In South Sudan, IOM Is Supporting the Disabled To Be Self Reliant

Bentiu – Meeting basic needs such as food and shelter is often an everyday struggle for the more than 111,000 internally displaced persons – many of them women and children - living in Bentiu Protection of Civilian (PoC) site located in the northern part of South Sudan.  It can be worse for those living with disability like Mary Nyakuon Gai, who lost her leg as a result of a snake bite years ago.

“As young girls, we were playing in the water and I stepped on something cold and suddenly I felt a pinch on my foot, that is when I realized something had bitten my leg and that it could only be a snake. I immediately removed my foot from the water and realized it was indeed a snake bite,” says Mary as she pulls her prosthesis leg forward.

Bentiu is home to the largest UN PoC in South Sudan where years of civil strife have seen millions of people uprooted from their homes.

“My country was in civil war and getting access to health facilities was a challenge, no proper treatment was done and therefore, resulted in losing this part of my leg.”

Today, humanitarian organizations such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are working with the IDPs to make them self-reliant by providing them with different skill sets and knowledge such as sewing, artistry and many more. 

Mary for instance, is one of those taking part in IOM’s Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (IOM MHPSS) programme. She has been working with IOM in Bentiu as a casual worker since 2018, teaching handcraft skills, like making clay pots used for cooling water to her fellow IDPs.

Seven have so far benefited from Mary’s lessons since the initiative began in 2019.  The beneficiaries can now produce pots which they sell at the local markets for a profit. Mary’s initiative also benefits other vulnerable families by providing them with pots to cool and store drinking water.  Bentiu can be extremely hot.

Mary horned her pot molding skills long before her days in the PoC. The MHPSS team supported her with techniques on how to improve this talent which has now become a useful skill.

“I am happy that my hard work is finally paying off after the long struggle to produce these pots you see here. I am happy that my efforts will help someone drink cool water and that I and my teams now have some profit to provide for our families. Most of all, my confidence in my artisanship skills has increased greatly”, says Mary as she arranges her market ready pots.

The group uses 10% of the income generated from their business to support other vulnerable people living with disabilities in Bentiu PoC, thus enhancing peer-to-peer support structures within the community.

Last year, getting materials for this job was not an easy task for Mary and her team, trying hard to identify relevant clay and soil for the pots’ production. With full dedication and support from IOM MHPSS team, Mary got more volunteers in the PoC community to join her in the search for good soil to make the pots.

Mary and her team did not give up, they continued collecting and testing different samples of clay and soil as well as remnants of old pots to blend with for a proper mixture ready for pot making. It took the team more than 60 days to complete this task because of the back and forth of collecting the right samples brought from various remote locations.

Supporting such initiatives is not only beneficial to the overall community but also supports the development of individuals we work with to become self-reliant by meeting their basic needs and thus regaining self-worth”, says Nino Shushania, IOM South Sudan’s Mental Health and Psycho-social Support Programme Officer.

“Mary is an example of how people living with disabilities can meaningfully contribute to the advancement of the community; she has become a role model by demonstrating how a person with a physical impairment can be resilient and perseverant on an uneasy path towards reaching desirable success”, added Nino.

Mary’s efforts have contributed to the enhancement of her own and her group’s self-esteem, a result of the MHPSS programme in Bentiu PoC site supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operation (ECHO) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)