A 10-year-old girl, Nyathiwich Chuol Pal who says she lost both of her biological parents has allegedly been abandoned by her stepmother in Juba while travelling from Malakal with plans to continue to Uganda.
In an emotional interview with Doran Vision Media, the child said she arrived in Juba with her stepmother last Tuesday 13 October 2026 after travelling from Malakal.
According to the girl, they stopped in the KonyoKonyo area, where her stepmother allegedly asked her to go to a nearby shop to buy water. When she returned, she discovered that the vehicle carrying her stepmother and other family members was leaving without her.
“My stepmother sent me to buy water from a shop, but they left me. I saw the car going and called for them to wait,” the girl said. She claimed that people nearby also attempted to alert those in the vehicle that a child had been left behind, but the vehicle did not stop.
The girl said she later walked a long distance through Juba before she was found crying by a family who offered her temporary shelter.She has since been taken to a local church as efforts continue to trace and reconnect her with relatives.
“I explained my situation to the church and they listened to me. I wish to go back to Malakal and stay with my aunties,” she said.
Martha Nyaruot Kuek, the woman whose family found the child, said her children alerted her after seeing the girl alone and crying.
Kuek said her family accommodated the child for two days before taking her to a church in the hope that community members could help trace her relatives.
She said she also reported the case to Gudele Police Station to formally notify the authorities that the child had been found and was temporarily under her family’s care.
According to Kuek, the girl told her that some relatives in Malakal had initially objected to the stepmother taking her away but that the stepmother insisted on travelling with her.
The circumstances surrounding the child’s separation from her stepmother could not be independently verified, and the stepmother had not been reached for comment at the time of publication.
Efforts are now focused on tracing the girl’s relatives and ensuring that she is placed under appropriate protection while arrangements for possible reunification with her family are considered.
The case highlights the vulnerability of children separated from parents or caregivers and the importance of promptly involving child-protection authorities and police when an unaccompanied child is found.
