Home is where the start is

Tens of thousands of South Sudanese are making the trek from refugee camps back to their villages, only to find that a new beginning includes impassable roads, unexploded landmines, lingering violence, and disease | Jamie Dean

BORONGOLE, Sudan — The day begins early in Borongole. As a thin pink line seeps across the dark morning sky, the sound of creaking metal fills the air. Behind a long wooden fence, a sturdy woman in a brightly colored skirt hunches over a hand pump at a community well in this remote village in South Sudan. The water isn't coming quickly, and six other women holding empty jugs look on as the hand pump swings.

A few yards away, a different sound rises. A handful of Sudanese villagers with pocket-size New Testaments stand in a dusty circle and begin their day with singing: "Let Your Holy Spirit come and take control / Of every situation that has troubled my mind / All my burdens and cares I roll onto You."