Telling the ECSA Story

  Amina in the IDP camp in Lower Juba. CARE/Saddam Mohammed Under the blistering heat, and being heavy with child, 28-year-old Amina walked over 100 kilometers for 11 days with her children as life at home had become unbearable. This was as a result of losing all their 50 cows and 30 goats, their family’s sole source of livelihood, due to the ongoing drought in Somalia. Amina found refuge at an Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camp in Lower Juba and has since then not been able to communicate with her husband who she left behind. “Sometimes my children go to bed hungry as I have nothing to give them and because their father is not here to help as I am pregnant. We have lost everything to this drought. Life used to be easy for us when we had our livestock. We could sell some to buy what we need. We ran out of water and pasture, and it was sad seeing all our livestock dying right in front of our eyes. Now we don’t even know what our next meal is going to be and when we will have ...

October 21, 2018 Bidali with a chair he made. Bidali Martine, 25, is a South Sudanese refugee currently living in Omugo Extension of Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement in Northwestern Uganda. Bidali is originally from Yei in South Sudan and arrived in Uganda with his parents in August 2017. At the time of seeking refuge, Bidali was a student in Primary 7. Bidali is one of 51 refugees and host community youths being supported in livelihoods activities, including business skills training, technical skills training, and in-kind grant distributions. This project is implemented by CARE and local partner WINEPS, with funding from Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA). At the start of the program, each youth was to select a trade they were interested in learning, Bidali was the only youth who chose to learn carpentry. Other trades chosen include tailoring, bakery and catering, and hair saloon. Because Bidali was the only student in carpentry, he engaged in an apprentice...

September 20, 2018 Cicillia Agowa, 45, is a South Sudanese refugee currently living in Omugo Extension of Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement. Cicillia is originally from Yei, South Sudan where she operated a large restaurant. She arrived in Uganda in October 2016, after escaping war and famine with 6 children, 3 biological and 3 adopted. Cicillia with two of her children outside her  semi-permanent shelter .  This isn’t the first time Cicillia has been a refugee, but it is her first time being a refugee in Uganda. “I first moved to Congo [Democratic Republic of…] where it took me 22 days to reach. I stayed for 1-year but it was very hard because there were no schools for my children,"  Cicillia said. “Then I started hearing of more killings in South Sudan, including my nephew. I decided I was still too close to the war so I decided to move again to Uganda. This took us 6 days.”  Cicillia says this second travel was even more challenging than the previous l...