Refugee children reunified with their parents

Naytuot Jock Nhial, 13 left her home town Domma in Upper Nile region, South Sudan along with her four siblings when the war brokeout in South Sudan. She is the eldest child for her parents.

While they were in South Sudan, her father, Jock, became very sick and her mother, Nyamam, took him to hospital in a nearby town where he was admitted for two months. When the war brokeout, her parents were still in the hospital and could not make it home. Naytuot left her home town to another area with her siblings. Since then, they have been separated from their parents. They stayed in different parts of South Sudan for about a year trying to avoid the war.

They came across the Ethiopian border to Gambella on May 2015 and were transfered to the Pugnido refugee camp. As Naytuot is the eldest child in the family, she shoulders all the responsibilties at home inlcuidng caring for her younger siblings. She is very busy doing the home chores, which also makes her vulnerable for different risks such as sexual assault. While she was in South Sudan, she was in second grade but now she has quit school due to her responsiblities at home.

The last time Naytuot saw her parents was in May 2014. As it is a childheaded household, Save the Children assigned a social worker to follow up with this child-headed household to ensure their welfare. The social worker reported the family separation to child protection officers and requested to trace their parents in other refugee camps. The child protection officers gathered information from Naytuot and referred the case to another organization working on child protection in Kule camp. After two weeks, social workers in the Kule camp traced Naytuot parents.

Once the relationship is verified and the willingness of the child and the family members to be reunified was confirmed, the children came to Kule on July 22, 2015 for a joyous and emotional reunification with their parents.