Raymond Perrier SJ is coming to the end of his Regency, the period in his Jesuit formation spent in full-time apostolic ministry. His has been among the refugees in Rhino Camp in Northern Uganda, where he has been working with the Jesuit Refugee Service

While the news from Darfur continues to be bleak, South Sudan has enjoyed over two years of relative peace. So, many of the hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees here in North Uganda are able to repatriate. Although in the Jesuit Refugee Service we love being with and accompanying refugees, we are even happier when we lose our customers: a world in which refugees are able to go home safely is a success story.

Voluntary repatriation started earlier this year and has gathered momentum. Among the 80 students sponsored by readers of Jesuits and Friends, 25 decided they wanted to continue their secondary schooling in South Sudan. With great joy I was able to accompany them in February on their journey to Yei; I then returned recently to see them at the end of their first term. The girls will soon be moving into a splendid new dormitory, furnished by the sterling efforts of the boys of St Ignatius, Enfield. If they live at home, girls soon become unpaid servants and so giving them a chance to live at school is the best way of ensuring that they get a fair chance in education.



The boys, on the other hand, have had to build their own houses, which meant making their own bricks, stirring their own cement and thatching their own roofs. Perhaps that could be the next project for the Enfield boys! From Rhino Camp where I am, 600 people a week have been leaving in UN-organised convoys. It is humbling to see what few possessions the refugees have - perhaps less than some of us might take for a weekend break! They leave with a mixture of joy at going home and fear of what they will find there. Their fears are partly relieved when they hear that JRS and the Jesuits are already in several locations in South Sudan ready to welcome them. We will continue to support education, to train catechists and to assist parishes, but we are shifting our efforts and resources across the border.



Of course, many of those going back have not seen their homeland for years. But thanks to some wonderful computer and projection equipment donated by well-wishers in the UK, we can show them pictures of what their villages are like in South Sudan. We can also show them films on a proper big screen - they loved 'The Ten Commandments' especially since the story of Moses and the Israelites is so relevant to these returning refugees.

As part of our pastoral work we always join the departing refugees down at the collection site, located in a beautiful valley beside the Nile. After the health checks, the identity checks and the baggage checks we can offer a soul check: a chance to pray together, to thank God for all that has been received here and to ask for God's protection on the journey home.

I too will be coming home soon, my two years of Regency with the Jesuit Refugee Service being over. I will have many fond memories but most of all a renewed respect for refugees who, despite having so little, are able to maintain their faith in God and their faith in other people. I have also seen how welcoming Ugandans have been to people they regard not as 'scroungers' or problems but as brothers and sisters in Christ. I have had to travel many thousands of miles away from Britain to learn this. But I know that the same lesson can be learnt from refugees and migrants who are closer to us at home.