![[Sudan] Andrew Rader with his two wives and children at Lologo’s internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp, 30 km southeast of Juba, south Sudan, 28 September 2006. The region is recovering from a 19-year war that ended in 2005 when the Sudan People’s](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/2006929.jpg.webp?itok=xByoeqOG "Andrew Rader with his two wives and children at Lologo’s Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camp, 30 km southeast of Juba, south Sudan.")
It is almost two years since a historic peace agreement between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) ended a 21-year war in which tens of hundreds of Sudanese died and hundreds of thousands were displaced.
Since then, international focus has shifted to Sudan's Darfur region but the suffering in southern Sudan has not evaporated with the signing of the peace agreement.
The resettlement of the internally displaced, especially, is not an issue that is about to be completed soon. IRIN spoke to Andrew Rader, 44, who has been displaced since 1991. Rader is living in a camp in the Lologo area, 30 km southeast of Juba, capital of southern Sudan.
He tells his story:
"I had just completed Grade 12 [secondary school] when we got displaced from our home at Kongor during the invasion of the Nuer. Since then, I have stayed in many different places inside Sudan. I also stayed for five years at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya before moving to Uganda, then back to Sudan again.
"I have been at Lologo since July. Now all I want to do is to go back home and find ways of completing my studies; I was good in sciences, in fact I was looking forward to joining medical school and studying to become a doctor when the war disrupted my plan.
"I am ready to go back home; I have gathered all my children and my two wives, they are with me here at this camp; we are waiting for the rainy season to end so that the United Nations can help us go home.
"We lost a lot of wealth when we got displaced; our cattle were taken from us. However, I am hopeful that I will be able to settle back into my home.
"When I look back at my life as a displaced person, I know it was too dangerous; we suffered a lot but the one thing I regret most is not being able to complete my studies to become doctor. That is why I am struggling to ensure all my children go to school. I have four children attending school in Uganda, with the help of my brothers who live outside the country, and I have two others in school in Kenya. All the others with me at the camp go to the temporary school put up by UNICEF [the UN children’s agency].
"When I return to Kongor, and I hope this will be soon, I want to settle my family and look for means to study medicine outside the country. I want to be a doctor. In fact, I am planning on being a doctor.
"I know what it means to be displaced and be without medicine. I want to ensure that children and women do not suffer because, as a doctor, I will be there to help them."
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Since then, international focus has shifted to Sudan's Darfur region but the suffering in southern Sudan has not evaporated with the signing of the peace agreement.
The resettlement of the internally displaced, especially, is not an issue that is about to be completed soon. IRIN spoke to Andrew Rader, 44, who has been displaced since 1991. Rader is living in a camp in the Lologo area, 30 km southeast of Juba, capital of southern Sudan.
He tells his story:
"I had just completed Grade 12 [secondary school] when we got displaced from our home at Kongor during the invasion of the Nuer. Since then, I have stayed in many different places inside Sudan. I also stayed for five years at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya before moving to Uganda, then back to Sudan again.
"I have been at Lologo since July. Now all I want to do is to go back home and find ways of completing my studies; I was good in sciences, in fact I was looking forward to joining medical school and studying to become a doctor when the war disrupted my plan.
"I am ready to go back home; I have gathered all my children and my two wives, they are with me here at this camp; we are waiting for the rainy season to end so that the United Nations can help us go home.
"We lost a lot of wealth when we got displaced; our cattle were taken from us. However, I am hopeful that I will be able to settle back into my home.
"When I look back at my life as a displaced person, I know it was too dangerous; we suffered a lot but the one thing I regret most is not being able to complete my studies to become doctor. That is why I am struggling to ensure all my children go to school. I have four children attending school in Uganda, with the help of my brothers who live outside the country, and I have two others in school in Kenya. All the others with me at the camp go to the temporary school put up by UNICEF [the UN children’s agency].
"When I return to Kongor, and I hope this will be soon, I want to settle my family and look for means to study medicine outside the country. I want to be a doctor. In fact, I am planning on being a doctor.
"I know what it means to be displaced and be without medicine. I want to ensure that children and women do not suffer because, as a doctor, I will be there to help them."
js/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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