A Healthier Future for South Sudan's Families

There was a time not too long ago in UN House, a UN hosted compound on the South Western outskirts of Juba, that when a woman went into labour her family didn’t know where to turn. There was someone who could help though, a young man who seemed to be involved in lots of community activities in the camp and could often be seen in and around the maternity unit. So they called him. It might have been three a.m. but he came ready to help a mother however he could, even if that meant delivering a baby. That young man is Jal and he is now a student midwife working in the International Medical Corps maternity unit and has answered many calls like this because he, like the mothers he helps, is also an Internally Displaced Person living in UN House.

Jal was a midwifery student at the International Medical Corps training centre in Kajo Keji. During a visit to Juba there was an outbreak of violence that forced him to seek refuge. He moved into UN House because he’s Nuer and, like everyone else, feared for his life. Jal moved in with the few belongings he had and this included a first aid kit. Without asking anyone and in response to what he saw, he started treating minor injuries and ailments with his first aid kit. This wasn’t anything fancy just a good personal kit and it was in the early days of the crisis. Eventually the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan’s medical director found and spoke to Jal and was very impressed, he gave him more drugs and access to whatever he needed. He effectively became the only community health service on the base all thanks to his drive and the training he’d received at Kajo Keji with International Medical Corps.

Eventually Jal wants to become a gynaecologist because “it’s the way I can have the biggest possible impact on the problems facing South Sudan.” Sadly, Jal is not full of hope for the future of his country nor his place in it when asked whether he will continue his studies in South Sudan and at the International Medical Corps training centre in Kajo Keji he says he doesn’t think he ever will be able to because he is Nuer and “now we are a target…this will all happen again.” Right now he is focused on his work in UN House but eventually he wants to continue his studies in Kenya or anywhere else he can. Along with his role in the maternity unit at UN house with International Medical Corps he’s also a youth leader and all round active member of his community. Thanks to the generous support of International Medical Corps and other donors, many others in South Sudan, with aspirations similar to Jal, are receiving the training they need to make a meaningful and long-lasting impact in their country.