Up the Nile River and down the Po, this backhoe traveled by barge. The government of South Sudan sent it to help Old Fangak dig out from its two-year underwater burial. The backhoe was welcomed with singing, dancing and drumming. Look how easy it is to make a dike now! Compared to standing in water while you scoop up muck with a stick and hope that it will stay in place when you dump it on top of other wet muck. That backhoe provides an answer to flooding— at least for a while. People will be able to walk to work. Patients that live in town can come to clinic without wading treacherous rivers that used to be footpaths. Sewage will stop floating out of submerged latrines.
Along with the loss of cows (who can’t graze with their heads under water) and the loss of cereal crops, an increase in fish population came as good news! We buy these braided strips of dried fish for patients to get some much-needed oil and protein.
Best of all, there are a few places high and dry enough to plant crops. After two years of relentlessly rising water, the river went down slightly this spring. It’s a dicey gamble to plant, and hope that water will come in the form of intermittent rain, rather than flooding. If the farmers’ luck holds, crops will grow in those higher spots and not be drowned.
Other signs of hope? Read the entire newsletter now: South Sudan Medical Relief Newsletter Summer 202209252022