Africa refugees journey

The surge of more than half a million South Sudanese refugees into Uganda since July 2016 has created Africa’s largest refugee crisis. There were high hopes that South Sudan would have peace and stability after its independence from neighboring Sudan in 2011 but the country plunged into ethnic violence in December 2013 when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir started battling those loyal to Riek Machar, his former vice president.
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South Sudanese refugees walk towards the Ugandan border at Busia. There were high hopes that South Sudan would have peace and stability after its independence from neighboring Sudan in 2011. But the country plunged into ethnic violence in December 2013 when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, started battling those loyal to Riek Machar, his former vice president who is a Nuer. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Ringo Gwiya, 80, a blind South Sudanese refugee, crosses the bridge over the Kaya River linking South Sudan to Uganda near Busia. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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An unidentified man crosses into in Northern Uganda with his goats near Busia, South Sudan. The surge of more than half a million South Sudanese refugees into Uganda since July 2016 has created Africa's largest refugee crisis. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Jenifer Juan, daughter of Alfred Wani, sits next to Ringo Gwiya, center, in a minibus after being processed by United Nations officials in Busia, Uganda. They were later transported to the Kuluba transit camp. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Laundry is set to dry on the perimeter fence surrounding the Imvepi refugee settlement processing center in northern Uganda. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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South Sudanese refugee Mary Kide and her son, Desem, stand in line with others, including Samson Tabani, left, to get a medical check up at the Kuluba transit camp. The civil war in South Sudan has killed tens of thousands and driven out more than 1.5 million people in the past three years, creating the world’s largest refugee crisis. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Daniel Kampa, 8, sits in a ray of light by his suitcase in a communal tent at the Kuluba, Uganda, transit camp, waiting for transport to the Imvepi camp. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Vickie, 4, holds a hair brush in her mouth she walks in the Kuluba, Uganda, transit camp. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani sits in a communal tent at the Kuluba, Uganda, transit camp, waiting for transport to Imvepi camp. Alfred is one of more than 800,000 South Sudanese who have fled to Uganda just since July. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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South Sudanese refugees board buses at the Kuluba transit camp in Uganda. Over 1000 refugees transit daily through here and are then transported to Imvepi for permanent settlement. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani and his wife, Kassa, sit in a bus at the Kuluba transit camp. Over 1,000 refugees transit daily through Kuluba and are then transported to Imvepi for permanent settlement. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Ide Djen, 29, a South Sudanese refugee from Kenienba, holds an empty bottle of water as she waits by water pumps in the Imvepi refugee settlement in northern Uganda. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Laundry dries on a tree in the new Imvepi refugee settlement in northern Uganda. Imvepi is growing at a rate of over 2,000 refugees each day. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani lays on a bed in the clinic at the Imvepi refugee settlement in northern Uganda. Alfred fell ill during the night and had to have blood drawn. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Stella, 10, comforts her grandmother, Kassa, whose husband, Alfred, is in the camp’s clinic waiting for blood results at the Imvepi refugee settlement in northern Uganda. Alfred’s illness postponed the family’s scheduled resettlement by a day. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani , 80, a South Sudanese refugee from Morobo, waits to be checked by doctors after arriving at the Imvepi Camp in Northern Uganda. Wani and 27 relatives crossed into Uganda to escape South Sudan’s civil war. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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South Sudanese refugees gather under a tree in the Imvepi camp from which names are announced for those allocated a land parcel from the Ugandan government. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani and his family wait to load their belongings in trucks to be taken to the plots of land they were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Jenifer Juan points at children in the Imvepi camp as her parents, Alfred and Kassa Wani rest on chairs after travelling by truck to the plots of land they were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement. Imvepi is growing at a rate of over 2,000 refugees each day. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani builds a temporary shelter that will be called home on the plot of land he and family were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement. Wani, a farmer, shares a few regrets: “If I was young again, I would raise more cattle, and build a good house in concrete, and also pay for my kids’ school. I didn’t go to school and neither did my children.” (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani holds a faded photograph of some of his sons. Wani, 80, fled South Sudan’s civil war and crossed into Uganda with his bibles, a family photo album, his wife Kassa, three goats and 27 relatives. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Michael Louwe and his second wife, Cellina Poni, scout the plots of land they were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement with his parents, Alfred and Kassa, and the rest of their clan. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Samson Wani grabs a flapping plastic cover during a rain storm in the Imvepi camp on the plot of land he and family were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Samson Wani comforts his uncle, Michael Lowe, during a rain storm on the plot of land he and family were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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South Sudanese children carry water jugs down a road in the new Imvepi refugee settlement in northern Uganda. In the background are the communal tents for the processing center. Imvepi is growing at a rate of over 2,000 refugees each day. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani sits with relatives in their just-built temporary shelter that will be called home on the plot of land he and his family were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Tito walks on the plot of land he and family were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani rests in the just built temporary shelter that will be called home on the plot of land he and family were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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Alfred Wani and his wife Kassa pose for a formal photo in the Imvepi campon the plot of land they were allocated by the Ugandan government for their resettlement. The couple does not hold out hope of returning home to South Sudan. “I saw the killing, I saw burning houses, I saw the dead with their throats slashed,” Alfred says. “I cannot go back and see it again.” (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
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