Tabisa Anyieth, Sudan "My biggest problem is medical. I have been sickly for a long time"

Efforts to resettle internally displaced people (IDPs) in southern Sudan are continuing as the region recovers from a 19-year war that ended in 2005 when the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) signed an agreement with the government of Sudan.

Most of those displaced are women and children, some of whom have known no other life apart from IDP camps. Some were too young to understand why they had to flee their homes; others say they left because of drought; while others left when SPLA fighters took their livestock. Whatever their reasons for leaving, most now just want to go home.

At the Lologo IDP camp, 30 km southeast of Juba, capital of south Sudan, many IDPs said they wished to lead a life where medical care was available and affordable for all. Tabisa Anyieth, 29, a mother of two, who lost two other children, believes they could have been saved had she been able to seek medical help and buy the medicine. Anyieth was displaced in 1991 from her home at Amma sub-country near the border with Kenya. She tells her story:

"I was a young girl when I was displaced. The main reason for this was the war between the government and the SPLA. By the time I left home, I had dropped out of school because my parents were too poor to pay my fees. I opted to become a second wife to my husband because I wanted to avoid too many hardships.

"When we left Amma, we went to Numle, near the border with Uganda. Later we entered the Ajumani District of Uganda and stayed there for a long time as refugees. We came back to Mundri in Sudan last year. Here, we just moved with our cattle from place to place until we encountered other communities with whom we fought over cattle. Finally we broke away from the cattle people; that was when UNHCR [the United Nations refugee agency] stepped in and took us to Yei. We were transferred to Lologo in July.

"My biggest problem is medical. I have been sickly for a long time and cannot have more children, and this bothers me a great deal. I would like to have more children. You can see that even the two I am left with are also sickly, they have a skin condition - things like ringworm - but I have not been able to take them for proper medical attention because I cannot afford it. My husband is currently in Numle dealing with burial arrangements for a relative.

"Life at the camp is not easy, especially if you have a sick child or if you are ailing. We hear that medicine has been donated for us but we don't get the right medicine when we need it. We appreciate the help we get from UNHCR but I believe we still need more help to help us control the diseases that frequently affect us.

"Look at this mosquito net we received when we got to this camp, the netting is so wide that mosquitoes just pass through and get to us. How can we prevent ourselves from getting malaria if the insects get to us even when we use such a net?

"We also need help with utensils and other household goods for us to live a bit better. Look at what I have in this tent; is it enough for my family? However, all these are smaller issues, the most important is that we remain without a functioning medical clinic or treatment centre. In fact, five children, in total, have died since we arrived at this camp.

"If I got the chance to give the world a message, it would be this: help us live better lives by making medicine available and affordable, especially for mothers with small children."

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