinic run by the charity group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Hundreds of refugees crowd the medical facility for free services, but the nurse’s attention is directed to a 12-year-old girl who was recently gang-raped.

“She is being tested for syphilis and HIV/Aids and will be given preventive treatment against any sexually transmitted infections,” says Jacob Manyang, a former medical official in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, who fled to the camp in January with 11 of his family members.

Manyang, who now volunteers with the Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD International), says the limited medical facilities at Nyumanzi camp – the second largest in Uganda with at least 22,000 inhabitants – often constrain the provision of health services to the continually growing number of refugees.

“The situation is very sad and desperate among the refugees,” he adds. “MSF is only dealing with emergencies but not the major diseases. There are no proper medical facilities set up that can help critical situations.”

The number of refugees that have fled from South Sudan to Uganda, Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia since the start of the war on December 15, 2013 stands at 600,000, according to the United Nations.

Nearly 100,000 of them live in Uganda, with the majority at refugee camps in the northern districts bordering South Sudan. The South Sudan war, sparked off by a political disagreement between President Salva Kiir Mayardiit and his deputy Riek Machar, has slipped into a tribal conflict between the Nuer-led rebels from the north and the Dinka-led government based in the capital Juba.

According to the International Crisis Group (ICG), the death toll in the five-month conflict, which some organisations say could degenerate into genocide, is now close to 10,000 people. With each day that fighting continues in South Sudan, and the threats of an imminent genocide gain currency, fears grow that even more refugees could be forced to set up temporary base in neighbouring countries such as Uganda.

Late last month, the UN announced that it needs to collect at least $64 million (about Shs 160 billion) to provide different forms of support to South Sudanese refugees that fled to the East African countries. And that is just for the next six months.

While the UN waits for its begging bowl to fill up, different non-governmental organisations have tried to chip in. For instance, ACORD has distributed 1,000 charcoal stoves to the most vulnerable families.

ACORD officials say they are also sensitising pregnant mothers on accessing health facilities, although due to cultural norms many of them still prefer to give birth with the help of traditional birth attendants.

The World Food Programme (WFP) also distributes 50 kilogrammes of millet flour for each family/group of 10 people every 30 days. Most of the refugees interviewed by The Observer however complain that the food they receive is not sufficient. They call on international agencies to increase the food aid.

In addition, the concentration of large numbers of people in limited space without sufficient social amenities is inevitably leading to the spread of different kinds of diseases. Yet, without the facilities to treat them, the victims are often left helpless.

Each on their own

The shortage of facilities has compelled many of the refugees in Nyumanzi to take matters into their own hands. They are not helplessly waiting for aid. Instead, they are engaged in small-scale businesses to eke out a living on their own.

One refugee whose entrepreneurial spirit has been awakened by the conditions at Nyumanzi camp is Elijah Chol. The former lab technician and supervisor at Juba teaching hospital runs a small drug shop in the camp.

“I buy these drugs. They are not a donation. That is why I charge my counterparts money; they are for the benefit of the community and for my survival,” he tells The Observer.

Chol says nearly 80 per cent of the refugees who come to his drug shop seeking medication are malaria patients.

The rainy season has left many in Nyumanzi vulnerable to mosquito bites. Mosquito nets have not yet been distributed to the refugees, while the refugees say those sold in the markets are rather costly for them.

Outside Chol’s drug shop, more than eight women sell unprocessed milk. One of the vendors, Mary Atong, says she buys the milk from locals to sell to her counterparts in the camp. She buys a 20-litre jerry can of milk at Shs 40,000 and sells it at Shs 45,000.

“I can sell one or two jerry cans every day,” says Atong. “I use most of the money for my children’s upkeep.”

Across from Atong’s business is that of Kellen Nguer, a tailor who joined the camp in January with four children. Nguer has a tailoring machine that she operates at the camp, earning herself Shs 10,000 or less per day.

Like Atong, Nguer says she uses most of her savings for her children’s welfare. Other refugees thrive on selling food to large families that can’t be sustained by donations from aid agencies such as WFP. Food is very costly in the camps, making it one of the most lucrative businesses. For instance, a cup of beans costs Shs 2,000 yet the normal average price in other parts of northern Uganda is Shs 500, while a kilo of sugar is at Shs 5,000 against the usual cost of Shs 2,400.

Hope for peace

Even as they continue to get by on handouts and retail businesses from camps in the much-safer Uganda, the refugees cannot resist flashing anxious glances at developments in their native land.

After renewed violence derailed the peace talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, which were intended to foster national reconciliation and healing, Nguer lost the hope she had held onto since crossing over to Uganda.

“I have no hopes of returning to South Sudan unless the war completely comes to an end,” she said, not making any effort to hide her frustration.

The talks, interceded by the African Union and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) heads of state, approved the deployment of a protection force in March. However, the deployment of the force has been frustrated by logistical challenges.

That hold-up has left the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) holding the can in South Sudan, with the rebels accusing its neighbour to the south of taking sides in an internal conflict.

However, a renewed spate of pressure from the United States of America and UN seems to have become the raw material for the building of a political bridge that either party to the conflict can use to reach out to the other side.

While refugees at Nyumanzi and other settlement areas in Uganda are waiting to see whether such efforts will finally pave the way for them to walk out of their misery, the shortage of services and hard conditions at the camp have compelled their entrepreneurial spirits to sprout hundreds of miles away from the land they call home.



The writer was until recently a Juba-based journalist reporting for the Voice of America radio and other local and international media outlets. She worked in South Sudan for six years.

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