Education for returnees in southern Sudan

Awvoi (centre) and Ajok tell Rohan Kent about their journey and hopes for the future

Rohan Kent, our Disaster Response Manager, talks to some of the estimated 150,000 returnees who have arrived back in Southern Sudan in just one month.

"...Will I be able to go to school?” a little girl enquires, interjecting sharply in Arabic.

I turned my full attention to the voice that belonged to 10 year old Awvoi, who along with her five family members have recently arrived in Jonglei State, South Sudan from Khartoum. The family have been on the move for the last 58 days, travelling first by road and then on the crowded barges that had been contracted to assist people returning to southern Sudan from cities in the North. There were 500 people on her barge, six latrines and only open air sleeping for the nine day journey. Hardly the Nile River cruise dreams are made of.

The mosquitoes were terrible she said, pointing out the bite marks on her arm and it was hard to sleep with so many people on the barge. The family have also spent 48 days in a transit camp along the way and now find themselves in a dusty car-park/makeshift reception centre awaiting transportation to their final destination.

The adults have since arisen from the bed frame I am sitting on, to allow the participation of the determined young voice, and she and her friend 6 year old Ajok settle down next to me.

"...I really like school... but now that I am here - in this strange place - I miss my friends who I see most days at school......Do you think I will be able to attend a school like I did in Khartoum?"

I tell her I hope so and we are right now planning so that can happen. Our team here have been planning programs to provide education and schooling to these returnees. We hope to also build on Plan’s current Technical Vocation Education and Training programs that provide ongoing education opportunities for young people wishing to learn practical skills required to gain employment.

This past week has seen our small team cover quite a distance, mainly through parts of Eastern Equatoria State and a quick trip into Jonglei State. We have been undertaking a rapid assessment of the situation of the organised and spontaneous returnees, who are coming back into southern Sudan from the North, and also neighbouring States such as Kenya, Uganda and DR Congo, with their hopes resting in the expectation of a new nation.

Along our way we could see the very visible remnants of the war. Children play on rusty old tanks or armoured personnel carriers. We have driven past many mine fields indicated to our passing vehicle by the red triangular alert signs peaking out at us through the long bush grass. They seem to me, all too close to the small mud and grass hut villages we also pass by. However, it is not only the reminders of war that affected us, but rather it is another legacy, that of the lack of access to education.

As we thank the children for their time, pack our things and start to head off, Awvoi waves and calls out to us, in clear unbroken English “Goodbye. Hope to see you soon." 

Support children in emergency situations through our Children in Crisis Fund