The Thread That Holds a Family Together

SSLCD WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT · OLUA 1 REFUGEE SETTLEMENT, UGANDA

How one widow turned a sewing needle into a lifeline for her children and why women like her need your support to rebuild what war took away

Rabecca Adau Ajak does not remember the last thing her husband said to her. She remembers the sound of gunfire. She remembers running. She remembers grabbing her children's hands and not looking back.

It was December 2013. South Sudan, a nation barely two years old at the time, erupted into civil war. What began as a political struggle quickly spiraled into ethnic violence that tore families, villages, and entire communities apart. In the chaos, Rabecca's husband was killed; she never got to bury him.

She fled with her children across the border into Northern Uganda, joining hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese refugees seeking safety in settlements like Olua 1. They arrived with nothing: no belongings, no money, no plan. Only the clothes that they wore and with hope that they might survive.

For years, Rabecca has been doing what millions of refugee mothers around the world do every day: holding her family together with sheer willpower. But willpower does not put food on the table. It does not pay school fees. It does not replace a husband, a home, or a livelihood that was ripped away by war.

What It Means to Be a Widow in a Refugee Settlement

Rabecca's story is not unique. Across Olua 1 and other refugee settlements in Northern Uganda, there are thousands of women like her; women who lost their husbands to violence, who carry the weight of raising children alone, who wake up every morning wondering how they will feed their families today.

In South Sudanese culture, men are often the primary breadwinners. When a husband dies, a woman does not only lose a partner. She loses economic security, social standing, and in many cases, access to resources that might help her restart. Widows in the settlements face steep barriers to make a living. Most have little formal education. Many spent their lives as homemakers or subsistence farmers before the war. Land for farming in the settlements must be leased, and few widows have the money to do so.

"I did not know how I would take care of my children. I did not know if we would eat tomorrow. All I knew was that I had to find a way."

For years, Rabecca survived on UN food rations, if and when they came. But in recent years, those rations have been slashed. What was once barely enough became half of barely enough. Children went to bed hungry. Rabecca skipped meals so her children could eat. The mathematics of survival became brutal: stretch a cup of maize flour across three days. Ration cooking oil by the spoonful. Hope nothing breaks, because there is no money to replace it.

This is the reality of life for a refugee widow. And this is the reality that SSLCD's tailoring program was designed to change.

When a Needle Becomes a Weapon Against Poverty

In 2022, Rabecca heard about a tailoring training program being offered by South Sudanese Leadership and Community Development (SSLCD). SSLCD was founded by and for South Sudanese refugees and was recruiting women in the Olua 1 settlement for six-month vocational training in sewing and tailoring. The program would teach them how to use a sewing machine, how to take measurements, how to cut patterns, and how to turn fabric into finished garments that they could sell.

Rabecca applied immediately. She had no prior sewing experience. But she understood what the program represented: a chance to earn money. A chance to support her children without relying on charity. A chance to be more than just a widow waiting for the next ration distribution.

The training was rigorous. Rabecca learned how to operate a treadle sewing machine, which are powered by foot pedals, not electricity, because electricity is scarce and not always available in the settlements. She learned basic tailoring skills: hemming trousers, sewing school uniforms, mending torn clothes. She learned how to calculate the cost of materials and set fair prices for her work. Slowly, stitch by stitch, she began to rebuild a sense of purpose.

THE IMPACT OF TAILORING TRAINING

120+ women trained in tailoring by SSLCD in Olua 1 and Mungula settlements

6 months training period covering sewing skills, business basics, and cooperative management

$2–5 per day average income for trained tailors — more than double what food aid provides

When Rabecca graduated from the program, SSLCD provided her with a sewing machine and a small start-up kit of fabric, thread, and needles. This was not a loan. It was an investment. SSLCD understands that giving a woman a skill is not enough if she does not have the tools to use it.

With her sewing machine, Rabecca set up a small tailoring corner in her home. Word spread quickly in the settlement. Neighbors began bringing her clothes to mend. Parents asked her to sew school uniforms for their children. She started taking custom orders, including dresses for church, trousers for men, and skirts for market vendors. Slowly, her income grew.

What Earning $3 a Day Means When You Have Nothing

On a good day, Rabecca earns $3 to $5. To someone reading this article in another part of the world, that amount might sound like nothing. But in Olua 1 Refugee Settlement, it is everything.

It is the difference between sending your children to school and keeping them home because you cannot afford the fees. It is the difference between eating one meal a day and eating two. It is the difference between buying soap to wash clothes and wearing the same dirty shirt for weeks. It is the difference between dignity and desperation.

Rabecca now pays school fees for her children. She buys vegetables at the market to supplement the shrinking rations. When one of her children gets sick, she has money to take them to the health clinic. She is not wealthy. She is not even comfortable. But she is no longer helpless.

"Before, I could not sleep at night because I was worried about tomorrow. Now I sleep because I know that I can take care of my children. That is everything."

What SSLCD gave Rabecca was not just a sewing machine. It was agency. It was the ability to control her own future:  to make decisions, to earn respect, to show her children that even when the worst happens, a mother can find a way forward.

Why This Work Matters More Than Ever

Rabecca's story is one of resilience. But it is also a story that should never have had to happen. No woman should lose her husband to war. No mother should have to choose which child eats today. No family should spend a decade in a refugee settlement, waiting for the world to remember they exist.

And yet, that is the reality for hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese refugees in Northern Uganda. The civil war that began in 2013 killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced over 4 million. Many of those who fled have been living in settlements like Olua 1 ever since. They are not going home anytime soon: South Sudan remains unstable, violent, and unsafe.

In the meantime, they need to live. And programs like SSLCD's tailoring training give them the tools to do exactly that.

WHAT YOUR SUPPORT FUNDS

•        Six-month tailoring training programs for refugee women with no prior skills

•        Sewing machines and start-up kits (fabric, thread, needles, scissors) for graduates

•        Business and financial literacy training so women can manage income and savings

•        Ongoing support and mentorship from SSLCD community leaders in the settlements

•        Cooperative models that help women share resources, bulk-buy materials, and support each other

SSLCD's approach is different from many organizations and aid programs. It is not a handout. It is not charity that creates dependency. It is an investment in people. By teaching skills that they will use for the rest of their lives, they have tools they can pass to their children and are building a foundation for self-reliance that no one can take away.

The women who graduate from SSLCD's tailoring program do not just earn income. They gain confidence. They become role models in their communities. They mentor younger women. They save money. Some of them even hire apprentices, creating jobs for others. A single sewing machine in the hands of a trained woman ripples outward, lifting entire families and neighborhoods.

Rabecca's Dream

When you ask Rabecca what she dreams about, she does not talk about going back to South Sudan. She does not talk about revenge or justice or any of the big political questions that dominate news coverage of the refugee crisis. She talks about her children.

She dreams of sending all of them to secondary school. She dreams of saving enough money to buy more fabric and expand her tailoring business. She dreams of the day when she can hire another woman — maybe another widow like herself — and teach her to sew. She dreams of a future where her children remember that their mother did not give up, even when everything was taken from her.

These are small dreams. Quiet dreams. But they are the dreams that keep people alive.

"I do not know what will happen tomorrow. But I know that today, I can sew. And that is enough."

— Rabecca Adau Ajak

SSLCD's tailoring program is training more women like Rabecca every year. But the need is massive. There are hundreds of widows, single mothers, and young women in Olua 1 and Mungula settlements who are waiting for a chance. Waiting for someone to invest in them. Waiting for a sewing machine and six months of training that could change the trajectory of their entire lives.

That is where you come in.

HELP MORE WOMEN LIKE RABECCA REBUILD

Your donation directly supports tailoring training, sewing machines, and start-up kits for refugee women in Northern Uganda. Every gift helps a mother turn a skill into a livelihood — and a livelihood into hope for her children.

Donate at: www.hopeforsouthsudan.com/donate