In Sokare, families who fled the fighting seek health services and food, and education for their children

CENTRAL EQUATORIA – When clashes suddenly erupted in Sokare, a location near the border of Uganda and South Sudan, many families were caught in the middle of their daily routines. Deep in this agricultural belt of Central Equatoria state, parents were tending to their corn and vegetable patches this close to harvest time. Children were at school or playing nearby.

And then the chaos began. Panicked parents and children fled without any time to gather anything of value or necessities.

“Everybody started running. I looked around for my children. I grabbed the youngest ones and fled with the rest of the community. I found my two older children two days later,” says Kila Grace Simon, a mother of six children.

It was the same for Charles Modi Wani and his wife Susan Ayte. They fled, they say, with some of their children and grandchildren, when they saw an armed vehicle roll into their village.

“I ran from Matok,” says Charles, pointing out some of his neighbours from his village of Matok.

Charles and his family, as well as Kila Grace and her six children, are currently sheltering in the compound of the Episcopal Diocese Church of Liwolo, who were the first to open their doors to the displaced families.

The church has been kind to let families sleep inside the large worship area at night. Whenever there is a service or a church programme during the daytime, they move their bedding outdoors.

There is a borewell for drinking water, but that’s about it. The church cannot provide them food or other supplies without external support.

“The International Red Cross provided 30 kilograms of cereal, 10 kilograms of beans, five litres of oil, blankets and one tent, but this is not enough,” says Charles.

He was speaking to a patrol team from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) who travelled for three days from Juba to Sokare to meet displaced communities.

The team were informed by the County Commissioner Wani Jackson Mule that the humanitarian situation was dire.

“People ran from the fighting without food, without any clothing, without sleeping materials, without utensils,” said Commissioner Mule.

The UNMISS team also met the Brigadier General of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces to discuss the security situation, which currently was assessed to be relatively stable.

Kila Grace Simon summed up the situation and the urgent needs, simply but eloquently.

“Our children do not have clothes and are missing out on their education,” she says.

For families like Kila Grace Simon’s and Charles Modi Wani’s, the journey to safety did not end when they reached the church. The UNMISS patrol’s objective was to hear their concerns firsthand and bring their needs to the attention of government authorities and UNMISS leadership. But for those sheltering away from their homes, the priorities are immediate: food, clothing, basic household supplies and, above all, a safe place for their children to live and return to school.

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By Robin Giri