My name is Deng Phillip Aguto , originally from South Sudan but currently living in Uganda as a refugee.
When war broke out in South Sudan in December 2013, the majority of the population especially in the upper Nile region and Equatoria Region, fled the country to seek for refuge in the neighboring countries. My family saw everyone was leaving the country but they never thought of leaving South Sudan despite the circumstances. During the recents wars in the then Sudan that led to the break away of South Sudan to be a sovereign State, My family never fled the country not even to the neighboring regions, just because they believed, being a refugee means suffering and they prefer to suffer in their own land than in a foreign land.

Every family could consider two things, you either leave the country such that your kids may get access to education, or stay behind and watch your teenage boys joining either the government fighters or the rebels . So when I looked into the decision taken by my family, I couldn’t see future in it. But I was not surprised by their decision because I know they don’t value education very much and those who were fleeing the country wanted their children to go to school in the neighboring countries, where they may get refuge from. Since I love education, I stood tall and challenged my family’s decision, I told them, if you can’t leave this country, I will leave for Uganda alone. It was a very big no from them, they didn’t expect such a thing from me because I didn’t even know where Uganda was, but since my maternal cousin had already left for Uganda with her family. I convinced my mother that I will go and stay with my maternal cousin and she finally accepted after some days of serious talk. Thank you mommy.

Thereafter I left South Sudan leaving my family behind in search for education. When I arrived in Uganda Kiryandongo refugee camp. I was very disappointed seeing people living under trees, no any structure in form of a house, I couldn’t believe my eyes but after that I had to finally join my maternal cousin under the tree which they were put. I was now safe from the physical war that was going on in my country, but my mind was seriously at war, when I started thinking about all the things my parents have been telling me about being a refugee. so terrible! Grateful I won that mind war of blaming myself of why I left my family and come here a lone, I consoled myself with stories of my fellow South Sudanese who went to kakuma refugee camp, they went through a lot, but now they are the lords of our community.

I challenged myself to go on with my new life, sleeping under trees. We were then fully registered and given a land where we were told to put up a hat for ourselves. Amazingly the UN provided us with timbers, so we built our first house commonly known us (Rakupa). Finally in 2014 January my maternal cousin brought us to Kampala as urban refugees, and that is where my dream became true. I started school at primary six at Frobel primary school Seeta in Mukono district. Things were terrible besides culture differences there was a language barrier, the English language commonly known in central Uganda as ( Luzungu ) was a problem to me. The worst experience was bullying, I was bullied indirectly by the pupils because I was probably the tallest and the oldest in the school, I was also the darkest guy around there. They couldn’t dare direct bullying, because I could beat them up, no doubt about that. Here is how they used to practice that indirect bullying, they could just say something about me without mentioning my name, like ( you tall thing) and when I talk , they will say, “did you hear your name”?. So irritating! I could just keep quite and just calm my emotions. Some South Sudanese who were with me in school could just beat those pupils who bullied them and they were expel from school, and that is why I controlled myself because I never wanted to be expelled from school. Finally,I successful finished my primary seven in that very school in 2015. Wow, I couldn’t believe. After my primary, English was no

longer a big deal to me, I even went on grabbing some Luganda words which was amazing. In 2016 I went to high school, Mukono parents high school and in 2019, I successful finished my senior four. When my family got the news that I finally finished my senior four they were so happy. They were happy because in my family I am the second person to reach that level after my half brother and from my mother, I am the first person to reach that level. I wish to continue with my studies though there no opportunity to do so now, but I still hope that one day I will graduate. My dream career is to an economist.

When I joined high school I started volunteering at St. Luke church Seeta Mukono. And surely, the work I did in the church actually brought me closer to people and understanding their problems. I am currently volunteering at Felicitas foundation, it’s an organization that work towards empowering women and vulnerable youth. I am grateful for their deep understanding of refugees issues since the founder was once a refugee.

As a person I am determined to break boundaries and barriers just like I did in the past, to bring change to the community. I dream to see peace prevails in South Sudan and the whole world.