Part 5: Success Stories in the wake of Sex Trafficking: the tale of Scovia

In the hushed silence of the South Sudanese twilight, a young girl once walked the dusty trails to an uncertain future. Adyero Scovia was only 16 when she became a child mother, her world a kaleidoscope of heartache and hope. An unaccompanied minor, Scovia left her birthplace, the quiet town of Owiny Ki Bul, in 2019, driven by the cruel winds of insurgency and war.

Her journey was solitary, her footsteps echoing across the South Sudan-Uganda border until she reached Waligo. She lingered there for many days, a tiny figure in an expansive landscape, until fate introduced her to Apio Susan, a woman with children Scovia’s age. A bond was formed in the crucible of shared adversity, and soon, Scovia found herself woven into the fabric of Susan’s family. Together, they journeyed to the Palabek Refugee Settlement Camp Reception Centre and, finally, to their current abode, nestled in Zone 4 Block 1, Pawik.

 Under Susan’s guardianship, Scovia found a semblance of stability from 2020 to 2022. For Scovia, happiness was a mirage. She found a young boy on her travels and soon they married.  Life was difficult in the settlement areas with little of no food and no real employment opportunities.   Soon without the hope of contraceptives or care, she became pregnant.  The young husband already strapped with enormous task of caring for a wife, realized he couldn’t care for a family and fled the village, leaving Scovia alone.

Suddenly, the sanctuary that was Susan’s home metamorphosed into a battlefield. Scovia was denied the bare essentials, her existence relegated to a corner of a tiny village. Fortune, however, lent her a lifeline as she found a place with the block leader, classified as a child at risk of teenage pregnancy. A new chapter of her life unfolded, marked by psychosocial support and material assistance, even as her relationship with her caregiver cooled.