Heavy rainfall in Pochalla, South Sudan, has recently caused significant flooding, affecting more than 3,000 people. Whole communities have been displaced as they try to escape the rising waters. Homes and other infrastructure have been destroyed and land used for farming has been lost.
Many displaced families are struggling to access food, clean water and medical care, and with the harvesting season fast approaching, the loss of crops is a particular blow to food security. This raises fears of a worsening hunger crisis in the coming months.
Unusually high floodwaters
Although seasonal flooding is expected in the region between August and October, over the past few years the level of this flooding has been abnormally high. As a result, each year almost a million people across South Sudan have been forced from their homes.
In a country where more than two-thirds of the population is already in need of some form of humanitarian aid, around 2.7 million people live in areas that have a high risk of being affected by flooding. Along with the loss and destruction of property, food and livelihoods, the floodwaters often bring waterborne diseases as toilets and sanitation facilities are damaged or submerged. These preventable diseases, such as cholera and malaria, can be fatal – particularly for children who are already undernourished.
Nutrition, food security…and walking through floodwater
Tearfund has been working with communities in Pochalla to help improve their nutrition, food security and livelihoods. Even though the flooding has impacted this work, our staff have carried on, walking up to chest deep at times through floodwaters with their kit held on their backs or above their heads. Tearfund staff have made sure they continue carrying out screenings to identify potential nutritional deficiencies among children under five years of age and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.
Erickson Bisetsa, who heads up Tearfund’s work in South Sudan, describes how our staff are working together with community leaders – including church leaders from across seven denominations – to make sure that people most at risk of malnutrition receive the emergency nutritional support they need.
Information that saves lives
He also tells us, ‘Floodwaters in Pochalla and the surrounding area have already cut off many villages, making relief efforts extremely challenging. To get ahead of the rising flood water, Tearfund has been broadcasting radio messages with information about which rivers are likely to burst their banks and how people can avoid worst-case scenarios by preparing to move their livestock and loved ones to higher ground.
‘We are increasing public awareness through radio talks shows and adverts, but accessing areas cut off by the floodwater can be extremely challenging and we need more resources to offer temporary shelter, clean water and food supplies for people forced out of their homes by the floodwater.’
Please pray with us for South Sudan and if you would like to help ensure that we are able to continue doing this kind of work, you can also donate here.
