The refugee settlements are like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

When refugees arrive, they are registered, vaccinated, given a hot meal, given the right to work, and allocated a plot of land to settle on – they are even given resources to begin constructing their new home. And the Ugandan Government allows them to stay for as long as they like.

This does not feel like a refugee camp.

My team is visiting one settlement to meet with a women’s group that, with CARE’s support, have formed an embroidery business.

We pull up next to a large white tent, and the women’s group comes pouring out to greet us. They are dressed in matching T-shirts, and sing us a song of welcome they have written especially for us: ‘Our visitors from CARE, we’re happy to receive you, today’s a wonderful day, we’re happy to receive you!’

They lead us, still singing, into the tent and we sit on plastic chairs covered with pieces of cloth, which they have embroidered with flowers. We are officially welcomed by Joyce, the chairwoman of the group. Back home in South Sudan she was a government agricultural officer. We ask the other women what they used to do back home: one was studying electrical engineering, one was a soap maker, a teacher, a midwife… the range of skills among these women is astounding.

Joyce took the initiative to form this group in July, 2016. In the year since, they have met every Tuesday and Saturday without fail.

“For the first few months we sat together to counsel each other on issues we were facing in our homes and the trauma we had gone through to get here,” explains Joyce. “For a long time, we thought that we could go back to South Sudan. Some of us tried to go back but it was impossible. We were in denial that we would stay here for a long time, but now we are looking to the future.”