From the website of Anglican Overseas Aid

Abraham Jongroor, centre, with his brother and boat driver on their escape across the Nile River.

My name is Abraham Jongroor from Melbourne*. Recently I escaped violence in my homeland, South Sudan – for the second time. I would like to share my story.

The first time I escaped was more than 30 years ago. I had been fighting for South Sudan’s independence as part of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, but a serious injury meant I had to leave.

I eventually made my way to Australia as a refugee in 2002. Here I started a new life, and in 2005 I proudly became an Australian citizen. I work in Melton in Melbourne’s outer west as a community development worker, and I also recently started an internship with Anglican Overseas Aid. 

In December last year (2013) I took my 10-year-old son Kuol to South Sudan for the very first time to meet my large extended family, and particularly his grandmother. It was to be a grand family occasion, with my whole extended family together for the first time in 30 years.

After a long journey, we arrived in my hometown of Bor on December 15 – the very day that Government factions started fighting in the capital, Juba, 200km to the south of Bor. The next day a young man was killed just 200 metres from my mother’s house. Two others were executed on December 17. People started to leave Bor, but although we had concerns, we decided to stay.

That night we could hear more frequent shooting, and relatives in Juba called, urging us to leave immediately. We quickly grabbed anything we could carry, and fled the town with thousands of others as army units started their rebellion, going on a rampage of violence and destruction.

Our family had been back together for just three days and now we were again fleeing for our lives – and once again we were forced to leave elderly relatives behind.

It was terrible knowing that those left behind were in great danger. My uncle’s wife was shot dead after she returned to Bor to feed those elderly women who had been unable to come with us.

From our hiding place outside the town, we used mobile phones to call for boats to take us across the Nile in the morning of December 18.

Residents of Bor flee along the Nile in boats. Many of the people in the boats are friends and family of Abraham Jongroor.

Our escape route was not a safe one. We were gambling with our lives but there was no other choice, it might have been a God plan. I had to think of my son and two nephews who had been in South Sudan for less than a month with me. Thousands of others had to make the same choice.

After the three-hour journey along the Nile, we arrived at a rapidly growing camp for displaced people where tens of thousands were waiting exposed to the harsh sun with only unclean drinking water from one of the Nile’s tributaries. It was heartbreaking seeing people suffering like that while you have no power to help.

We managed to find a car and driver to take us to Lak State, a full day’s drive further north-west. After a lot of effort, we found a flight to Juba on December 20, where we registered as foreign nationals, and that evening we boarded an RAF Hercules that took us to Kampala in Uganda, where we had to stay until we were able to book flights back to Australia.

We were greatly relieved to finally arrive home in Melbourne on December 27, 10 days after the violence started.

It was a terrible ordeal, but as Australian citizens, my son and I can return to the safety of our wonderful country. We left behind many who do not have this privilege. The United Nations says that more than half a million people have been forced from their homes, with most of them remaining inside South Sudan and in need of urgent assistance.

Many of these people are family and friends of Australia’s South Sudanese community, who are waiting anxiously to find out if they are alive or dead.

My hometown of Bor had a population of more than 200,000 people. The UN says that there are now no civilians left there, and that the estimated death toll of 1200 people killed in the violence is sure to increase. 

Can you join with us to help people in South Sudan? You could:

Donate: We have started an appeal with Anglican Overseas Aid. Money raised will go to ACT Alliance partner Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), which is working with churches in South Sudan to provide urgently needed food, water, hygiene, sanitation, medicines and other essential items to people who have been forced to flee their homes. NCA is also working with South Sudanese church leadership to support unified efforts to call for peace. You can donate here.

Pray: Stand in solidarity with us. South Sudanese congregations around Melbourne are joining together to pray. There will be a joint prayer service at All Saints Anglican Church, 2 Dixon Street, Clayton, on  February 2 at 2.30pm. We will add details of other opportunities to pray on to our website as they become available.

Learn: Members of our community are available to come and speak at your church or group about what’s happening in South Sudan and the experiences of our communities here in Australia. To organise a speaker, contact David Lual on davidmabior@yahoo.com or 0417 123 456.

You can also tell your church community about the appeal by using the pew sheet that is available here.

We are also hoping to have a service at St Paul’s Cathedral sometime over the coming weeks. If you would like to support Melbourne’s South Sudanese community by attending this service, please send an email to aoa@anglicanoverseasaid.org.au with the subject line ‘South Sudan cathedral service’, and we will contact you when we have more information.

Thank you so much for reading my story, and for standing in solidarity with South Sudanese communities here in Australia and in South Sudan itself.

Blessings in Christ

Abraham Jongroor

* Melbourne has the largest South Sudanese community in Australia, and many of them worship at Anglican churches. There are at about 20 South Sudanese Anglican congregations across the Melbourne Diocese.