uganda.oxfam
Going back home from the refugee settlement after the days work
Name: Adiru Jessica (A local) and Amor Ajus (South Sudanese refugee)
Age: 26 years & 23 years
Status: Both married
Family: 5 children & 1 child
Location: Simbili village and Simbili settlement, Mvepi parish, Arua
Oxfam support: Oxfam working with partner CEFORD (Community Empowerment For Rural Development) is providing cash for work to SSD refugees and host communities to carry on a number of activities including opening up access roads.
B/ground
Two young women dig in unison in the hot afternoon sun in Simbili, northern Uganda. Amor and Jessica are building an access road that will connect their homes to the main road, bringing them and their families closer to the schools and a health centre.
The women are similar in style, with the same plaits and similar dresses, but Amor is South Sudanese and Jessica is Ugandan. Amor fled last year from violence in her home town of Pibor in Jonglei state, while Jessica is from the community where Amor’s family has settled.
Both are part of Oxfam-supported Cash for Work programme, where people are employed short term to carry out construction work that improves their living environment, such as building better roads and drainage systems. This project is carried out by local partner, Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD), and funded by Oxfam.
Story
Amor’s story:
“I came here in July 2013 from Jonglei state after fighting broke out, it was the Yau Yau rebellion.”
Fighting between South Sudan's army, rebels and rival tribes left thousands of people fleeing in July 2013.
“I came with my daughter and brother in-law. Before the fighting, my husband and I were farmers and cattle keepers. In fact the fighting started when we were tending to our animals. My husband could not leave, he insisted he needed to stay and ensure the animals were safe before he could join us. We first ran to the UN compound and later at a church in Juba which gave us some little money for transport. I was very scared and worried for my husband but we had to leave. We took a bus to Uganda,” she said.
It took Amor two weeks before she was resettled in Simbili settlement. Setting up life here was hard, as she had to construct her own shelter and take care of her child and brother in law.
“The locals let us access the forests for firewood but we had to buy most of the construction materials which were not cheap. We had to keep to one meal a day which we still do. Life is hard here, especially if you have no garden and no money, but fortunately we have not yet had issues with the nationals so we still share some resources with them.”
Amor would like to grow her own food to feed her family and even sell to make a small profit, but she has no garden to plant seeds in. For the time being she relies on the income she makes from the cash for work project.
Her greatest wish however is to see her husband again. “He is alive, I talked to him but he has no money to bring him here, I hope we can go back home soon”
Jessica confirms what Amor says, she has not seen any problems arise since refugees were settled in her village. In fact, she says that some things have improved.
“We had a water problem before their arrival as the boreholes had broken and we had to walk long distances for water. Now they have fixed them and drilled new ones which we are all using.”
Jessica mentions that her village has hosted refugees since 1994. Part of the land where the newest arrivals are staying belonged to Jessica and her husband. She says that she understands how hard it is to be a refugee, having been one herself as a child in Sudan when liberation power struggles were ongoing in Uganda.
“It is hard for me as a woman even when am from here. I have to struggle to look after my family since my husband does more of the drinking. I know it is harder as a refugee, especially when you have children or have no family. The little money from this work helps us so much.”
Whereas Jessica is planning to put some of the cash for work money paid into her small grocery shop, Amor plans to use the money to improve her family diet which is very poor at the moment and also use the money to pay for grinding services for the hard grain maize they receive from WFP.
Jessica and Amor both agree that if there were no interventions targeting both the refugees and national host communities, the relationships would be strained. “We use their resources like firewood, how would they not get tired?” Amor asks.
This is true as some basic services, such as health centres, are struggling to cope with the additional demand leaving host communities unhappy. Oxfam thinks that while, national host communities are living side-by-side with refugees and sharing their resources it’s only fair for the interventions to put the host communities into consideration. Oxfam working with partners is including host communities in their interventions like the cash for work, energy saving stove distribution and borehole drilling. The aim is to create harmony between refugees and nationals besides meeting their immediate needs.
photo and copyright: Petterik Wiggers/Panos Pictures London UK
Going back home from the refugee settlement after the days work
Name: Adiru Jessica (A local) and Amor Ajus (South Sudanese refugee)
Age: 26 years & 23 years
Status: Both married
Family: 5 children & 1 child
Location: Simbili village and Simbili settlement, Mvepi parish, Arua
Oxfam support: Oxfam working with partner CEFORD (Community Empowerment For Rural Development) is providing cash for work to SSD refugees and host communities to carry on a number of activities including opening up access roads.
B/ground
Two young women dig in unison in the hot afternoon sun in Simbili, northern Uganda. Amor and Jessica are building an access road that will connect their homes to the main road, bringing them and their families closer to the schools and a health centre.
The women are similar in style, with the same plaits and similar dresses, but Amor is South Sudanese and Jessica is Ugandan. Amor fled last year from violence in her home town of Pibor in Jonglei state, while Jessica is from the community where Amor’s family has settled.
Both are part of Oxfam-supported Cash for Work programme, where people are employed short term to carry out construction work that improves their living environment, such as building better roads and drainage systems. This project is carried out by local partner, Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD), and funded by Oxfam.
Story
Amor’s story:
“I came here in July 2013 from Jonglei state after fighting broke out, it was the Yau Yau rebellion.”
Fighting between South Sudan's army, rebels and rival tribes left thousands of people fleeing in July 2013.
“I came with my daughter and brother in-law. Before the fighting, my husband and I were farmers and cattle keepers. In fact the fighting started when we were tending to our animals. My husband could not leave, he insisted he needed to stay and ensure the animals were safe before he could join us. We first ran to the UN compound and later at a church in Juba which gave us some little money for transport. I was very scared and worried for my husband but we had to leave. We took a bus to Uganda,” she said.
It took Amor two weeks before she was resettled in Simbili settlement. Setting up life here was hard, as she had to construct her own shelter and take care of her child and brother in law.
“The locals let us access the forests for firewood but we had to buy most of the construction materials which were not cheap. We had to keep to one meal a day which we still do. Life is hard here, especially if you have no garden and no money, but fortunately we have not yet had issues with the nationals so we still share some resources with them.”
Amor would like to grow her own food to feed her family and even sell to make a small profit, but she has no garden to plant seeds in. For the time being she relies on the income she makes from the cash for work project.
Her greatest wish however is to see her husband again. “He is alive, I talked to him but he has no money to bring him here, I hope we can go back home soon”
Jessica confirms what Amor says, she has not seen any problems arise since refugees were settled in her village. In fact, she says that some things have improved.
“We had a water problem before their arrival as the boreholes had broken and we had to walk long distances for water. Now they have fixed them and drilled new ones which we are all using.”
Jessica mentions that her village has hosted refugees since 1994. Part of the land where the newest arrivals are staying belonged to Jessica and her husband. She says that she understands how hard it is to be a refugee, having been one herself as a child in Sudan when liberation power struggles were ongoing in Uganda.
“It is hard for me as a woman even when am from here. I have to struggle to look after my family since my husband does more of the drinking. I know it is harder as a refugee, especially when you have children or have no family. The little money from this work helps us so much.”
Whereas Jessica is planning to put some of the cash for work money paid into her small grocery shop, Amor plans to use the money to improve her family diet which is very poor at the moment and also use the money to pay for grinding services for the hard grain maize they receive from WFP.
Jessica and Amor both agree that if there were no interventions targeting both the refugees and national host communities, the relationships would be strained. “We use their resources like firewood, how would they not get tired?” Amor asks.
This is true as some basic services, such as health centres, are struggling to cope with the additional demand leaving host communities unhappy. Oxfam thinks that while, national host communities are living side-by-side with refugees and sharing their resources it’s only fair for the interventions to put the host communities into consideration. Oxfam working with partners is including host communities in their interventions like the cash for work, energy saving stove distribution and borehole drilling. The aim is to create harmony between refugees and nationals besides meeting their immediate needs.
photo and copyright: Petterik Wiggers/Panos Pictures London UK