Help Ciera and Her Sister Find Safety, Food, and a Future

My name is Ciera, and I am asking for help for myself and my younger sister.

For years, my sister and I have been trying to survive after losing the two people who were supposed to protect us.

When I was 16 years old, my mother passed away. Losing her changed our lives forever. I was still a child, and I never had the chance to fully understand what it meant to lose my mother. As the years passed, I was left with only memories of her.

My father raised my sister and me alone after that. He was the only family we truly knew. We did not grow up with a large support system or relatives we could turn to when life became difficult.

Then, when I was 17, we lost our father too. He died in a car accident.

Suddenly, my younger sister and I were alone.

We had lost both of our parents before we were old enough to understand how to live without them. After our father's burial, we stayed in the home where we had been living, hoping that somehow life would become stable again. But eventually, we were told to leave.

We had nowhere to go.

My sister and I ended up sleeping on the streets of Kampala. We were hungry, frightened, and exposed to dangers we should never have had to face. I was older than sister, so I felt that I had to become her protection, even though I was struggling myself.

There were days when I did not know where our next meal would come from.

I did whatever I could to keep food in my sister's hands. I made choices I never wanted to make because survival had become more important than anything else. During that period of my life, I contracted HIV.

I don't share this part of my story for sympathy. I share it because it is part of what happened to me and because I want people to understand how far we have had to go simply to survive.

Eventually, a friend heard about our situation and told us about refugee camps where we might have a chance to find safety. He helped us with the journey, and my sister and I traveled to Kenya.

We arrived at Kakuma Refugee Camp on October 26, 2025.

We believed that reaching a refugee camp would finally mean that we could sleep safely, eat regularly, and begin rebuilding our lives.

But instead, we spent months without a proper place to sleep. We were outside, hungry, and trying to survive one day at a time.

We later came to Gorom Refugee Camp in South Sudan, hoping that things would finally become better.

But once again, we are struggling.

Today, my sister and I are still facing a lack of food, clean drinking water, and safe shelter. We are trying to survive in conditions that have become extremely difficult.

I am also struggling to access the medical and humanitarian assistance I need because we are not registered in Gorom. At the moment, new registrations are not being accepted, leaving us without the support we desperately need.

Sometimes I look at my sister and wonder how two children who have already lost so much are supposed to keep going.

But she still has a dream.

She wants to go back to school.

She wants to become a doctor.

That dream is one of the reasons I continue to fight.

After everything we have been through, I don't want her childhood to disappear completely. I want her to have the chance to sit in a classroom again, learn, make friends, and build the future she talks about.

And I want us both to reach a place where we can finally feel safe.

We are asking for help with:

• Food and clean drinking water

• Safe shelter and basic necessities

• Medical and essential needs

• Returning my sister to school

• Transportation and costs connected to finding a safer and more stable place to live

I know there are many people in the world who are struggling. I also know that not everyone can afford to donate.

If you are able to help, any amount would mean more to us than I can put into words.

And if you cannot donate, please consider sharing our story. One share could help this reach someone who can make a difference in our lives.

We have lost our parents. We have lost our home. We have spent years moving from one difficult situation to another.

But we have not lost hope.

I am still trying to protect my sister.

She is still dreaming of becoming a doctor.

And we are still hoping that somewhere, somehow, there is a safer future waiting for us.

Thank you for reading our story and for seeing us as human beings who are simply asking for a chance to live with dignity, safety, and hope.

With gratitude,

Ciera and her sister

(Fundraiser managed out of NY, as South Sudan is not supported by gofundme.

Funds provided in full to Ciera via secure Remitly transfers.)