10/12/2024
HOMECOMING.
It was my absolute privilege and pleasure to meet and photograph members of the community in South Sudan for a story published in Saturday magazine this weekend (7/12/24). All published pictures from the article are in this carousel.
‘For years, the mangos on the tree ripened in the rains, fell and rotted on the ground because Gwolo was not here to harvest them.’
This story, written by Times journalist Damian Arnold, chronicles the return of tens of thousands of refugees from camps in Uganda to the fertile soils of Kajo Keji in the extreme south west of the country. It tells the story of innovators like Julius Gwolo, walking through the night to find radio reception so that he could listen to Joseph Longa, transmitting messages of hope (Hope FM!) and practical skills over the county’s airwaves.
‘Given five years of peace, people will thrive in this place’.
The community strength and spirit of the people we met on this trip was just so tangible. Despite years (and decades before that) of conflict and insecurity, we met so many people who had courageously left the relative safety of a camp to sew the land again, start businesses from scratch and even learn to read in their 70s. All in the knowledge that conflict could displace all this time and energy and hope once again. Incredible and yet also, so vital. If peace is not planted, peace cannot grow.
Thanks to the many people involved in helping us put the pieces of this together. Find out more about the community development work we witnessed via the website and socials and read the story at .
