South Sudan: Abel returns home

Three-year-old Abel has been reunited with his uncle Baksoro and his brothers and sister, after not seeing them for over two months.

When Abel saw Baksoro again, he ran to him shouting, “Baba, baba!”

A heart-warming moment

It was a heart-warming experience for our child protection staff, Yvonne and Sulafa, who have worked so tirelessly to see Abel and many other children in the area reunited with their families.

Yvonne and Sulafa are part of Save the Children’s Family Tracing and Reunification (FTR) team, which works to reunite separated, missing and abducted children, and children associated with the armed forces.

Abel had been staying with his uncle Muolo since he became separated from his family during an attack on their village, in which his home was destroyed and his father and paternal grandparents killed.

Recently Abel was reunited with his maternal grandparents.

Going home

Abel has now returned to his village, with his uncle, sister and brothers.

Their mother is still in the cattle camp (where the family’s cows are kept, some distance from their village), but she will be making her way back soon.

Names have been changed to protect the identity of the family involved.

Photos © Sulafa Hassan Nashingol and Yvonne Agengo, Child Protection Staff in Pibor.