For most of the world, the war in Sudan is just another distant conflict. But for us, an NGO working in the northern part of South Sudan, it throws an already fragile humanitarian situation into crisis mode. People who fled from here to escape the floods and tribal conflict are coming home to villages poorly equipped to help.
Fighting broke out in Sudan in April, with two rival military factions competing for power. Over three million people are displaced. In the case of Southern Sudanese citizens, the escape from war is bringing thousands of refugees back to villages that are already taxed to the limit. Current estimates are that 250,000 people have fled across Sudan's borders.
Near our compound in Old Fangak, boats arrive daily with exhausted returnees carrying all their possessions in suitcases. They will need to find food, water, and shelter. The stories of their flight are heartbreaking. Onboard a recent transport boat, carrying refugees from on the Nile River from Renk, South Sudan to Malakal, 26 people died from starvation—19 children and 7 adults.
In our village of Old Fangak, we meet weekly with all the NGO groups to assess the situation and coordinate our response. The current total of returnees in Old Fangak is 3,590. Two hours down river at the village of New Fangak there are another 10,000 refugees. Nearby Paguir has 5,000. As we review the reports from all the villages in our service area the number is over 31,000 returnees and growing. Seventy-five percent are women and children.
The clean drinking water that donors support with this project is essential to the emergency response. Our well drilling teams are moving through the region to assess the needs. We are repairing the nonfunctioning wells we come across. In June we drilled a well in the New Fangak area that is providing clean drinking water to many refugees. In addition, our agriculture team is distributing seeds that returnees can use to start small gardens.
Thank you for your part in helping. We had not anticipated this level of need. We are grateful that through thoughtful giving we can respond in ways that are saving lives. With your support we can and will do even more. We would like to drill more wells, and improve others, so that returnees have the clean drinking water they urgently need. Gifts to this project connect a “distant conflict” to donors directly. The people being served have a better chance to survive a crisis they had no part in creating but has now sent them into our hands for the help they now need. Thank you again.
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There are places in South Sudan that are difficult to get to and then there's Nyadin. This collection of communities in the swamp of the Sudd became isolated due to high flood water and an impenetrable web of reeds, grasses, water lilies and swamp vegetation. You can't walk here. Only a small canoe provides access in this area of Fangak County, South Sudan.
As the waters have risen, most of the people here (several thousand) have left their homesteads and become South Sudan's newest refugees—moving to the few places with higher ground. Islands, most smaller than a football field, became "home". Our team moves silently through areas which once had the laughter of children, braying livestock, the morning crow of roosters. Mothers calling their children to dinner. Today only the sound of paddles slipping through the dark water next to our canoe. It is eerie and sad. There was nothing the former residents could do. Now they are refugees in their own land, and they need help.
The high chief of Nyadin told us the first and highest need is clearing a path through the swamp. The only way aid can be brought to this desperate area is by having a path. "Could you, would you provide sickles, hoes, pangas (machetes), and other tools to clear a path for small boats?" he asked. "Three hundred men will come and clear a path, but we need tools and food and fishing nets. Can Alaska do this?" The answer was yes.
We chartered a Cessna Caravan and loaded it with a ton of supplies to clear a path. It landed a week later at the airstrip at a village called Paguir. From there the tools were carried by small boat to where the men of Nyadin could begin their work. One hundred fishing nets would help them catch food while they cut a path. The men of Nyadin came in small dugout canoes. A flotilla of men and boys eager to do the work of clearing the way to Nyadin. Just moments ago, where there was silence. Now a hundred voices singing—and laughter. The sounds of hope.
Clearing the way took nearly two weeks. As soon as we heard that the path was open, we mobilized to bring the drilling equipment and supplies to bring clean water for the refugees of the islands of Nyadin. This is not an easy task. No other NGO in South Sudan is equipped and experienced to do the work in these conditions. It's not new to us. Over the last four years we've worked in the flooded areas of South Sudan in three dozen communities bringing seeds, seedlings and tools for growing fruits and vegetables and drilling new boreholes for clean water. This is the work you support.
We are happy to report that after the path was cleared and our work began, four communities now have water wells for clean drinking water. Ten thousand internally displaced refugees in the swamp of the Sudd have clean water. We are grateful for your support. It takes all of us to bring hope—to bring clean water. To show that people care about children and mothers and grandparents they will never meet. Giving to this project has created an island of hope in the swamps of South Sudan. We have grateful tears that together we have brought clean water for the refugees of Nyadin.
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For the fourth year in a row heavy rain has caused severe flooding in Fangak County, South Sudan. This is our base of operations and the region of South Sudan that receives your gifts. Our team set out recently to assess the water wells we have successfully drilled in the village of Old Fangak. Old Fangak is the largest village in the area and with access to clean water as well as medical treatment it is has attracted thousands of people displaced by flooding and regional violence.
Our team was not surprised to find that nearly half of the wells are in flooded areas. The only access, until the flood water recedes, is by canoe. And like the other wells in the dry part of town, the women who collect water line up in their own canoes to get clean drinking water.
As we considered the situation, we have concluded that we need to address anticipated flooding in our plans for bringing clean drinking water to this area. Our team has designed an elevated borehole platform made of steel and galvanized iron which will allow several women at a time to access the water well. It may still require a canoe to get to the water point, but once they arrive, they can step on a platform to fill their Jerry cans with water.
In the next few weeks, we will test our design by building one platform in Old Fangak. The anticipated cost will be around $6,000 per platform which includes the materials and the shipping from Juba, South Sudan along the Nile River to Old Fangak. If the platform works as anticipated, then every new water well in the flooded areas will be developed to include the elevated platform. We also will plan on elevating existing water pumps throughout the region.
It seems there’s always a new challenge while working in South Sudan. But we are a committed group of people. We know that clean water saves lives and changes lives. Together we have already made a big impact and we’re not going to let a little rain (or a lot) get in our way of helping the people of South Sudan. Thank you for your gifts to help this project.
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The human crisis in South Sudan is unimaginable. 8.3 million people, including refugees, facing "food insecurity." That's the easy way to say they're currently starving—or soon will be. In our region of South Sudan, Jonglie State, unprecedented floods, and localized conflict have made an already difficult situation measurably worse.
The floods meant that most of the harvests did not happen. And in just one week this month, five thousand new refugees arrived in Old Fangak with little but the clothes on their backs—and some did not have clothes. They came from the village of Leer where a violent attack by cattle raiders caused some 40,000 people to flee. The new refugees are taxing all available sources of clean water and have no food to eat.
This is the world where your donations are being used.
Our original goal was to drill 5 new boreholes for refugees fleeing civil war. Now the movement of thousands of displaced people due to flooding and the localized conflicts (as mentioned above) we’re looking at areas where the refugees are moving and working alongside other partners working to determine how best to respond. Our team is currently in the field assessing potential locations for new boreholes. We are shipping to Old Fangak 800 water purifiers for household use. We're also talking to the refugees and the community leaders about their food needs and whether a community garden specifically for refugees might be created.
We have recently repaired six community boreholes in Old Fangak. Six additional wells are being examined this week in nearby communities and will be repaired if needed. A new well was also completed in Old Fangak near the refugee encampment. The funds you donate today will help us respond to this human crisis. And we do need help. Our response depends entirely on the donations we receive. We are a small organization and quick to respond. By aiding this project, you are reaching people whose need is real, severe and life threatening.
I would really hope that one day we can stop asking for your help. I envision a place at peace, where there’s enough clean water and children do not go hungry. That’s what we’re working towards. Today your help is needed more than ever.
I was traveling along a foot path heading to the village of Paguir–in a small boat! The entire way from Old Fangak, South to Sudan to Paguir was flooded. In some places more than 4 feet of water. We floated past homesteads where normally you would see children playing, hear noisy goats and chickens, and find Moms preparing food for the family. On this day it was eerie silence. The homesites abandoned. Every mud hut flooded. Such sadness and loss.
We brought our boat to a stop when we came upon a woman and her grandchildren collecting the roots of lily pads. They were in a dugout canoe. She told us that her home was flooded, all she owned lost. She had no home. She was a refugee now. The only food she has to eat is a porridge made from the dried-out roots of lily pads. It provides little nourishment but at least it is something to eat.
This is the situation that is facing tens of thousands of people in the region of South Sudan where we are working. It is beyond anything we have faced previously and brings new urgency to the project.
We are immediately looking at our plans of response. First, to see which of the water wells already in place are functioning and asses those in areas of flooding. We will test the water coming from each well to make sure the groundwater hasn't contaminated the well. We will also be making plans for raised platform wells—well's that can be used even in flooded areas. Perhaps this will mean water tanks on raised towers and solar pumps? Or it might be well pumps that are on platforms 1.5 meters above the ground.
We have already begun assessments relating to the movement of IDPs (internally displaced people). Where have they gone and what water is available? What food is available? Is there ground that is dry enough for planting? All questions we are asking now and will answer in the next few weeks.
In Old Fangak our team is also in the beginning stage of a new response to fight food insecurity—planting rice. This is not commonly grown and harvested here. But with the flood situation, rice seems like a good crop during a flood. We are consulting with experienced rice farmers and have plans to create a test farm in the next month.
These are small steps down a path to fight food insecurity and provide clean water. A flooded path, but luckily these steps can be taken right now thanks to your help. Together we can make life better for people suffering in South Sudan. I am grateful for your support.
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