In 2016, clashes between armed forces caused almost 40,000 people to flee Wau town in search of a safe haven.
By 2020, many had resettled in other parts of the country while about 10,000 former residents remained in the Naivasha protection site, established by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and partners.
Since then, the site has undergone various changes regarding protection mandates and different partner organizations providing humanitarian assistance.
While security became relatively stable, humanitarian conditions did not, triggering incidents of intercommunal violence in the congested site that was only ever meant to be a temporary space for transition.
“It was just too little space for too many people,” explains Lino Lual, former chief of Naivasha. “What started as an escape from recurring violence ended up becoming a sort of prison as people were too scared to leave, but also too different to live on top of each other like this.”
It became clear that the remaining 1500 households needed a more permanent place.
A place they could call home.
A place like Khor Malang.
The transition to a new settlement involved strenuous preparations and administrative challenges, including land clearing efforts by the United Nations Mining Action Service and planning activities by the International Organization for Migration, and other humanitarian agencies.
Once the newly dedicated land a few kilometers outside Wau was declared safe, eligible households were selected and offered resettlement support. Priority was given to the 400 households that have at least one person with a disability with the remaining 1100 given the choice to move to the new site or receive a resettlement grant for alternative relocation preferences.
For 67-year-old Karmella Ukul Linga, it was an easy choice:
“I was grateful for feeling safe when the violence started in 2016. But I really wanted to have a permanent place to call home, ideally together with the people that became something like family to me.”
After a decade long journey leading her from Khartoum to various places in South Sudan, she is now proud to show her new home in Khor Malang.
At the IOM-built hard wall houses, she spends her time roasting and reselling raw peanuts she buys from the nearby market or sitting with neighbors over tea and shared meals.
“For the first time in a long while, I feel like I’m home – surrounded by people I know I can count on and vice versa.”
“Seeing families settle into their new homes is truly inspiring, especially knowing the hardships they've overcome. It fills me with hope and encourages me to keep supporting their path toward lasting recovery and sustainability,” says UNMISS Protection, Transition and Reintegration Officer, Akai Ali Bonaiza Juma.
Back in Naivasha camp, Sora Hussein Siado can only imagine the joy of having a new home.
After using the relocation money that she received to pay school fees for her seven children, she’s now largely isolated in the camp which resembles a ghost town these days.
“I am beyond grateful to UNMISS and partners for saving us back then and giving us this space. But right now, I am not sure where to go next. All my friends and neighbors have left but I couldn’t bear relocating my children again, so I made the decision to stay.”
Still, the community spirit fostered over almost a decade has prevailed.
While her family’s future is uncertain, she is comforted by still being part of her former co-resident’s lives.
“Almost every day, my former neighbors visit or invite us for dinner in their new homes. Their spirit, resilience, and kindness reassure me that every ending also sparks a new beginning. There is a bright future ahead, we just have to find it.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
