She crossed borders and has no contact with her husband
uganda — For more than two years now, South Sudanese refugee Norrah Scovia has not seen or heard from her husband. In 2015, she was forced to flee her home in South Sudan because of the ongoing conflicts. She did so for the safety of her children.
“My husband was working far away. I don’t even know how far, but I had to make the decision to flee without him. We did not get the chance to speak before we left,” she tells Khaleej Times.
Sitting under a corrugated roof of a cement block classroom in the Ayillo II settlement in Uganda, the mother-of-two opens up about her journey to one of the largest refugee colonies in the country — the Adjumani district.
The decision to leave Sudan was always one she battled with. It meant leaving everything she knew behind and starting over again, with minimal resources. But after her brother narrowly escaped a bullet during day-long crossfire, the only answer was escape.
Along with her brother and two children — now aged 12 and seven — Scovia travelled on foot for three days to reach the Ugandan border. It was the first time she had left her village in Sudan.
“I carried my smallest child on my back. She was too small to walk so far. My son, he was just 10 at the time, walked alongside me the whole way.”
To get shelter from the cold at night, Scovia says the four of them would huddle together with other refugees to generate heat. And to cushion themselves from the hard ground below, they would gather leaves from the bush and make beds along the roadside. Sleep was minimal though, as the need to reach the safety of the border was imminent.
It’s been two years now since the family have been living in the settlement. They are just some of the 223,000 refugees seeking shelter in the Adjumani district. Like many, Scovia says the dream is to one day return to Sudan to reclaim her family’s land. But for now, it seems a long way off.
“My children remember that journey so well. They always ask me why we had to leave home and cross the border and I tell them about the civil war. Like me, they miss their father. I don’t know when we will see him again but I hope to be reunited one day. Maybe in years to come.”
Though her family is now safe. Scovia says daily challenges still exist. The nearest water hole is a one kilometre walk away, and food resource has been cut down by a third in recent months — from 12kg of maize a month to just 3kg. But she says her biggest hope and focus now is her children.
Both are now being educated in the Liberty Primary School in the Ayillo II refugee settlement. They are two of 15,000 students being provided an education by the Dubai Cares’ ‘Providing Emergency Education to Refugees and Host Community Girls and Boys in Uganda’ programme.
“We may be refugees but we still need an education. I want my children to go to school. It’s not about getting a job. It’s about them learning how to associate with people and be social. I encourage them to be attentive in class as it is what will determine their future. A better future I hope.”
My children remember that journey very well. They miss their father. I don’t know when we will see him but I hope to be reunited soon.” Norrah Scovia