Fighting to eliminate violence

Sep 21, 2017

WORLD PEACE DAY

 

By Owen Wagabaza

Bal Deng and his four siblings went to school as they always did on a week day last year.

That afternoon, when they returned home, they were received by a horrific sight. "We found that our home had been bombed and our parents killed," says the 16-year-old South Sudanese.

"We left our parents in a pool of blood and fled to safety. We walked for three weeks from Juba to Lanya, where we were picked and brought to Imvepi refugee camp. We were sleeping in the bush and did not pack food, but fortunately, Good Samaritans used to give us some," says Deng.

"I miss my parents so much. I am looking forward to getting quality education in Uganda and going back to South Sudan, to be a doctor, like my father," Deng says.

For 33-year-old Gloria Keoji, the story is no different. Holding her three-month-old baby, she stares into the vast blue sky above the bush, lost in thoughts. Beside her, are her six other children who she looks after.

All their tales are of violence, with memories too fresh to run away from. Keoji ran to Uganda after her husband was killed in cold blood. "I hid under the bed and after about 30 minutes, I left immediately for Uganda," Keoji says.

Keoji and her siblings were brought together by World Vision, a non-governmental organisation that places unaccompanied children into new families, under the responsibility of foster parents among the refugees, and then monitors their welfare. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THIS STORY

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