JUBA, December 2010: Helen, 32, with her mother in Gudale West, a newly settled area populated by Southern Sudanese returnees.
JUBA, SOUTHERN SUDAN, 8th December 2010: Gudale West, a newly settled area populated by Southern Sudanese returness from the north, on the dusty outskirts of Juba. Helen, 32, returned from Khartoum with her mother, sister, severely traumatised brother, and her sister's three young children. Helen was reptariated to the south by UNHCR but was then left to fend for herself. Cathy Groenendijk, founder of Confident Children out of Conflict, a drop in centre for street girls, says that many returnee Southern Sudanese girls from Khartoum, as well as local girls, have a history of sexual abuse and then turn to prostitution as their only means of income. Most start working as prostitutes from the age of 11 or 12. "I'm amazed that Helen did not end up drinking alcohol or selling her body for money like many women in her position but her faith in God s very strong. "She turned up at our compound daily, reading the Bible and singing hymns until we noticed her and decided to help her. "She had no house or money and was foraging for left over food at the market in order to help her family to survive." Helen says that if CCC did not get involved she would have died along with her children. CCC provided Helen with iron sheeting, fencing and food. The three children, Selura, Orphelia and Noah, now attend school with the help of CCC, and Helen sells fried doughnuts in the market from a kiosk funded by the organisation. Photo by Mike Goldwater / Christian Aid
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Southern Sudan
Photo credit: © Mike Goldwater / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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