South Sudan food crisis: Surviving on water lilies

9 September 2014 Last updated at 00:47

The BBC's Emmanuel Igunza visits a South Sudanese village where people have resorted to eating water lilies, amid fears that a famine is looming.

It is early morning in Reke village, a settlement of about 3,000 people displaced by fighting between government and rebel forces in the oil-rich Upper Nile State.

There were heavy rains overnight and the village, about 650km (400 miles) north-west of the capital Juba, is only accessible with a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

Some children are playing in an open area. In one corner, a group of women are building a makeshift hut, known as Tukul, with sticks and reeds collected from a nearby river.

Elsewhere in the village, an elderly woman is seated outside a smoky Tukul. She smiles brightly as we approach her, and removes a pipe, lights it and blows out a huge puff of smoke, as her neighbours cheer her on.

"I have nothing much to do, I am miserable, but that will not prevent me from enjoying this smoke," she tells me through a translator.

The smiles and laughter in Reke betray the suffering of the community.

'Facing starvation'

Most of them are from the Nuer ethnic group, to which rebel leader Riek Machar belongs.

President Salva Kiir, who comes from the rival Dinka group, accused him of plotting a coup in December.

Mr Machar denied the allegation, but then marshalled a rebel force to fight Mr Kiir.

More than 1.5 million people have been displaced by the clashes and the UN has warned that South Sudan is on the verge of a famine.

With the rainy season, many roads have been cut off and food is hard to come.

In Reke, people depend on food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP), but they say deliveries are rare.

"WFP has been really helping out people here in Reke, but that is maybe only once every two months. See how hungry people are here. They are facing starvation," one man tells me.

The people in Reke are now surviving on water lilies from a nearby river. They collect the seeds, grind them and mix them with water, and then cook them for a meal.

The UN says at least four million people are facing starvation after farmers missed the planting season.

Experts have warned that South Sudan will most probably face a severe famine by the end of the year or early next year.

South Sudan is the world's newest state, becoming independent in 2011 after a decades-long war with the north.

'Walking for six hours'

A few kilometres from Reke, we come to a health clinic where children with severe malnutrition are treated.

Since fighting broke out in December, the clinic run by the International Rescue Committee has been treating up to 16 children every week.

But the number has been falling, says clinical officer Peter Manyang.

"Right now we have six children we are treating here. We are not sure whether things are improving or it's because of the rains and there is no access," he tells me.

"There is no road, no transport from the village. So you find some are walking six hours to come to the health centre here. Some could not make it here, like the disabled. It's only those who are strong who can carry their children to the centre," Mr Manyang adds.

One of the children being treated at the clinic is one-year-old Stephen Nyamod.

His mother, Veronica Nyamod, walked for more than four hours to bring him here two weeks ago.

Despite the treatment he has received so far, he is not improving. Doctors say his weight has reduced yet again. He weighs only 5kg (11 pounds). His legs are thin and he is crying as doctors examine him. His 33-year-old mother tries to soothe him.

"I only want him to get better. I am lucky we got to the clinic in time. We didn't have enough food back in the village. There are so many other sick and malnourished children there," she says.

The children's agency Unicef has warned that up to 50,000 children could die of malnutrition by the end of the year if they do not receive help.

Getting that help to remote villages is anything but easy. Many people have fled the fighting and are now living in bushes.

Meanwhile, aid agencies are in a rush against time to deliver tonnes of food and medical supplies to those displaced by the unrest.

And with no end in sight to the violence, they fear that an already bad situation can only get worse.

"There are great challenges, in particular the security situation and the roads are impassable. In many places, people have had no access to any kind of support since the conflict broke out," says Unicef spokeswoman Doune Porter.