Pasquina Aber, 18 years, fled the conflict in Pajok, South Sudan with her mother and four siblings. She now lives in Palabek refugee settlement and is a pupil at Aywee Nursery and Primary School.

This is the second time young Pasquina has been forced to flee her home. Back in 1999, her family had to leave everything and take refuge in Uganda. Once peace was re-established, they returned home, only to leave again in 2017 when it once again became too dangerous to live in Pajok.

Several thousand people fled their villages in haste and made for the Ugandan border. Some died on the way but Pasquina, her mother and siblings aged 7, 13 and 21 made it – exhausted and hungry, but well and unharmed.

‘I went to school in South Sudan and almost finished primary school. In fact, I was only a few days from
graduating when the school closed, and everyone fled. Being able to go to school here means a lot to me, but I am not happy that I have had to repeat a year’, says Pasquina.

She prefers her native tongue Acholi, and her English is not good enough to take the final exam in Uganda. Furthermore, the curriculum is very different from the one in her school back home, forcing her to study harder.

‘But it is okay, because the teachers here are more talented than the ones back home, so I am getting a better education. Being able to go to school means everything to me – nothing good can be said about the war in South Sudan, but if it also caused me to miss my chance of getting an education, it would add to the many things I have lost already’, she says.

Pasquina is one of the oldest pupils in her class and being in a class with much younger children makes her sad. But she tells herself that it is because of the war and not her fault. And she makes a persistent effort in order to be able to continue her studies and follow her dream and become a teacher.

’In South Sudan, life is something people either protect or take at their pleasure. Here we are safe, and the school gives us a purpose and something to do. Life as a refugee is hard, but the prospect of perhaps someday leading an ordinary life here encourages me’, she says.

’Education for Life’ in South Sudan and Uganda was a four-year project implemented by Oxfam and partners (2019 - 2023) under the European Union programme titled ‘Building Resilience in Crisis through Education’ (BRiCE), co-funded by Danida.

Learn more about the ‘Building Resilience in Crisis through Education’ (BRiCE) project.

By Malene Aadal Bo