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I am called Phans Mario Imugang.
RI: Your age?
My age is 52 years. I worked as a teacher.
RI: How are returnees being treated in the community?
Well, as you can see, people are being repatriated. You are sent directly to your own native area.
So once you are there, people who came before were given plenty of food.
The UNHCR was providing enough food. They gave three months or six months of food.
But people like me who have just come, we were given only one month’s ration.
And this one-month ration cannot do anything.
So this is the worry we have now.
RI: How long were you at Kosti?
I was there for four months. Four months.
RI: And then you came by barge?
We came by steamer.
RI: How long did it take for you to come?
It took us 19 days to reach Juba. Because there is a necessary tax in these areas.
For a small station like this, a ship has to pay 2 million, or 2,000 Sudanese pounds ($1,500).
For no reason.
If they don't have it, the pilots or the captain of the steamer will be beaten up with the sailors, or be tortured.
These people then have to phone Juba or Khartoum to get the money to Kosti, and then the ship will be released.
RI: How many people were on the steamer when you came?
In the steamer, we were about 611 in number.
RI: Was it comfortable?
No, no, it was not comfortable. It was not comfortable.
People there said they were fed up of being there for many months.
RI: Are there toilets on the barge?
Yeah, there are toilets. But because of the congestion and the population there...
It is so hard.
That's why most of the people who came from there are sick - heavy dysentery, cholera, all these things.
Because of the population in the steamer.
People there are facing a rough life - a hard life in the steamer.
They are still living by the mercy of God.
RI: So now you are happy here, in South Sudan?
Very much. I am very much happy. I am very,very much happy.
Because I have reached my last destination.