It has been 14 years since South Sudan officially obtained independence.
But it has been 26 years since Angelina Wael left her home to seek safety in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
Today, her search for safety has come full circle and she is, once again, in her home country after fleeing the ongoing crisis in neighboring Sudan. Having grown up in Bentiu, she left soon after delivering her first child, hoping to build a life without constant fear.
“This is my first time here since Independence. I don’t know if I should feel proud or scared about what the future holds,” she shares.
Although her lively expression doesn’t reveal much, Angelina has been through a lot. She’s lost her husband and her brother to repeated violence and is the only caretaker for her late brother’s two children.
As a single mother to eight children, her life has been an endless struggle to ensure a secure life for them: “I may not be able to take away their suffering, but I am trying to do everything I can to give them some moments of happiness.”
This need for security is what led her to leave Khartoum, embarking on a five-day long car ride to Renk in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state. She and her dependents then got on a boat that brought them to Bulukat, a transit center in Malakal, built and supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
“Bulukat is supposed to be a place where people can rest and recover from their journeys. Residents have come a long way, often without any food or water, and need a place to just be ok for a while,” explains Alex Wani, IOM Operational Assistant and focal point for Programming and Shelter in Upper Nile.
Divided into two sections, one for returnees and the other one for refugees, since 2023, the center has provided exactly that much needed relief to some 1000 residents who pass through each week.
Every week, three to four boats take up to 500 people each from Renk to Bulukat where they receive food, water, medical checkups, and trainings to prepare them for their onward journeys and destinations. This provides a much needed, albeit temporary, respite from the ravages of war.
But like Angelina, everyone in this situation is apprehensive about what life holds for them when they reach their final destinations.
“I have been trying to provide for these children for so long that I don’t know what to expect anymore. Maybe, when I am finally home in Bentiu again, this will change.”
For now, she is waiting for more people to arrive in the next days in order for the plane to take her to Bentiu to depart. To come home.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
