Our Story

Our Story

It was a normal day village of Wau Shilluk. Mama woke me up with a gentle trill of my name, “Nafisa.” she called, “It’s time to wake up.” so I slowly awoke and got ready to take the walk to the pond with my brother. While we walked I talked and Kuol listened. As we were returning to the village, we heard a thunderous boom.

It was loud and accompanied by a bright flash and a cloud of smoke, then came many more explosions and gunfire. This is when I knew the war had come. I took my brother’s hand in mine “Nafisa, we must go.” he told me softly “It is time to go. We will find mama and papa soon.” So we ran. our hearts pounding and my eyes wide with fear as Kuol tried to console me.

We ran hard and fast away from the gunfire and bombs. We ran until we walked and walked tired from the journey and afraid that the war would find us again. As we walked we came across a group of people looking for refuge as well. We joined them on their path, walking day in and day out the men taking turns keeping watch at night for wild animals as I clung to my brother while we slept.

At last we reached the Nile. On the shore there were many people who I assumed were also trying to escape the fighting. We saw people building boats and rafts to cross. Our group followed suit weaving leaves and reeds together. I started to help, the feeling of braiding the reeds reminded me of when I would sit in a circle with my friends braiding hair as we prattled before Kuol called me inside for dinner. After a day’s worth of work with everyone helping, we built enough boats and oars for the entire group we rowed and rowed

We reached the shore of Akobo desert. Everyone started gathering water with what they could before the perilous journey. This would be the hardest part of our walk. Walking wasn’t easy with the sun beating down on us each step was like walking on hot coals. Soon I started asking Kuol to carry me just to escape the heat. He could never say no to me. We walked in the day and the nights were cooler but not cold enough. On the journey, we lost about a fourth of our group due to dehydration and starvation. I felt like me and Kuol were always next but by his side we were unstoppable

To our group’s relief we reached the shore of the Gilo river but as I watched the running water I saw the distinct motion of a crocodile dipping below the surface of the water. Swimming across was a death sentence for the slow or disabled. A few of our group went in first, I gave Kuol a determined look and dived in moving my arms like never before, kicking my legs as fast as possible. All around me I heard the splashes of some drowning others being ripped apart by crocodiles. When I reached shore Kuol not far behind I pulled him to his feet hugging him tight like I’d never let go of him.

After all of that we came to a refugee camp, Itang, that camp closed after a few years. So we bounced from camp to camp until landing at the UN-controlled Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. After some years of being there they started sending us to America. My brother and I were sent to a city in Maryland called Hagerstown. Kuol found work and I stayed at home doing chores for a while until I went to get my education