Alumnae Network

Meet Moriku

My name is Moriku Agnes. I am proud of being a Mercy Beyond Borders alumna who is a nurse. For many years I stayed silent about my life, but now I share my story freely to encourage other girls to never give up. 

I was born in a refugee camp. My father, a soldier of South Sudan, died when I was an infant. Because my mother was sickly I lived with my aunt. Later my mother remarried and moved away from me. When I was 7, my elder sister took me to baby-sit her children. 

There I started experiencing misfortune.

I was not in school. My work was to baby-sit all day.  I did this for 3 years. If I wanted to eat, I had to work. I washed the clothes of my sister’s children with soap but had to wash my own without soap.  She also restricted me from playing with my friends. I always felt lonely.  

Worst of all, my sister’s husband raped me when she was away. He then threatened to kill me if I said anything about it.  I was 10 years old. 

The rape hurt me badly. He treated me secretly with herbs for a week. Even so, I could barely walk.  My sister returned after 2 weeks. I said nothing.

At age 12,  I escaped to my grandmother’s home, where she managed to enroll me in school.  She was old, but she worked brewing alcohol and selling it to pay my school fees.  With God’s help I found a way forward. I ignored the insults of other students who said I was too old for my class.  I scored in the top position every year until I finished elementary school.  

Unfortunately, after I graduated from 8th grade, my grandmother died. 

Joining high school was not possible. I moved in with my aunt again, who did not care about schooling.  I began looking for a scholarship on my own, walking from place to place, from refugee camp to refugee camp, always seeking an NGO that might offer scholarships. For 2 weeks I walked everywhere. Some days I was washed by rain. Some days I had no food. I finally succeeded in being sponsored by Windle Trust. But then in 2008, when I was in my 2nd year of high school, their scholarship program ended. 

This was my dilemma: how to continue my education?  I explained my sorrow to a friend; she personally interceded with the school administrator. Surprisingly, I was given permission to stay in class without paying for the rest of that year. I felt I could fly!

After my 3rd year of high school, my uncle arrived from Wau, South Sudan. He is a doctor. Seeing my sadness, he said he would pay my school fees.  In fact, he did pay my tuition; he even showed me the receipt. I felt so happy, thinking he was a blessing.  But then I learned the truth about him.

I was working one day, smearing his house with a fresh coat of mud. My aunt was away at the farm. He came up behind me and grabbed me. He covered my mouth with his hand and pulled me into the hut. He threatened to kill me with his knife if I cried out. He raped me.

Great sadness lived in me from that day. I stayed silent. Still, I managed to graduate from high school.  Of course, I had no hope of continuing my education. I began teaching in a local primary school as a volunteer. 

One day when I was weeding the vegetable garden, tears just started rolling from my eyes. Ever since I was a child I had dreamed of becoming a nurse.  Now, there was no way. 

Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me: “Why do you cry? Don’t weep. Before the sun sets today, someone will call you.”  I turned around and saw a man whom I knew. He was a shaman.  “Who will call me?” I asked.  He answered, “Don’t worry. Wait and see.”

That same day a local teacher named Jane came along and told me that I should go to Nimule town because she had seen a flyer about nursing scholarships. I told her thank you, but I had no money for transport.  She gave me her own cash. I will always be grateful to her!

I applied for and received the scholarship from Mercy Beyond Borders.  They brought me joy and hope.  I am now well-educated. I have achieved my dream. I am helping others now as the full-time nurse at St Bakhita Primary School.

My gratitude goes to Mercy Beyond Borders who designed this program of empowering women. As hard as it is to empower women in S.Sudan, you have done it!  I was nothing before, but I am somebody today!

I am a member of the MBB Alumnae Advocacy Network. We started to learn about advocacy a few years ago at an MBB workshop but had to stop due to the violence inside South Sudan that caused many of us to scatter and lose touch. We will resume when possible. Our plan is to work together as women from different tribes to promote the right of education for girls. I am already active in our local campaign to protect girls’ rights.

In the future I would like to be an instructor in a nursing school to teach other girls, as many as possible, to become nurses and midwives in South Sudan. We can heal our country.