In 1992 Kiden was a young Bari woman living in Juba when she was forced to move with her family to Khartoum. Once there she sold tea by the side of the road, later boarding a train to Wadi Halfa, a boat to Egypt, and a Jeep to Israel. In Israel she found work, managed to save over $10,000, and flew back home to Juba in 2012, investing her money in small businesses, making more money still. In 2013 she traveled to a land registry office where she obtained the deeds to the land she had once owned, submitting them to a judge shortly after, and successfully winning her land back.

Abdalla returned to South Sudan in 2010 and achieved similar success. Like Kiden he accessed the property he fled as a young boy, located near the Jebel Lado mountain north of Juba. He was largely successful because of his brother:

He is based in Juba, where he established a bar near his home, and travels Friday to Saturday to his land, growing tomato, cucumber, and cabbage to support his wife and daughter.

Other returnees were less successful in re-obtaining their land. Daniel, as noted in Chapter 5, failed to obtain his parents’ land in Addis Ababa. Some returnees, such as Emmanuel, re-obtained their land but have little control over this land in practice:

Kiden and Abdalla were more successful in their repatriation than Daniel and Emmanuel. They returned to the particular home they fled, and to the property they lost, experiencing what many consider a more just return.