South Sudan: “We can’t fix everything, but we can save lives”

What difference can you make in a country that has such huge humanitarian needs? Sarah Grey, a Red Cross aid worker, explains how we’re helping people survive in South Sudan.

One of the first things you notice upon arrival in Juba is the number of aircraft parked along the runway.

Not commercial passenger jets, but dozens of planes and helicopters bearing the mark of different aid organisations.

It’s indicative of the scale of the crisis in South Sudan. There is no-one in this country whose life has not been affected by the conflict, which is approaching its two-year anniversary.

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A few days after arriving in the capital last October, I set off by plane for a remote area in Jonglei state.

I would board Red Cross aircraft countless times over the course of my year in South Sudan – it is the only way to reach remote communities.

During the wet season, we’d often have to travel by helicopter as even the hardiest of planes cannot land.

My role of ‘field delegate’ for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) isn’t easy to define.

One day I could be meeting with local officials or military commanders to make sure they recognise the ICRC as a neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian organisation. This is essential to ensure the safety of our teams.

The next day I could be preparing for a mobile surgical team to fly in and treat people wounded in the violence, or visiting detainees to make sure they are safe.

Life in the swamps

I spent the majority of my year working deep in the Sudd, one of the world’s largest swamps.

The Nile River floods into these wetlands during the wet season, when they can cover an area of more than 50,200 square miles, roughly the size of England.

It is next to impossible to fight in this terrain. So, despite this harsh environment, the area has become a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the conflict.

To cross some areas, people wade through the water neck-deep, carrying any possessions on their head.

Life in this place is extraordinarily tough. The humanitarian need – for food, shelter, health care, clean water, sanitation, and protection – is enormous.

Some have resorted to eating grass, tree leaves, and water lilies. Malnutrition is a major problem, especially among children.

Cattle are hugely important to the South Sudanese. They are a sign of wealth and livelihoods depend on them.

Some of those who have managed to escape with their cows have reportedly begun eating them – it is truly the last resort to survive.

Often I found that when people see a red cross they expect food to fall out of the sky. Sometimes it would.

The ICRC is using airdrops to get food – sorghum (a grain), sugar, salt and beans – to people in remote areas.

Airdropping food is an enormous operation, but it’s the only way.

Surgery and snakes  

Given the scale of need, you always feel like you can’t do enough. When we are able to reach people, however, we do have a life-saving impact.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the work of our mobile surgery teams. The ICRC’s surgical response in South Sudan is its largest in the world.

I was involved in coordinating the work of a mobile surgical team in Old Fangak, a small community in northern Jonglei state.

We evacuated patients by air from areas close to the fighting. They received treatment in makeshift tented wards.

Over a period of three months, we lived together in very basic conditions, facing high temperatures, heavy rain, mud, mosquitoes, snakes and crocodiles. I never saw the crocodiles, but I saw the snakes.

Despite the conditions, the team managed to conduct around 300 operations, treating wounded combatants and civilians – men and women, young and old.

It was incredible to organise patient transfers by plane and boat, and to then see them slowly recover in hospital.

Most of this would not have been possible without the support of the South Sudan Red Cross, who work alongside the ICRC across the country.

The South Sudan Red Cross, much like the nation it represents, is young. It was born shortly after South Sudan gained its independence in 2011.

I had the privilege of helping to establish a new group of volunteers in Old Fangak. They have become an integral part of the relief work in the area.

I hope that this team will continue to offer hope and help to the community, as I have seen them doing with so much energy, despite their own very difficult circumstances.

I left at the end of my year-long deployment feeling a deep sadness for what the South Sudanese have suffered and continue to suffer.

I’m also humbled by the enduring strength of those who survive, those who keep on living and hoping, despite everything.

The Red Cross cannot end the conflict or the suffering. But our help can be lifesaving and life changing for those who we are able to reach.

All images ©ICRC