South Sudan, a country once brimming with hope after its secession from Sudan over four years ago, collapsed into a civil war in December 2013. It has brought the country’s fragile economy to its knees and violence has forced more than 2.6 million people from their homes into camps, the harsh wilderness, or across borders.
So what is it like to flee for your life in a split second? Atrin knows all too well.
Atrin (22) lived in the village of Jamam in South Sudan. When a large armed group attacked her village, the women and children were sent running for their lives. Atrin, seven months pregnant at the time, fled with her two-year-old son. They brought nothing with them but their documents and some money. Her husband stayed behind.
A while later, one of the men caught up with Atrin and asked her to come back to identify her husband. She found his body lying under a tree where he had been shot and killed.
She went into shock, immobilised by sudden pain through her stomach and back. The only thing that pulled her back to reality was the realisation that she had two children to protect. So she fled again, this time for good.
For seven days, Atrin and her son escaped one danger after another before arriving at Wonthow settlement—a settlement for people forced from their homes where Medair runs a health clinic. On their harrowing journey, Atrin and her son had nothing to eat but small bits of food offered by strangers and nothing to drink except the water from muddy puddles along the road.
By the time she reached Wonthow, she and her son were weak and ill. One of the Medair midwives saw Atrin in the settlement and invited her to the clinic where they both were treated.
Two months later, Atrin delivered a healthy baby boy at the Medair antenatal clinic in Wonthow, but had to flee the violence for a third time only three weeks later when the settlement was attacked. Atrin struggles daily to not lose hope. “How can I go back to Jamam?” she asked. “I lost my husband there. There is nobody responsible for me.” But being a mother to two children is what gives her the strength to press on day by day, she said, in spite of a future that remains unclear.
Sadly, so many women just like Atrin face a similarly uncertain future. Yet, Medair’s teams in South Sudan press onward, committed to bringing them hope by providing essential health and nutrition services that keep them and their children healthy.
You can give women like Atrin hope by ensuring they get the life-saving care they need during this difficult time. Click here to make a gift today.