A returnee rebuilds her life in South Sudan after decades in displacement

Nyagak Akuoch Akuei, a 77-year-old returnee, now lives in Hai Matar in Malakal after spending nearly three decades in displacement. In June 2025, she received a house and land through UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, housing programme funded by the European Union Directorate-General for International Partnerships (EU-INTPA) Flexible Mechanism Project.

Nyagak was identified for assistance while living in the former Protection of Civilians (PoC) site, shortly after returning from Maban, where she had stayed for 29 years. Due to difficult living conditions inside the former PoC site, she moved into her new home immediately, even while it was still under construction. She completed the wall plastering of the house using local materials herself.

“I moved here quickly because life there was very hard,” she says.

Nyagak dedicated nearly 40 years of her life to public service as a vaccination supervisor, supporting immunization programmes across Malakal Town, Maban, Nasir, and Ulang counties. When conflict broke out in 2013, she had briefly travelled to Malakal to visit family but managed to return to Maban, where she continued her work despite not knowing where her family was.

Reflecting on her life as a young woman, Nyagak recalls a different time in South Sudan. “My father was a police officer in 1952. I still remember the trees he planted in Malakal. Life was good then. People lived together without division,” she says.

Today, Nyagak cares for three children left in her custody after her son’s wife travelled to Sudan nearly a year ago. With no stable income, she runs a small business selling sugar in small quantities to her neighbours.

“I have no work or a steady income,” she says. “I buy a sack of sugar and sell it in small portions. That is how I feed the children. Sometimes we reduce what we consume, even basic things like soap.”

Despite the hardship, Nyagak remains hopeful. She reflects on a past where communities coexisted peacefully across regions such as Nasir, Ulang, and Maban.

“We pray for peace and for things to return to how they were. We want to live together again, support each other, and rebuild our lives,” she says.

Nyagak has lived through service, conflict, and long years away from her home in Malakal. Now, as she rebuilds, she holds on to a simple hope that people can live side by side again, as they once did.

“Supporting returnees and displaced people with safe and dignified housing and property rights is essential to rebuilding lives and restoring hope,” says Gloria Fabian Nyaki, UNHCR South Sudan Assistant Representative for Protection. “Through partnerships such as the European Union INTPA Flexible Mechanism, we are helping families transition from displacement to stability and self-reliance.”

Since its inception, the EU INTPA Flexible Mechanism Project has supported 638 families consisting of 3,828 individuals with access to housing and land assistance in Upper Nile State. The project aims to promote durable solutions by enabling safe, dignified, and sustainable return while strengthening the resilience of displaced, returnee, and host communities.