Swiss Abroad: life in South Sudan

Even though they have a car, their area of movement was limited: The Graf family in South Sudan. SRF

Swiss pilot, David Graf, returns home along with his wife, Sibylle Graf and their two children, Melina (4) and Maurice (2), after living abroad in South Sudan for three and a half years.

As they fly back to Switzerland, David is not sitting in the cockpit as he is accustomed, but in the back as a passenger.

After three and a half years working for the non-profit aviation company “Mission Aviation Fellowship” (MAF) in South Sudan, the family originally from Schaffhausen is returning home. “It’s easy to burnout here, and we don’t want that to happen,” he says during the video interview. “We are choosing to leave when we will still miss South Sudan.”

David Graf wants to fly as a professional pilot in Switzerland in the future. Sibylle Graf wants to return to work as a nurse. In addition, the grandparents will be able to foster their relationship with their grandchildren.

Family life behind walls

Their life back in Switzerland will be very different from that in the capital of South Sudan, Juba. For the last few years, the family has lived together with other foreign MAF staff in a compound. The compound is comprised of a guarded housing estate behind tall walls and barbed wire fences.

In their compound there is running water, electricity and a small pool. However, outside the walls, people live in poverty, fetching their water from the compound’s overflow. “It’s exceptionally bad, everywhere you look, you want to help. But you can’t,” says Sibylle Graf. It is therefore important to see in which area the help really makes a difference.

Sibylle Graf with her two children in South Sudan. SRF

Once a week, the 39-year-old visited an orphanage with Maurice and Melina. There she told stories and sang songs with the children or even organised birthday parties with cake, games and small gifts.

Limited area of movement

Sibylle Graf’s everyday life took place in very few locations. She primarily moved around the compound, the market and the orphanage. The security situation in the country did not permit excursions.

There are high risks of robbery or of encountering a violent confrontation between hostile groups. “Many people in South Sudan experience violence in their lives, so the inhibition threshold for violence is lower,” explains Sibylle Graf. She felt safer when she was with her children as it made her recognisable as a mother.

Children and goats on the airstrip

Unlike his wife, David Graf frequently experienced different areas of the country. As a pilot, he took off for his first flight as early as 8am. He brought aid supplies and passengers to remote places on behalf of various NGOs.

Many places are difficult to reach by land. During the rainy season many areas are not accessible at all. Although South Sudan is 15 times larger than Switzerland, it only has about 300 kilometres of paved roads. David would land on unpaved runways and had to ensure that children and animals were cleared from the runway.

But the greatest sense of achievement for the 35-year-old was “that we can make a difference”. He reflects on a time when he landed in a village carrying malaria medication in his luggage and the doctors met him beaming with joy.

But now, the four are looking forward to returning to their extended family.

This text was first published in SRF and is reproduced here with permission.