JUBA – “I was on my way home from selling bananas at the market when these men suddenly approached me. Before I knew what was happening, I was thrown inside a pickup truck and recruited into military training.”
The story of 17-year-old G. is one shared by other children in Juba who have been abducted off the streets or forcefully taken from their homes by joint security operation forces. They find themselves detained for a few days before being flown to training centers across the country.
In his case, G. was one of many children taken from Juba to Malakal last June. He reports many more arrived during the few days he spent at the training facility, a few hours outside of the city.
“They told us that we would get military training. That we would learn to fight for what we believe in.”
But his beliefs were very different from those of the abductors, and he refused to let go of them.
On the third day, the children were told to march and prove their commitment to becoming the soldiers they were expected to be. When another abducted child, R. refused, he was beaten and whipped with a belt until he found himself bleeding on the ground.
“I thought this was my last moment alive. All I could think about was what my family would do without me.”
But it wasn’t his last. When the beating stopped, he was kept in solitary confinement in a container, isolated with his fears as well as his resolution to do everything in his power to escape. Because he had to.
The main provider for his siblings, the thought of them kept him sane and focused throughout the terrors he experienced. When released from the container, intense rain delayed the start of training but also made it impossible for him to leave.
While waiting for the right moment, he shared his plan with F. who was sleeping next to him on the floor as well as G., who he met on the plane.
These three boys had become like brothers in just a few days.
G. was skeptical but convinced to join while F. was reluctant:
“At first, I thought it was crazy. I really didn’t want to go. I didn’t even want him to go.”
They had heard stories about the dangers lurking in the bushes surrounding them. But, when his friends left early in the morning, it only took F. a few seconds to change his mind.
“Looking at them running, I realized there would be no one left that I could trust. So, I ran after them as fast as I could.”
Together, they embarked on a 12-hour journey of fear about the dangers following them as well as those in front of them. At 4pm, they arrived at a village they believed to be safe, hiding out in the bushes.
Their new relative security reminded them of the basic needs they had been neglecting. Starved, R. decided to trade his belt, the last valuable thing he had, for fish. But there was nothing else to trade for charcoal to make a fire and cook it.
Then everything changes. A stranger stopped for them on the roadside and agreed to lend them his phone. All three children broke down when R. managed to reach his father.
“I thought I’d never hear his voice again,” recalls the brother of five.
Deeply touched by their tears and story, the stranger offered to take them in until they found a way to return home. As so, the stranger became a friend, rearranging one of his rooms and organizing beds for them. Meanwhile, R.’s father contacted social workers who connected him with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Due to impassable roads during the rainy season, it was two months before the boys could embark on the two-day journey to Malakal, joined and protected by their new friend and savior. The well-being of their families always on their minds.
Arriving in Malakal, they were taken to the Protection of Civilians site where they were cared for until transportation arrangements were made to bring them home to Juba where they were received by UNMISS, UNICEF and other child protection actors.
Asked about the moment he saw his family again, R.’s eyes still light up:
“I just felt this wave of relief. Returning and making sure they’re ok was all I could think about. Seeing them was the first moment I felt like I could breathe.”
A sense of relief. But the fear never left - of being captured again or ending up like the other abductees.
They later learned that shortly after their escape, 17 other boys embarked on the same quest. Sadly, they were found dead in the bushes. The exact cause is unknown, but it’s not hard to guess.
“There were hundreds of boys at the facility when we left. Basically, the whole place was run by us children. Some were cooking, while others were cleaning and collecting firewood,” remembers G.
While they are still haunted by night terrors and guilt often experienced by survivors for managing to escape while others were left behind, they are also relieved to be home with their loved ones and eager to start donor-funded studies that will help them support their families and themselves. To one day return to a life free of fear.
By Jaella Brockmann
