Impact stories

“When fighting breaks out, it is the pregnant women and children who suffer the most”. This is what Angelina tells me, a mother who had come for an antenatal visit to one of our CARE health facilities.

Five year old Nyawich was born just 4 days after Independence. She has been living in the UN Mission in South Sudan’s ‘Protection of Civilians’ (POC) site since April 2014 with her mother Nyasigin, father, 2 siblings and grandmother.

The sun is scorching hot, with temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius in the town of Pagak, Upper Nile State. A crowd of women and men is patiently waiting to be served the traditional South Sudanese spiced tea and coffee common to the area.

The 32 year old mother of four comes from Riak village in Unity state, three hours walk from Mankein. Riak once had a smart health facility complete with medical equipment and a pharmacy, but that was before the crisis that plunged South Sudan into chaos…

Right now, the land around Mankien in Mayom county, Unity state is green and lush – the telltale sign that rain has fallen. But all is not as it seems. This year’s rains have been few, compounding the county’s already fragile food situation.

It’s a Tuesday morning and long lines of people are already gathering on the veranda of the Pariang Primary Health Care Centre, waiting for consultations with the medical staff.

To vaccinate a child or not? It’s been a hotly contested debate recently in some parts of the world. In many parts of the world, vaccines are easily available and have without a doubt helped save many lives.

On July 9 2011, South Sudan became the world’s newest country. After decades of war, the break from Sudan was celebrated across the country. From tiny villages to the new capital Juba, expectations were high.

“The leaders of our country can learn a lot from us. Bring them here – we can teach them how to make peace,” a tribal leader told me.