28/08/2012 - Returnees to South Sudan come in many forms. Some are recent and impoverished, desperately in need of humanitarian help, while others are well educated, offering much needed skills. Robert Sakaya, a nurse at SOS Children’s Villages Malakal, is a returnee who has become part of the relief effort.
Robert Mambo Sakaya was 13 when he left what was then Sudan to go to live in northern Uganda. He was alone at the time, leaving his parents who were living in an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp in the south of the country.
Robert left Sudan because he was afraid of being recruited into the SPLA (the Sudan People’s Liberation Army), which, at the time, was at war with the Government of Sudan.
"Life was terrible and children of my age were recruited into the military", he explained. "Each time we went to school we saw soldiers and ran away".
Robert wins a scholarship
With the assistance of Norwegian Church Aid Robert won a scholarship to go to school in northern Uganda. He did well, learning in English, the language of Ugandan education, and he says he was particularly good at sciences and mathematics.
Meanwhile Robert’s parents moved to a refugee camp in northern Uganda, where he was able to visit them occasionally. Despite being accepted as a Ugandan, who, in the north bear a strong resemblance to the South Sudanese, Robert never forgot his roots.
After graduating from school Robert received another scholarship, this time to attend a Ugandan nursing school for three years. Again he did well, learning the local language of Lugbara so that he could communicate with patients. After he qualified, the hospital where he trained gave Robert a two-year working contract. The year was 2004.
In 2005 the peace agreement between the southern Sudanese rebels and the Government of Sudan was signed in Nairobi and Robert decided it was time to return to his homeland. Sadly his father had died in the refugee camp but his mother also took the opportunity to return.
The challenges of returning home
Going back to his home country was not exactly the joyous occasion that Robert had anticipated. He joined an international refugee care organisation that ran primary health care centres. The target was to save lives, he said, with minimum resources, which meant he had to improvise because they lacked so many things.
"Even as I speak now most hospitals and health centres lack essential equipment to make things run smoothly", he said. "That’s what I see as a challenge. I don’t know how many years it will take us to reach the level of Uganda."
Language also became a challenge for Robert, as most Sudanese, even those who lived in the south, spoke good Arabic – a language Robert had almost forgotten. To rectify this Robert went to work in the north, "to transform my Juba Arabic into classical Arabic", he explained. For three years he worked as a nurse in a mobile team, providing first line help in emergencies.
Robert joins SOS Children’s Villages
In 2008 Robert returned to the south of the country, working in Western Bahr El Ghazal state for Medecins sans Frontieres where he specialised in paediatrics and nutrition. In June this year, Robert joined SOS Children’s Villages and now works as a nurse in both the children’s village and the emergency relief programme. It is his first contact with the organisation and he is impressed.
"One experience I am seeing is that these are not the real mothers to these children. Yet you find they are really good mothers and know how to look after these children, identifying their needs", he explained. "If a child is sick you find that his mother understands", he added. "That’s something strange and I am seeing it for the first time in my life."
A vision of the future
Robert’s hopes for his country, South Sudan, also the world’s newest nation, are high. "From here I’m hoping that with time South Sudan will come up to the standard of the rest of the countries", he stated.
"What is important is peace", Robert concluded. “I have witnessed a lot of insecurities taking place yet now after the declaration of independence, we are still here. So we hope things will go the way they are right now and if peace reigns I am sure that with time even the services we lack will come."