Nyigang Atheer Dut “I slept on the kitchen floor”

“My parents were farmers. I helped my mother with the housework, as Dinka girls do. I fetched water and cooked, collected firewood and picked wild vegetables. In the evening, in our village, someone would always play the drums.” Nyigang recalls an untroubled childhood in a peaceful community. But that was soon to come to an end.

One morning, men on camels and horses stormed the village. My mother screamed at me, “Run, run, run, the Arabs are killing people.” But it was too late: the attackers captured Nyigang and put her on a horse. “I cried, but the Arab man hit me and called me “jiengi” – slave,” Nyigang said.

Against her will, she rode with her captor to Sudan. On the way, the young girl witnessed further atrocities: three men who tried to resist were brutally murdered by their captors, and women and girls were raped.

In Sudan, Nyigang was sold to a farm owner. “I fetched water and firewood during the day and slept on the kitchen floor at night. The master made me work hard for no pay.” What’s more, Nyigang was regularly insulted and called “dog, monkey or jiengi”.

Even worse, “the Arab master would come at night and rape me”, Nyigang said. Once she was gang raped by three men.  Nyigang also had to undergo genital mutilation, and was forced by the slave owner to convert to Islam.

Free to make a new start

Then came the day when everything changed. While shopping at the market, Nyigang encountered a slave liberator. “He took me to his camp, where I met other freed slaves,” she said.

Together, the freed slaves walked back to their homeland, South Sudan. There, a warm welcome awaited the returnees. “It’s so wonderful to be back with my people,” Nyigang told CSI.  “I received a sack of food and a goat from CSI to help me get started,” said the young woman, who hopes to make a living from farming.

“I am grateful for the generous CSI donations, which not only enabled me to escape slavery, but also to make a new start.”