Forty days ago, I arrived in South Sudan, the youngest African nation. The baby of the continent, whose infancy has been riddled by intense crisis creating deep holes in its tender flesh, rupturing its undeveloped rib cage and is now tempting to pollute its internal organs.
Independence brought so much hope for South Sudan
Its massive spread of productive and fallow land, a resource for economic prosperity and employment creation, now, sleep untouched, untilled, largely politically contested and is a battle ground for warring cadres.
Its population, is widely scattered in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, its own children are severely malnourished with millions at imminent risk of death.
The youthful generation has known nothing but war. Many of its schools are either closed or now a newly found base for military activity.
A total of 8 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance
Still I landed in Juba today!
Plan International has been working in Southern Sudan since 2006, then the pregnancy of independence from Sudan had been long conceived, but the trimester pains were sparks of armed conflict which lasted for years. In came civil conflict, social unrest, domestic communal tensions and the result – collapse of rule of law.
Still we helped all children to access their rights to education, health, protection and economic security. South Sudan’s turmoil is well recorded in our books of memory
South Sudan’s girls have felt the brunt of war silently. Many never stepped foot into school. For those who did, the gruesome war pulled them from the school benches into child marriages, trafficking, sexual assault and for some, mere idleness.
Plan International has for years stood firm to ensure these girls recover from the negative impact of the war and get opportunities to move on.
So I arrived in Juba, not ignorant of all these seemingly insurmountable hurdles, but with a spirit of purpose. A mandate to help, an ambassadorship weighing on me, to ensure we make impact.
I have deep respect and praise for the South Sudan Plan International team. For years, they have sacrificed their lives, they stayed put and worked in the scotching equatorial heat, hibernated and survived the bullet but still pushed the Plan International mandate. Theirs were tears and blood, yet they did not tire. They are the experts of South Sudan.
Help had to come, relief was overdue. A surge team, has now descended in Juba from across the Plan International Federation. We come in with strength to hold these national experts’ hands, to shoulder the burden and as one Plan International family, to continue ensuring children, especially girls live to their fullest potential. In them, we shall blend, with them we shall respond, scaling up and telling the story of all the work they, for years have laid foundations for in South Sudan.
It will definitely not be easy, it will demand commitment, resources and selfless dedication.
As I retire to rest on my fortieth night in Juba, it is just my flesh recuperating, but my mind and spirit are awake. I charge yours to be too. We cannot afford to be complacent, this country and its children deserve more. The more, comes from you and me.
For this reason, I invite you to the new assemply point. South Sudan!
Angietouch's Blog 