Rakele’s Journey

Hi Jennie

Rakele is expecting a baby due in November. She’ll get her first dose of vaccine at the end of October and currently working night shifts at a disability care. She’s got seven boys and a girl of her own, aged from 21 years old to 16 months.

At one point during the class she said it’s time to feed, to note me her leaving class early. I thought for a moment that she was going to feed her boys at home. Then she was at work while she was attending online class and hence feeding time meant getting back to work.
 

Her husband is currently working in Alice Springs for a disability centre. She married him at the age of 15 and came to Australia 19 years ago from a Uganda refugee camp. Her homeland was South Sudan, which she left when she was 9.

We visited her hometown, Nimule, through Google Earth the other day. It’s right near the border of Uganda and South Sudan. There still flows the Nile River, surrounding mountains, wild animals wandering around near the village she lived in in her childhood. She still remembers (and will do forever) and was happy to tell us about her long-lost hometown.

It was the air of contentment and peace that she was oozing through zoom that I didn’t miss out. Her simple smile that I was staring at.. I met many African women but she amazed me the most!

Regards

P. S. Rakele tested positive for Covid later on and her whole family got through it. Not long after, the kids were blessed with the arrival of their beautiful baby sister, Sarah.