In February 2022, Swedish policewoman Sandra Bylund, 42, received a game-changing phone call. Since 2020 she knew her application for a field mission abroad had been approved, but this call informed her the journey was starting in just one month. In March she landed in Juba, South Sudan, and eventually ended up in the Wau Field Office in Western Bahr el Ghaza-state.
Sandra was transferring from ten years of being a Swedish policewoman, most recently as a police force dog handler in Skaraborg to a location where a police station literally could, as she describes, “be the shadow of a tree”, in South Sudan. Sandra was becoming one of 90.000 UN peacekeepers who are currently serving in 12 UN operations worldwide. She was going to one of the places where international peace and security was needed the most, to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, (UNMISS).
- I was longing for challenges and personal development, and this happens only outside your comfort zone. South Sudan is one of the poorest and most dangerous countries. If I was going away, I wanted to be where I am actually needed. I immediately said yes, Sandra Bylund says.
70 percent under 30
On 8 July 2011, the Security Council established UNMISS in South Sudan. After nearly a decade of conflict and despite efforts towards implementing the peace agreement, South Sudan continues to grapple with sporadic violence, chronic food insecurity and devastating flooding, often affecting achievements on the humanitarian front. South Sudan remains in a serious humanitarian crisis.
South Sudan is the world’s youngest country, declaring its independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011. The UN General Assembly admitted the Republic of South Sudan as the 193rd member of the United Nations on 14 July. South Sudan is often named as The World’s Youngest Nation, where 70 percent of the population are under 30 years of age.
As a field officer Sandra and her colleagues observe, monitor, take notes and report on a security situation Sandra describes as “unpredictable”. Where she works, there is a curfew from 7 pm. The main task is to support and educate the local police force in building their capacity, but also to be present among the local inhabitants, to observe the challenges of their daily lives and gather information about the security situation.
- There are huge challenges within the local Police force, Sandra explains. The office can literally be the shadow of a tree, and the prison can be a chain on the ground. And the number of people who are illiterate is high among the police force. But even if my work as a police officer in Sweden differs in many ways compared to my colleagues in South Sudan, it’s clear that the foundation is the same. We both depend on developing good relationships with community members to be able to conduct our duties. In police terms we call it community policing. We have to build strong relations with the local community to be able to act proactively and to be able to develop solutions to the immediate underlying conditions that contribute to safety problems.
Integrated Dynamic Air Patrol (IDAP), with a group of curious locals.
Children in desperate need
The work you do as a field officer in this mission is not executive, something Sandra personally found challenging. Not being allowed to act, take a stand or actively change the state or situation was something she experienced as frustrating. The humanitarian crisis in South Sudan is present in all kinds of ways. She witnessed children without parents or without any social security, as well as poverty and famine. Many children do not go to school, and their job during the day is to fetch water, beg on the streets or do other tasks to keep the family alive.
- I come from such abundance, Sandra explains. We just turn the tap on and there is water. In this area there are people who have nothing. It’s like the spotlight never reached the people of South Sudan. They are seldom covered by media, there is disastrous famine and poverty.
Picture of the team captain from Team Cobra, one of the girls’ teams in the Naivasha IDP camp
Currently 1,446 UNPOL personnel are deployed in 10 regions across South Sudan. Of these, 847 belong to Formed Police Units, 561 are Individual Police Officers, while 38 are correctional services staff. In 2011 it was reported that South Sudan was at war with at least seven armed groups in 9 of its 10 states, with tens of thousands displaced. The country’s first elections as a sovereign State are due to be held in December of next year.
Footballs for hundreds of players
Sandra’s one-year-mission is now coming to an end, and her plane ticket home was meant to be scheduled earlier this month. But there is a quite extraordinary reason she is staying for another month. As she felt she wanted to act on the humanitarian crisis outside her working hours, a woman in a refugee Camp, Asma Abubak, thinking out loud, pointed out a special demand.
- This woman told me about these children, heavily depressed and in need of some distraction. They used to at least have a local football team, but since they were lacking equipment, they hadn’t played for over seven months. So, then I went to the local market and bought equipment for the team.
Integrated Short Dynamic Patrol (ISDP) with other units from UNMISS.
Footballs for a team of 34, slowly grew into football teams with hundreds of active players, keeping them out of trouble and criminality. Sandra was talking to friends and colleagues back in Sweden and they volunteered to help financially. She slowly raised around 6.000 U.S. dollars in total, providing equipment to over 650 football players across a variety of ages.
- Helping out these young footballers was helping out on a practical level, Sandra, who herself has no experience in the field of footballing, says.
Until the new date of the ticket home on 15 April, Sandra has been asked to arrange for the UN to take over the project with the footballers and give it a future. After compiling what she aims to be “the best report ever”, she will choose a person in charge of the project “with the right drive and the right heart”. Her spare time project of buying footballs, football shirts and other equipment for the young people of South Sudan has already shown clear results in the community.
- This project has had very practical outcomes. Nowadays, community leaders in Naivasha IDP-camp can see a reduction in antisocial behavior, fewer teenage pregnancies and the project is considered as an alternative to violence. I want to make a difference. In countries like this there is no health care, no functioning basic service, the development is even going in the wrong direction and the people are paying the price.
A Sandra before and after
Sandra ended up buying football shirts and other football clothing, however she felt that buying football shoes for everyone would exceed her budget when the number of players continued to grow. However, to motivate new female players she decided to conduct “positive discrimination” and made girls an exception when it came to buying shoes. All new girl players would get shoes. This was something she thought would result in envy, but the boys accepted it. She is in close contact with the team coaches and will continue to be.
Sandra is visibly relieved her football project will be continued. Going back to Sweden soon she says she has learned so many things about herself. Resistance, personal development, how there is a Sandra before and after her mission in South Sudan. Not yet having left her current mission, Sandra thinks she will one day need to leave her comfort zone again and leave for another mission.
- This experience has opened my eyes in so many ways and I will never ever be able to close them again.
UNMISS, the UN Mission in South Sudan is part of UN Peacekeeping. For 75 years, United Nations peacekeepers have worked to save and change lives in the world’s most fragile political and security situations.
Since 1948, more than two million uniformed and civilian personnel have helped countries to transition from war to peace and progress.
In addition, April 6 is the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. It presents an opportunity to recognize the positive role sport and physical activity play in communities and in people’s lives across the globe.