Susan Atto, Sudan "I believe there is nobody in the world that can help me"

As southern Sudan emerges from decades of civil war, communities most affected by fighting are grappling with recovery issues such as access to healthcare, education, adequate food and water.

Despite the signing of a peace agreement in January 2005 that ended fighting between the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and Sudan Armed Forces, calm has not totally returned for communities living in Eastern Equatoria State, near the border with Uganda, where insurgency by rebels from Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has continued.

With peace talks beginning two months ago in Juba, capital of southern Sudan, between the LRA and the government of Uganda, Sudanese communities in LRA-affected areas are beginning to hope for peace and a return to normality.

IRIN spoke to Susan Atto, 25, on 2 October at Owiny Ki-Bul, an area 200 km from Juba designated as an assembly point for LRA rebels. She describes how fighting has disrupted her life:

"My mother and father both died in the SPLA war, leaving me orphaned at an early age. I have lived as an internally displaced person here in Sudan and also as a refugee in Uganda.

"I decided to get married early because I was encountering a lot of problems as an orphan with no help from anyone. In fact, despite being married now, I believe there is nobody in the world that can help me; I simply have too many problems.

"Most of my problems are health-related. Here at Owiny Ki-Bul as well as in Parajok where I come from [15 km east of Owiny Ki-Bul], we have problems getting medical treatment; a lot of times when we go to a health clinic there is hardly any medicine to be dispensed. We are just given painkillers, if we can afford them, no matter the ailment one is suffering from.

"Take me, for instance, I have a three-year-old girl delivered by caesarean section at the Keradongo health centre. Since that operation, my stomach has never stopped aching. I am in constant pain; I don't know what went wrong. I cannot afford medical treatment so I just take traditional medicine and any painkillers I can get.

"My husband has no work. He does odd jobs when he can find them. Right now I left him at home to take care of our child. I decided to come to Owiny Ki-Bul when I heard that important people from the government were visiting. I was hoping we would get a chance to tell them our problems.

"I have nothing in my home; I need clothes, I need cooking utensils, I need medicine. My daughter also has nothing, we struggle to get enough food to survive on as we try to seek help but nobody comes from the outside world to our village. That is why I trekked all way to Owiny Ki-Bul when I heard that several big cars had arrived here.

"I think my problems could be resolved if I got somebody to help me to relocate to America. I want to go there with my daughter and husband. Once there, I will seek medical treatment to ease the pain in my stomach then I will do any job available. All I want to do is take my daughter away from this land that has seen so much fighting.

"I don't know whether the LRA will ever go home, maybe they will not, they have been here for so long. Does it mean that my life will continue this way for a long time? I cannot bear the thought of living with this pain in my stomach for many years."

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