Unfortunately for her, in the early days of resettlement, during one fateful food distribution day, Harriet’s food ration was stolen by an identified person and that was the genesis of all her troubles. Harriet narrates how she isolated herself and was on the verge of a mental breakdown but managed to beat all odds to become one of the women leaders and a role model for young women in her community thanks to CARE’s Women Lead in Emergency Component.

“I studied up to senior three but dropped out because of school fees and got married instead. However, when the war started in 2016, I fled with my old mother and my children but left my husband behind and I have never heard from him again. When I reached here, I was full of trauma because of the war experiences where I had witnessed our people die. What made matters worse was when someone stole my food ration. I asked myself what I had done to deserve this because all our lives depended on that food. I wondered what was going to happen to me and the children before the next distribution. This hit me hard and I stopped interacting with people and isolated myself. I was buried in deep thoughts. Sometimes I could follow the road not knowing where to go and end up at the border of this camp without releasing how much I had walked”.

According to Harriet, this went on for several months and that become her routine and feared coming in contact with anyone and isolated herself from the rest of the members including prayers, something that she had previously considered vital in her life. Fortunately for her, someone was watching. The Chairperson (by then) of the South Sudanese Refugee Women Association (SSRWA); Nadia Roselyn approached her and little did she know that this was going to be the turning point of her life in months to come. and that she was to take after Roselyn’s footprints.

“I used to think that whoever comes to me was coming to fight or kill me but Nadia came and talked to me. She told me to try and forget all the past things that had happened to me and advised me to join a savings group that would help me to improve myself through information sharing. In July 2019, I joined the South Sudanese Women’s Association which has 30 members. When I joined the group, I realized I was not the only one with problems, there were many other people traumatized as well”.

Interestingly and as luck had it, Harriet was elected the Vice-person and in few months, she was seconded to lead the group with the absence of her Chairperson. “Roselyn was elected again as the Chairperson of the group and I was elected as her vice however like most women, I was too fearful and did not have the confidence to speak in front of people during meetings. What made matters worse, when Roselyn went back to South Sudan, I was elected as the Chairperson since I was her vice but I had no idea on how to lead and that’s how CARE came in. CARE came during that time and organized for us several pieces of training on different things like how to become a leader and the skills one needs, finance, starting businesses. It was from the trainings that I learned a lot on how to lead the women. I also started a business of weaving and knitting. I started to talk without fear and I am now confident. I can manage to solve issues around gender-based violence. Couples come to me to meditate and I can say the community has changed a lot through my leadership.

There was a lot of tribalism which cause many fights here and I forwarded the issues to OPM &UNHCR and they are over, Firewood and land used to be a problem. I organized dialogues with the host communities and they managed to give us land and at least we are surviving” reports Harriet.

“We also requested a literacy training as some other women did not know how to write including their names and our request was granted. Other people who are not members of the groups have also joined to learn.

I have also enrolled Functional Adult Literacy in level 2 and I am grateful for the knowledge and skills that CARE has given me. I can now give counseling to young people and women and also teach the literacy classes once I am given the procedure. I now want to become part of the Refugee Welfare Committee (RWC) that I reach more people and support the community to stop GBV completely.” Says Harriet

Between July 2016 and 2020, there was an influx of over 880,000 South Sudanese refugees in Uganda, and the vast majority were women and children. CARE with funding from Global Affairs Canada has been responding to the crisis in Omugo zone in the West Nile region through CARE’s Women Lead in Emergencies approach since January 2019. This is a multi-sector program, including shelter, gender-based violence/protection, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and women’s participation and leadership. In Omugo, the project supports four Women’s Groups which include the South Sudanese Women’s Faith Group; South Sudanese Refugee Women Association; Loketa Group now called Ngungi Kuyupet Women’s Group, and Yoleta Women’s Group. All the four groups are voluntary and have South Sudanese women refugees as leaders and members.