South Sudan: South Sudan - Where trees and rivers have become home for hundreds of thousands of displaced families

They lack almost everything

Hundreds of thousands are displaced following violence in South Sudan, which has emptied entire villages. The displaced lack food, water and shelter.

Low mud huts and crooked sheds, made from iron sheeting, line the sandy road. Salesmen offer everything from tinned sardines, tomatoes and soap to mobile phone charging from noisy generators. A group of men in jalabiyas pass some women heading to a borehole to collect water. Further away children play football on a stony field. From a distance, Minkamen seems to be a lively village along the shores of the Nile's west bank, 120 kilometres north of the South Sudanese capital of Juba. Then you start calculating the number of huts and compare that with the crowds of people. There simply are not enough huts to shelter everyone.

Tens of thousands of people fled from the town of Bor to surrounding areas when fighting broke out in December last year. The small fishing village was transformed into a sprawling settlement. Each and every tree along the river became home to a family. Philip Majok, his wife Ateny Nyuon, and their nine children stay under one of the trees. The riverside has been their home since January. Clothes, cooking pots and mosquito nets are hanging from the branches above their heads. Here, closer to the river, the tree branches give protection against the worst heat. "In the beginning of March, temperatures can reach 40 degrees in the shade, but the nights are still cool," says Ateny Nyuon, who is worried for her children.

A skinny chicken is picking the ground next to a white plastic sack with rice. Ateny Nyuon picks up the sack and shakes it. It is almost empty.

"Since we arrived here we have only eaten two meals per day. Sometimes just one. The children eat first; they can't understand why they can't eat until they are full."

Those who fled to Minkamen are completely dependent on aid from humanitarian agencies, says Maria Nilsson from the Swedish Red Cross Society. She is in the country to assist the South Sudan Red Cross, the youngest of the global family of Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies.

"People were already living in difficult situations before the conflict, in one of the poorest countries in the world. The needs are huge among those who have been forced to flee their homes," says Maria Nilsson. "Many have now also lost their belongings and means of earning a living. They lack even the most basic life necessities such as clean water, food and access to health care."