South Sudan

In Uganda, there are now more than one million refugees from South Sudan, with more than 1,000 arriving daily. More than 85% of them are women, according to UNHCR. Many of the rest are children. No one is here because they want to be. They each escaped as someone in their family was murdered. Tension is high, and the circumstances are bleak. There are not enough funds available to feed all these people.

Many of the women are being called upon to be leaders. This is counter cultural, but they are rising to the occasion. They believe that everyone in their nation should forgive each other. They point out that a country can never gain peace through violence and hatred. And they are seeking to live that now, already, in the camps. An amazing forging of new families is taking place. Young mothers, like Keoji saw children standing dazed at the edge of a burning village and added them to her own as she fled. The white, plastic tarp tents that are lined up in rows along sewage ditches are home to units like this, who call each other family now, united by split blood, rather than family. Some feel this in itself may help to lead to the healing of this nation.

"If our children learn to hate, the future is bleak." they note. And so they stubbornly love, with actions, sharing what they have. And they pray, seeking a future which will allow them to go home and rebuild their nation.