“I came last year when the fighting broke out in Malakal. We were displaced,We now in the bush, staying under this tree, we don’t have a house. We don’t have anything.” said Nyathon Pur, Internally displaced person
Nyathon Pur is among thousands of refugees at Kolapach, a small village in Jonglei State in the northern part of South Sudan. She came to Kolapach with her children and grandchildren. Like thousands of others, Nyathon is now dependent on food aid. This year the land in Kolapach won’t grow enough to feed everybody. The next harvest, however much it brings, is still months away. Food supplies are almost exhausted.
But in a region as vast, and sometimes insecure, as this, the food from the International Committee of the Red Cross, has to be airdropped. Once the food has landed it has to be collected and carried to those who need it.
Nyathon, with four daughters and five grandchildren, cooks very carefully to make sure the food lasts as long as possible. But Nyathon is very resilient, to supplement the family’s diet, she tries to work collecting wood and selling it in the local market.
No one knows how long the insecurity in South Sudan will last, or when things at home will be ‘fine’ again. But at least, in Kolapach, those displaced by conflict are receiving food. That helps them to stay strong, and to keep their plans and hopes for return alive.
