True Vision

The South Sudanese civil war has displaced over 1.5 million people. South Sudan, the youngest country in the world, is now facing a famine which, it is predicted, could result in the deaths of over 50,000 children.

This 1 x 60 special for Comic Relief follows the lives of children living in temporary camps in South Sudan and refugee camps just across the border in Northern Uganda, giving a heart-wrenching and personal glimpse into their lives and telling their inspiring, moving stories through their own words.

 

Seventeen year old Grace and her fourteen year old sister, Anna live in the Mingkaman camp in Awerial, South Sudan. Grace and Anna were forced to run for their lives from their home, crossing the River Nile to safety. They witnessed people being killed all around them – either by gunfire, or drowning as the river got too deep. Both girls are now desperate to continue their education and strongly believe it is the way to make a change in the country. However, whilst there is a primary school at the camp for Anna there is no secondary school for Grace and we learn how she goes to extraordinary lengths to gain an education.Attacked and robbed during the journey, she risks her life travelling to Kenya in search of a new school, as she is determined that nothing will stop her from realising her plans for her future and fulfilling her dreams.

 

Fourteen year old John’s father was killed fighting in the Sudanese army. As the conflict got worse, he and his mother fled to a refugee camp in Uganda. The programme follows John and his mother as they begin life at the camp, and receive their non-food items and rations for the month as well a plot of land and as John’s mother is forced return to their home in Juba to find money. Separated from his mother, John struggles to resume the life of a normal child.

Scovia, also fourteen, who was forced to flee her border town of Nimule, following rumours of an imminent rebel attack. After spending two weeks in a transit camp with no electricity, she and her family are transferred to a new refugee settlement in Adjumani, Northern Uganda, where they are given a 30 metre lot of scrub land, a hoe and a machete with which to begin a new life. Highlighting events from Scovia’s own perspective – the documentary reveals how she misses her home, and longs to be back at school as she adjusts to harsh conditions of life in the camp.

 

The four children in this film have been through things that none of us can imagine. With your support, Comic Relief can help give kids in camps the chance to be children once again – to be educated, to play, to live without fear.

Please help Comic Relief to help them – call 03457 910 910 or go to bbc.co.uk/rednoseday to make a donation

If you would like to help specific individuals and families featured in this documentary and know more about the current situation for Grace, Anna, Scovia and John, please contact [email protected]

Kids in Camps was developed with help from Worldview - part of the Public Media Alliance.

The short films at the bottom of this page were funded by Worldview, and show the realities of life in a refugee camp on the Syrian border.

To read Jezza's piece about the film in the Huffington Post, please click here.

 

More information about the region and organisations working to assist refugees:

Save the Children – South Sudan briefing

UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency

United Nations – Briefing paper on Refugees

OCHA South Sudan Crisis Report

OXFAM – South Sudan

UNICEF – South Sudan

Médecins Sans Frontières – South Sudan

USAID – South Sudan Crisis Fact Sheet

International Committee of the Red Cross – South Sudan

International Rescue Committee

World Food Programme

International Medical Corps

Danish Refugee Council

Lutheran World Federation

Educate a Child

Syria's Kids in Camps

1. Niroz-10 years old

2.Yahya-12 years Old

3. Jihan-11 years old