Surviving the peace proves as difficult as surviving war for families in southern Sudan

Peace persists in southern Sudan and so do we in our efforts to help families rebuild their lives after two decades of conflict that claimed the lives of 1.5 million Sudanese people and left nearly 4 million homeless.

People like Joseph Kubya and his family are one of the 4 million reasons we are doing everything we can to help families that are returning to their home villages in southern Sudan.

Joseph and his family spent the last 10 years hiding deep in the jungle in a desperate bid to survive. Contact with soldiers or militia groups had to be avoided at all cost as it always had deadly consequences.

Surviving the peace is proving very difficult for families like Joseph’s. The journey from the jungle to their former villages is arduous and marked with great uncertainty as families fear what they will find when they return home. Sadly, their worst fears are realized as they arrive in their home village and find it in a state of utter ruin.

HOPE International Development Agency is taking a comprehensive approach to helping these desperate families restore their lives and return home.

We are drilling wells that provide abundant supplies of clean water, significantly reducing the rates of diseases like cholera and dysentery.

Our health care and disease prevention efforts are dramatically improving the health of returning families and schooling for the children is rescuing the minds of an entire generation that have never had the opportunity to get an education.

Peace has replaced war and now, through the support of HOPE International Development Agency donors, hope will replace despair as families are able to rebuild their lives.