International Rescue Committee UK

John Akot was just a teenager when violent civil war in Sudan forced him to walk across inhospitable terrain for weeks to seek shelter in Ethiopia. Today, he's back in Southern Sudan working with the IRC, and has hope for his country's future.

This is John's story in his words:

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"I was born in Warrap state. Education wasn't seen as a big thing then. I would go to school in the morning and then come back and look after the cattle. Sometimes I used to steal one of my family's cows and sell it to get money for books or uniform. My brother used to warn me against it!

"When the fighting started, myself and a group of other teenagers walked to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. It was very difficult and we lost many people on the way. They died from bullets or they died from thirst. We drank our own urine and we ate leaves from the trees and grass. We started the journey in April and we got to Ethiopia in August. Normally it would only take about a month, but we had to avoid some areas and in others we had to hide for several days to avoid soldiers. We walked at night when it was safest.

"I didn't think of myself as a child soldier or a 'Lost Boy'. I was over 15 – the age a Dinka becomes a man. We weren't technically in the army, but you had to fight to get anywhere. You needed guns or spears to survive. I had a spear.

"I stayed in Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991 when Hargeisa fell. Then I moved to Kakuma camp in Kenya and back to Southern Sudan in 1991. I joined the IRC, trained as a community health worker and worked in Upper Nile in a clinic there. Today, I'm in Malualkon where I am responsible for all IRC programmes there.

"The IRC was one of the first NGOs to come and do primary healthcare in Southern Sudan and we’ve trained lots of community health workers. We've helped lots of people to get medical training as nurses or lab technicians and people can see how this is directly benefitting their country.

"The main problem with healthcare in Southern Sudan is that people still like to use traditional medicines. They go for traditional medicine before coming to an IRC health facility. And that means they are usually quite sick by the time they come to us. We are educating them against it. We are spreading the word about using health facilities, but we do face resistance from the 'medicine men' who think we are stealing their market.

"I myself am Dinka, so I understand the customs. For example, in traditional Dinka culture, the way to get wealth is through your daughter. When she marries, her husband will pay a good bride price – he will give your family many cattle if she is thought to be a good girl. Families are therefore very keen to protect their daughters and they see education as bad. If a girl goes to school, she will meet boys and get into trouble.

"My own daughter is now in primary school, but her uncle didn't want her to go. I had to work hard to persuade him. It is changing, but slowly. When I was young and in school, there wasn't a single girl in the whole school! At least now those people who went overseas during the civil war are more likely to send their children to school. They've seen the benefits of education and want their children to have the same.

"Development in Southern Sudan will take time. It's only a baby government, while Khartoum has an established government. But things are getting better. In 2005, you couldn't find fuel and you couldn't go by road from Malualkon to Aweil because it wasn't safe. Now it has changed and goods are coming from Khartoum direct to our markets. It's better than nothing.

"On the whole, people here want peace. We've seen fighting, we've seen destruction and we want peace. The war only brought poverty. Some people have gone through 21 years of war without a salary, without anything to rely on.

"I'm optimistic. I want to see what happens in the future. Many others won't get the chance to see what happens – those who died during the war – so I am lucky that I will get to see our country develop."